The clovers that are growing here are red clover, Alsike clover, and Dutch white clover. They are predominately timothy, “native” orchard grass, bluegrass, and some fescue. When I bought this farm about four years ago, half of it was hayfields that hadn’t been reseeded or fertilized in several years. I do not buy any commercial or any other fertilizer. The only input I have chosen so far is the hay that I am buying, which I feed mainly in the pasture during the winter. I will consider some applications of lime in the future in certain areas of my farm but have not yet felt the need to do so. These soils are all limestone derived, which means the need to lime is limited. Additionally, I have some Lansing silt loam and some Lima silt loam soil. I am in upstate New York, thus I use only cool-season grass species. Several factors such as climate, soil, and amount of input (fertilizer) influence what kind of grasses and legumes should be selected. That requires that the lambs are getting pushed almost every day to eat as much as possible. I finish my lambs between 3 and 6 months with the average being 4 to 5 months. If the demand is such that the lambs should be finished in a time as short as possible, the pressure is high. In a sheep farming operation that relies on grazing alone without feeding any grain, the pasture is of utmost importance. Orchard grass and (Huia) white clover are desirable species in a sheep pasture.
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