2025 May Month in Review

Previous Month: 2025 April Month in Review

Weekly Reports

Weather

May was wet. We got plenty of rain, enough that the field was saturated. The middle part of May was a little dry, but it didn’t get too bad. Days were mostly warm, in the upper 80s or even the 90s.

Grass Growth

Around the middle of May, it became obvious that the bermudagrass wasn’t just growing, but thriving. Near the end of May, as expected, the cool season grasses started to brown.

I saw plenty of goatweed in various places near the end of May.

I tried running them in 80′ wide rows and 100′ wide rows, and settled on 80′. There was just too much forage left behind for my comfort. I want all the grass to be touched, either trampled or nibbled.

I also felt like, for the first time, that my grass was really growing. This regenerative stuff seems to be working well.

I should also mention that I spent May in the southern half of the field, and the middle part of the southern half was doing really well. Traditionally that has been a problem spot, where not much at all would grow.

Health Issues

Horn flies and occasionally I’d see a horse fly. The numbers aren’t too many but I wish there were fewer.

I thought I was doing really well with hoof scald / hoof rot issues. About mid-May it became clear a lot of animals were struggling, though. So I penned them up and did inspections, and over half of my animals had no problems at all. After spraying the problem cases, and wrapping the more severe cases, only one sheep had any problems after a few days. (I penned them up in June again and they were all doing really well.)

Calves?

No calves. I am getting depressed. If the calves don’t drop soon (in June) then my whole breeding program will be thrown off. I’ll give my bull one more year but if he doesn’t perform he has to go.