We topped the far 2-acre at the start of the week and today did the near 2-acre. It was a tricky decision as to whether or not to do it: topping helps the grass to thicken up and regrow from the bottom but in the absence of rain, that isn't always a guarantee and not even always wise as the long grass can hel pprevent evapoartion. And long grass also is better for parasitic worm control as the animals don’t graze as close to the ground and so pick up the eggs and worms. Nonetheless, leaving it, means more goes to seed which leaves stalks that aren't as palatable for the stock. We are going to get the sheep, cows and alpacas back up to the top 3-acre top to graze and see if we can get away with not topping it just yet and then put the rhea back in the bottom. The bottom 3-acre field is massively long, despite having 25 animals munching away in it for the last few weeks, but for the rhea it is probably great cos long grass attracts more invertebrate life which they will hopefully enjoy eating. It also will give them masses of places to hide and keep cool!!
Just the simple matter now of getting these two sets of animals to swap fields!!