This is what the woodsy section of pasture looked like this morning after two days of sheep grazing.  For reference, this is what it looked like when they started.

 

 

Grass, ferns, and weeds are largely eaten to the ground, and the leaves on trees and bushes are gone up to sheep-reaching height.  I would normally move the flock out before they had eaten the flora so thoroughly, but I’m deliberately trying to reclaim this area as pasture, so I wanted the sheep to do a bit of damage to the woody plants.  I let them get a little hungrier than I normally would, to encourage them to eat things they might otherwise disdain.  If I pulled stunts like this too often, the nutritional status of the flock would start to suffer — lambs grow best when they have very consistent access to all the food they want to eat — but an occasional day where I prioritize land management will hopefully be ok.