No, not crop circles but "Pasture Squares". It is an experiment to see if we can freshen the pasture and give the sheep access to the longer grasses mixed up among the thistles, by carving corridors out of the thicket using a mulcher attachment on the tractor. Naturally the shearers who are here think we are nuts. The neighbours think we are nuts. But when grass grows rank and long - and worst still, when thistles are as thick as they are - you lose the value of the growth. Looking back at what we have done, we realised we have two advantages operating for us: 1. we did not completely disrupt theinsect and spider communities that had quickly populated the tall grasses. They had somewhere to go. 2. We benefit from 'the edge effect' which means this: agricultural scientists have noted that, when you plant or grow things in rows beside each other, the edge closest to the next row grows fastest and best. Now this works for different crops, like corn, etc. But will it work for grasses?


ALready the juicy grasses have emerged - less than a week since we mulched.