In some years we have turned the horses out for grazing on Memorial Day weekend if the grass was doing well, but our "official" start to the grazing season has been June 1 … and this year, we waited until today to start turning them all out. I took the photo of blind Bridger grazing this afternoon.
Our grass isn't really as tall or lush as we need it to be at this point in the year — it should be a few inches higher than it is in the photo. So we held off until today to give the pastures another week of growth before all those equine mouths hit the grass. We have had only one significant rainfall in the second half of May, coupled with warmer than usual weather and too much wind. It's the wind that just sucks the moisture right out of the soil and robs the grass of what it needs to grow. It's especially bad for soil moisture when the wind's blowing while it's warm and sunny — which is what we've had in recent weeks. It should have been cool and wet.
Ironically, with the exception of one small part of the state, Montana is now officially out of drought, as you can see from this map. So we feel a bit odd complaining about not getting enough rain in May and having grass that isn't tall enough yet. Fortunately, the weather pattern just changed today and this week is forecast to be cooler and cloudier for the next several days.
The horses, of course, think we're being too fussy about forage quality. Their view is, "quit worrying about the grass and turn us loose!"
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About Evelyn: Thanks to everyone who suggested various ideas for her game of fetch, but believe me, we've tried them all!
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Don't forget, you can vote every day for us in The Animal Rescue Site/PetFinder's Shelter Challenge.
Enter
"Rolling Dog Ranch" and our state postal code, MT for Montana,
and it will bring up our listing so you can cast your vote. Invite your family and friends to vote, too!
Wow .. still No. 3! Please keep voting!
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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