Turns out, sheep like to eat pine trees

Well, the sheep have eaten all of the pine saplings that we planted in their paddock. They seem to be a little short-sighted about things like trees.

I found the pine trees destroyed and replaced two of them with some Grevillia. These were eaten too … so I’m going to have to fence them in. I think that I can get away with making a rickety guard around the trees using some star posts and old hardwood pallets.

I’ve seen other people make their trees animal proof by using four pallets and four star posts. First, set a star post into the ground where you want the first corner of the enclosure to go. Put the pallet over the star post so that the post is inside the gap between the top and bottom of the pallet.

Next, hammer the second star post in the other end of the pallet so that you end up with one pallet standing up on it’s open end.

The next two pallets are simply tied on to the fixed pallet. Don’t tie the pallets on too tight, because when you put the last pallet in, you will still need to move the two loose ends to match it.

Next, position your last pallet and drive the star post into the gap at both ends. Tie the loose pallets to the fixed pallet and tighten. It’s best to use wire to tie the pallets together as this tightens the pallets together as you twist the wire.

We also put in a windbreak of acacia in the bottom paddock. 10 young trees ready to push up and break that driving wind from the south. The acacia are fast growing, but short lived. They will probably die in about 7 years. We will need to also put in some other longer lived and slower growing trees so that they are out of the ground and ready to take over in about 7 years too.