:: The Journey of a Beginning Farmer :: As a child I spent most of my life in town living with my mom, but whenever I visited my dad and his side of the family, it was on the farm. From my earliest memories I have always wanted to be a farmer.
In 2006 I started blogging about my dream of one day farming, even though we were still living in town.
In 2008, we found and purchased 40 acres of bare ground in the CRP program, and the dream became a reality.
In 2013 I started "The Beginning Farmer Show" podcast in addition to blogging, allowing others to follow along with the research, joys, frustrations, hard lessons learned, etc. of a bi-vocational, beginning farmer.
Now, we are working to take our farm to the next level, and we invite you to continue the journey with us through video. Although, I will always be a beginning farmer, my hope is that I can learn from the community that follows along on our journey and encourage those who are starting one of their own.
If the skid steer sets in a barn gathering dust then it’s gonna nit break down. If it’s out working daily it’s gonna need repairs from time to tine. Don’t feel bad about your purchase cost plus the repair cost , that’s part of ownership.
Had neighbor when I was a kid had a pull type Minneapolis corn picker that had a hitch to pull the wagon beside the picker and the elevator delivered out the side instead of the back. He pulled it with a UB propane tractor
Hey. Over-Built is what I'm all about.. just that much less breaking going on. I really like the enclosed hutch on the one end.. need to get building me one for starters. I just got back into raising rabbit after a 10 year break.. and got a 1/2 acre of nice pasture to let them devour. Sainfoin for reduced to no bloat, orchard grass.. some birds foot trefoil.. some clover.. this gonna be fun... I got 2 week old kits out there in the barn now so I better get building.
I thought you had quit making videos. It is so good to have you back. The Welter Seed and Honey Co. in Onslow, IA has a wide variety of pasture seed and other grasses and grains. You can view their catalog on line.
First...... any tile you see or find were there for a reason ! Drainage ! However since the trees took over.......they plugged all the tiles with roots ! You have a problem ! Next.... why the wash outs ?? Where is the grass cover to prevent it ??? You dont have grass where there are trees ! Remove all trees / brush......then start in small areas closing the ditches and re-seeding ! Make the waterways wide ! Allow the water to spread out ! Or if you dont....you force all the water into a small area....... and again cause cutting/ erosion !
Round bales.... bale smaller bales..... or even bale a bale inside of one bale. In other words..... bale until half......tie and continue. Or even put three bales in one bale.I bale for a local sheep farmer. He was amazed how good it works ..... even for bedding them.....instead of dumping the entire bale at once ! However my baler bales 4x4 bales. It works !
Compaction...... at least here in Iowa freezing and thawing resolve any problems with compaction. It often freezes to depths of 5 feet deep. Many times farmers create a problem that dont exist !
Question ???? Why own a skid loader ??? I grew up using a tractor and loader..... A narrow bucket ( 4ft wide ) . A single cylinder to tilt the bucket. One way cylinders on the main boom. Most farmers dont understand what a good hydraulic system means and is ! A tractor and loader has many uses..... and a much longer reach for moving and removing trees etc. A skid loader.......the trees are nearly in the cab with you. Or they will come visit you soon ! You can use a heavy duty I beam for a blade to push snow and dirt ( on a tractor ) ...also adding weight ( ballast ) . I used a skid loader for two days removing bales from a field. Yah cant go through deep snow with a skid loader ( 3 feet deep ) . If you want to have back issues....buy a skid loader ! The bar that went across my chest nearly broke my sternum ! A skid loader is great for close quarters and on smooth surfaces. Not for in fields ! Unless you want to visit the chiropractor weekly !
I agree with what you are doing Just because Greg Judy does it doesn't make it right. You have 23 he has hundreds. It takes years to achieve what he has done. Your building a heard, and income. Every one is important. Give them the best chance they can have.
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! You're right, I might have a different approach if I had a flock of 200 ewes and could cull a little harder. We do want to grow, but I think we will probably top out around 60 ewes. With that number I think we will cull pretty heavily to keep the cream of the crop around.
Agreed! A 4450 with front wheel assist like that would be a great piece of equipment. It sounds like you are closer to that goal than I am with you only needing the loader :) Hope you find the right one sometime!
Cattle can make money for sure, but lately when we run the numbers we see more profitability in the sheep for our farm. That is the great thing about farming ... there is a lot of room for different and diverse operations. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!
I have just started thinking about sheep, mainly because I don't think we can afford to get and raise a bottle calf this year like we did before. I do raise goats right now (commercial meat). But I enjoy lamb and was thinking it might be more affordable (and managable) for me to do sheep. Living on SS, I have to be careful how I spend my money. Not going to be making much of a profit on the goats this year as I need to keep back all doelings for breeding stock and so far I only have 2 bucklings on the ground (only 1 doe left to kid will probably give a single). Have a of thinking to do.
I think sheep have been a good piece of farm for us and will end up being a good long term investment in the future of the farm as well. You are right about bottle calves though ... the prices are going through the roof! Thanks for watching and taking time to comment!
We do daily rotations with our cattle and in the past have do what is more like a weekly rotation with the sheep. With our new land base we are planning on daily (at least rotations) for both the sheep and the cattle. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!
European ship do not belong on mast American landscapes. If your farm is in an arid climate avoid this. In that situation the manure will never compost. It will dry out and flake away in the wind. Sheep belong in a temperate environment that is pushing rain forest levels of precipitation. A good way to think about it is tall weeds in your pasture. If you have that issue then sheep might be a good choice. If you have patches of dry ground then stay away from sheep. You will lose your soil.
scrolling through the video further the only thing that is supporting your farm is the import of organic matter from other people's land. That is not regenerative Ag. Stop buying hay. See how long your soil can survive. That's not regenerative. Your soils don't look great. I can help you
@@kathleenredick275 All domesticated sheep are derived from Eurasian sheep. If you want to know what they can do to a landscape you need to look no further than the "Fertile Crescent". Have you ever wondered why it is not so fertile anymore? Yep, domesticated sheep. They are simply inappropriate to graze in many environments where they can contribute a great deal to desertification.
Wow nice fat ewes. I love the red colored ones. Any idea what the wool ram breed was that they’re bred to? I wonder if it’s texel or Suffolk. Maybe Dorset but I can’t imagine any other breeds that someone would use on hair ewes. Yes you don’t wanna keep those wool crosses!!! Not a fan of shearing either!! Mine are dairy woolies unfortunately. Wish there was a shedding dairy sheep available
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! We love the ones that are different colors and sometimes find ourselves keep back a ewe just because they are something different :) I don't know what breed the wool ram was, just something that was found at a neighboring farm I believe. I think I saw a picture of it on the previous owners Instagram and I wasn't completely excited about what I saw ... but, we'll just raise them out for meat.
Thanks! We do enjoy the sheep and they are starting to be a close second to the pigs on our farm! Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment!
Hot is always important when it comes to sheep. We have a 6 joule fencer and keep it between 8k and 9k typically. On our new land I think I'm going to go with a 12 joule fencer because it's not in my front yard and I want it as hot as possible!
That’s great to hear! We’ve had them about half that long, but have been pleased with them … especially compared to the handful of wool sheep we’ve raised. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!
We've had a JD 250 for many years now. Ive had the main tandem axle pump out once. Not a fun job.The caps on the underside came loose. A tech told us to never idle at the lowest position as it makes everything rattle more. Seems to always have some kind of leak though. For the small farm operation we have it does great for us. All machines have there issues. I think it's a luck game. We did put run flats on ours and permanently mounted chains on the pneumatic tire for moving snow. Best decision Ive ever made. Oh and a new air ride seat was a big improvement too.
You are completely right about the shaking that little 3 cylinder diesel produces! I too was told not to run it at idle. I think I just need to put some hours on it and I will feel better about everything. Right now I'm just wary of everything :)
The only pieces of equipment that I've bought new were a hay trailer and a squeeze chute. Every other piece of equipment was bought used, most of it needed fixed in one way or another, and a few things I wish I'd never bought.
I don't know buddy. Im not a John Deere man im more of a Kubota man. If it was me i would run the hell out of it and see what happens. If it dont work out dump it. Hey wish you luck.
We're going to hit it hard this spring for sure! I guess if we need some cash flow we will sell it and then move on to the next plan ... whatever that is :) Thanks for watching!
Seeding...... why not buy yourself a IH endgate seeder ? They cost around 200 dollars. and the wagon another two hundred dollars. I see them all the time at sales. Throw the seed in and drive ! Then... cultipack it or double harrow it. Finished ! Another option... talk to a local coop....ask them to calibrate the spreader down to 10 wide spreads ? This way the grass "seed" flies far enough to cover the area ( 10 foot ) Might have to buy / add some fertilizer as a filler but its a good idea to fertilize new grass seeding anyway ! The coop mix the seed in with the fertilizer and dump it in the spreader. I use this method all the time.. Its quick using a truck !
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! That’s basically what we’ll be doing first. Putting down our seed with a 3pt broadcast seeder and the disking it in and cultipacking it. Hopefully we’ll be able to no-till drill in our next cover crops. The plans will probably change though 🤣
Great question! I plan on doing an update on that soon hopefully. It is going to be a longer range project though because of the challenges I’d say. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!
We raised chickens on my grandparent’s farm as well. My grandma’s pride and joy was a rose garden. We cleaned out the laying house once a year. We took that manure around her garden and she had some of the greatest looking roses I saw or have yet see.
In Nebraska, most of the Natural Resource Districts have no till drills that can be rented. Check them out. Without drilling, plan to double or triple your seed cost for each pass. That mulch on top of the ground is your best friend in getting seed germinated. Consider broadcast seeding now, and then feeding CRP or grass strip hay on the ground spun out just as thin as you can to work the seed in and supplement the cover.
There are few districts in Iowa that I found have no till drills, unfortunately none close to me. And you are correct, I would need a higher seeding rate if I broadcast. We're still weighing all options because I'm a little worried about working the soil to broadcast and disk in the seed. We are so dry I would really need a good rain!
@@TheBeginningFarmer \ In you video, you mentioned that you hoped to get Equip funding, . We have done that on other projects. First, the grant has to be approved before you start. Second, because they want you to succeed, you need to follow their guidelines or grant requirements. Skip either, and they have no obligation to send you the money.
@@rexpeterson5729 Thankfully we have had a pretty good experience with our NRCS office so far when it comes to planning for EQIP enrollment. We are talking with them about every step we take so that we are ready for the EQIP projects when the start and not doing things that would keep us from being eligible. They seem very receptive to our ideas and the project and want to help us!
Not a farmer anymore but did work in my very younger days on my grandparents farm. We converted a couple 10 acre fields into pasture. First we plowed, disced and planted a mix of fescue, blue grass and yes clover. Tall fescue made up about 80% of the mix with 15% grass and 5% red clover. Cultipaked it in and prayed for some rain. We had a pretty good stand the first year , made a little hay but the 2nd year we turned out our first 10 head of cows out in one and raised hay on the other. 3 rd it was on and popping . Good luck.
That sounds like a similar path that we are going down. We may just try to do a few cover crops to have some feed this summer. Like you said though ... praying for some rain! Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!
Doing a lot of the same things on our place. Have quite a bit in EQUIP programs. I looked at no till drills as well but I'm couldn't find anything reasonable. Ended up buying a Brillion seeder. For the no till, I've just been using my regular JD grain drill and it works pretty good. Ive got about 100 acres of oats i planted over my sudan hay and it is doing really good.
That's great to hear! I had considered a regular drill as you mentioned, but that would be a purchase for us as well. We do have access to some nice useable 1940/50's Minneapolis Moline grain drills, but I'm not sure they could get through the bean/corn litter on the ground. You have me thinking though.
Thanks for the video. I’m doing the same thing too. I started in fall 2021 on corn ground. I’ve been watching a lot of RU-vid videos, and Greg Judy is my to go person on most videos. Also, Russ Wilson is really good too. I wouldn’t disc or till anything. It is one of the worse things you can do. I’ve been reading books on Dale Strickler and read of all Greg Judy books. The first year I planted 7 of 20 acres of hairy vetch and cereal rye with an old Farmall steel wheel drill. The seed was just sitting on the ground since it is regular grill. It worked great for cereal rye but ok with hairy vetch. If I gone back again, I would have frost seed clovers February/March 2022. I was planning to plant the rest with cover crops in the spring along with perennials pasture seed too. By end of April of 2022, I needed neck surgery so it got delayed until fall 2022. Then, fall 2022 I no tilled my rest of my 13 of 20 acres future pasture with crimson clover, triticale, hairy vetch, red clover, buckwheat, oats, and perennials pastures seeds. It grew some in the fall because we had lack of rain. Then, in the spring 2023 the pasture grew some more from the snow melt besides the oats and buckwheat I was hoping the pasture would have taken off but a drought stuck so the pasture was very short until we got rains in August and September. The 7 acres that was cereal rye and hairy vetch was very thick so I knocked it down in August 2022 with the no till drill and planted oats, buckwheat , red clover, winter peas, crimson clover. The cereal rye and hairy vetch took over since it reseeded itself. By December 2022, the cereal and hairy vetch was a foot tall. We didn’t have much snow until Christmas week. Then, the January and February the snow melted and the deer came in and mowed it off. By spring came, the 7 acres looked like a golf course green because it was so short. The cereal rye and hairy vetch exploded when it warmed up in the spring 2023. I was hoping to have my fence done but with the drought it was hard to put fence in the ground. It felt like I was pounding post in concrete. Then, I got part of the fence done so I put my animals in there by fall 2023 and fed hay in there all winter. I have so much hay in about 1-2 of the 7 acres. It probably won’t grow much pasture but in the following years it will be unbelievable. The 5 of the 7 acres the cereal rye was dry but the red clover was awesome. The hairy vetch reseeded itself again when we got the rains in August so it was growing. By December 2023, the cereal rye is growing from more rains in December and warmer than usual weather. Now fast forward until now, the cereal rye, clovers, and hairy vetch is coming back. I’m planning to plant 4-5 acres of native perennials pasture in the January/February of 2025. I’m going to plant a summer cover crop this summer and graze it off hard before planting the native perennials. I follow Greg Judy method of MOB grazing. I’m pretty new at this but I’ve learned a lot too. I started in summer 2020 with 2-3 acres MOB grazing in my yard.
Thanks for sharing your experience! It gives me a lot to think about and consider. My ideal world would be to no till drill everything in and only till where we need to repair erosion, but we need to find that no-till drill :) We too are followers of Greg Judy and appreciate his approach for sure. I'll have to check into Russ Wilson.
@@TheBeginningFarmer I’m part of pheasant forever and they have a no till I’m using when needed. As long as I’m part of the club in my county, I can use it. I don’t abuse the drill. Sometimes thinking outside the box helps. I only knew about it because I was talking to people about renting a no till drill and it led me there.
Great video... you're on the right track. As noted, I would avoid NRCS programs as much as you can. Take the input but not the obligations with their money. That's just me now. That said...I had an 8 year old stand of alfalfa on a piece of land that I aquired 2 years ago. It was in rough shape. We did not spray out the alfalfa. We no-till-drilled 3 different specifically chosen annual cocktails since then...no spraying, no fertilizers. Beautiful crops. We could have baled it but we're committed to the process of preparing our soil for the eventual perrenial pasture & put our money where our mouth was. We brush-hogged it all down 2 of 3 times the other time the snow knocked it down. Our intent was to graze it off but this didn't happen. The last cocktail was cereal rye, winter triticale, winter wheat, collard greens, turnips & hairy vetch. It was amazing with large rye heads up to my arm pits... I'm 6' 2". Not a weed in sight while growing & far less afterwards. CR & trit are alleopathic which did it's job but is why we had to mechanically terminate it fully. Finally, we felt it was ready last fall & again no-till-drilled with 5" furrows an 11-way cocktail of perrenials last fall. This cocktail is symbiotic & also successive. This year we will finally have full measure irrigation for the first time in years. We plan to round bale (cut higher though) 1x to help accelerate the root strength & growth. We think it will finally be ready/strong enough for rotational grazing for cattle & sheep this fall. The baled hay will be used on this land via bale-unroller to winter feed never leaving our land. It took 3 years of input, labor & faith to get to this point but it's looking fantastic. No more annuals on this land while we own it & no more sprays or fertilizer. Less dependency on irrigation. We believe it will also be much better on both years with full water & years with less water & better stewards with what we have. BTW, we live in the high desert 🏜 of SW Colorado.
You say " no fertilizer " so have you experimented using fertilizers ??? Im not relating to experimenting with the " cost " of fertilizers. Im relating to the " production " from using fertilizers ??? Give " everything " a fair chance !
@jimmyjohnson7041 of course I've used fertilizers in past experience. Yes, it can increase yield but at what cost? Financially? Ecologically? Nutritionally? Among other things. The more you use it, the more addicted the land & you get to it? It will go through withdrawals if withdrawn... for a time. Maybe...I can do with seed & biologically what sprays & fertilizer do with far less cost & inputs. I.E. After a planting that suffered 30% pigweed etc. the year before, what I did with $1,500 worth of triticale & cereal rye, worked better for weed control last year than what my neighbor across the fence did with $18k of sprays & fertilizer. And... my yield was actually better. I'm not saying that yields will always be better/more but I am saying with less inputs, they can be more profitable on the same land with less yield. Erosion is far less & water retention was better with plants in the ground all the time. In the end, I'm only in a contest with myself & I pay my bill.
Thanks for sharing all your experience! We are gaining a lot of ideas (and some indecision) from what everyone is able to share about how they have done row crop transitions. It seems like no-tilling is the way to go, and it's been the way I've wanted to do it, but we need to figure out a drill solution. Again, thanks for watching and sharing your experience!
@TheBeginningFarmer It's all a journey & you have to do what you have to do to get there. BTW I had to drive 120 miles each way to rent the 12' Esch no-till-drill & it cost me $1,000 total for the rental to plant 62 acres with it. It was worth it to me. If all goes well, we won't be drilling this field again... maybe some broadcast to address any elk eaten down patches. As noted I detested the 6' Great Plains no-till-drill. And the 30' had to wide of furrows but worked well for annuals. (10" but can't remember the brand right now. )
Practical Farmers of Iowa had a video series about small grains on RU-vid years ago, and I think there was something about broadcasting grains like oats, rye, wheat, and a mix called succotash (oats, peas, and barley?) in one of their videos. There are parts of the country where people broadcast wheat or rye after fall harvest and use a vertical tillage tool to incorporate the seed for either a grain harvest or a cover crop, so I would think that disking and broadcasting would work just as well. If you could find a conventional drill it would work to drill into a disked field, it might also work without any tillage depending on how rough the field was. Farmers are experimenting with interseeding cover crops into corn by modifying conventional drills to plant between the rows, using a conventional drill to plant your summer mix into an oat crop should also work. It's also common to broadcast ryegrass and rye into soybean and corn fields as a covercrop, broadcasting your winter mix into your summer mix in early fall should work the same way. After your summer mix winterkills or is grazed the rye will start growing.
Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment! I do remember those PFI videos about small grains. Generally we broadcast our oats and alfalfa and disk it in, but with this ground I was really hoping to stay away from that. I do like your idea about using a conventional drill into the oat/pea stubble. That might night be a bad idea.
Unfortunately ours does not. But, we are working closely with the NRCS on as much as we can. They are helping with some of our decision making and are a good help.
Not much to say about NRCS...it took years 2 get them to do an onsite visit before they would approve anything even with regularly bugging them. (Finally came 3 weeks ago) We had applications in trying to get help with water, perrenials & fencing. They ONLY help with cross fencing which we didn't want. They won't help with perimeter fencing. They will dictate what perrenial seed... not! They were only interested in helping me convert my 4 siderolls to pivots. Suggested 2 to reduce coverage loss in the corners. They will not pay for corner guns. Must rip out previous infrastructure on your own & by a generator etc. There is no way, even with them contributing upto 30% that I could justify $250k on 62 acres. I'm done messing with them. Next the local affiliated conservation board did have a 6' Great Plains no-till We rented it once, I didn't like it all & it was poorly maintained. You were constantly tinkering with it...we got maybe 2/3 done & returned it. We then paid somone with a 30' no-till-drill with 10" furrows for annuals for the next planting. On the 3rd time around, I was able to rent a 12' Esch with 5' furrows...$15/acre & really pulled with our 100hp CIH tractor. This is the best! We planted our 11 way cocktail of perrenials last fall. Fingers 🤞
@@CCRep123 From people that I have talked to the experience with the NRCS varies from office to office. In our case they were out at our farm right away and we talked for nearly two hours about our plans and goals. There are of course some restrictions that come along with things, but so far we haven't reached any barriers yet. We also have had them out to ask questions about all the invasive shrubs we have in our woods and erosion. They were prompt and helpful with that as well. All of that is to say that you're not the first person that I've heard of that has had that experience, but thankfully ours has been good so far ... I do wish we could find a good place to rent a drill though!
@@TheBeginningFarmer I'm sincerely happy for your experience with them. Bottom line for me is by the time they came I had done & paid for everything I wanted help with & are moving forward. I have no obligation to them going forward which is a nice feeling. Best of luck to you! 👍 👌
I'm certainly no expert, but that all sound like a whole lot of work and expense. I'd steer towards a more simple approach, something like farmer Pete describes in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Z3zILB_iCNw.html
I have watched that video a couple of times. We obviously have similar end goals, but different methods and our farms are at different stages (I believe he was doing 5-10 acres at a time and we are shooting for 50 acres in one shot). One other consideration we have is putting livestock on it right away and using them to help build the soil ... that's where the cover crops come in, because they will allow us graze right away. In my ideal world I would just roll out hay and let the seed bank come back to life over a few years ... but, we don't have enough other pasture to do that. Finally, hopefully with the no-till drill it will get easier. Time will tell though, and I'm not 100% sure I'm making the right choice ;)
Many say that... it takes time, patience, forethought & effort. But what my neighbors did with sprays & fertilizers we did with specific actual cocktails no-till-drilled in to an 8 year old stand of alfalfa & then mechanically terminated. Annuals are relatively inexpensive especially compared to sprays & fertilizer. It did cost time & effort though.
You can divide the land and plant perennials so you don’t spend more to increase ph you can apply lime and leave disk it so it will incorporate to the soil and wait for about 30 days to act.
