We are currently on the brink of a D1 drought here in southern WV, but the forecast looks promising for the rest of the week. Do you plan on planting more warm season grasses next spring?
I had a question. I tried to contribute a bit to make it worth your time. Q1; If a ewe is smaller than a ram, is that more likely to have birth problems? (very curious about this especially because people like hybrid vigor.) Q2; How do you work out how often to check on the sheep if you don't have help? Is there an ideal # of hours to check on them? Q3; How do you move the sheep when your next pasture isn't connected to the previous one? Q4; Is it actually necessary to have a sheep dog? How do people determine the 'deciding factor' on this?
@@noahriding5780 if a ewe is smaller because of age but is the same breed I wouldn't worry but if smaller because it's a very different breed and close to the same age I'd worry. Like I wouldn't breed my kathadins to a textel ram no matter the size but I'd breed the older ones to a Suffolk and not worry, conversely I breed yearlings to an older katahdin ram all the time. I check on mine twice a day when Lambing, more if I'm concerned but I know my sheep and don't need to be concerned much. When not lambing they get moved once a day so they get Checked on then. I simply build a runway out of temporary fence to move them if paddocks are not connected or I simply call them and let them follow me on the atv. Mine get moved every day so they know where I go there is something better to eat so they would follow me anywhere. Guard dogs are only necessary if you have predators about. I do so I wouldn't own sheep without one. Sheep herding dogs are a different story. I don't have one, would love too but I don't have enough work for one, my sheep follow me with the ATV anytime I want to. Hope this helps
Around 3 minutes+ in you mention, "If we ever figure out bail grazing..." Well I haven't had sheep before. But I've learned a few things from trying to preserve garden produce. In food preservation, study of decay, and bacteria growth and decay what you learn is that 'water' and air are the enemy and promote decay; like in mason jar canning. You can't really turn off the air. But you can cut off the top of the bail from moisture, rain protection. Likely those bad spots in the hay are water damage. You could try something cheap over the top to make water slide off and not stay on the hay. Something to make it slide off but not trap in moisture or let it saturate through. [Unnecessary air or water are the enemy of food preservation.] PLUS, if you drive by other farms that's what you always see at farms. They cover the tops of the hay to preserve it. They do that not only in winter but also rainy season. Then they have a mouser keep the mice and rats out of the hay also; keep the mouser about 60-70% full, so its hungry enough to still catch mice but not so full that its not got incentive and still feels like wanting more. This creates also incentive for them to want to learn to catch mice if they don't know already; though if you have more than 1 mouser that can create food competition which can create fights. You will often see farms with huge stacks of hay, if you walk right by them in summer or fall you'll hear a ton of mice panicking and running around. They often have them stacked real high so that they can also benefit from the top bails shielding bails underneath from moisture damage; and that's why. But areas can have individual tweaks on how they store hay based on local conditions. Your mousers often work graveyards, but its not real obvious unless you go out at night to see what's going on. Note 1; you do have to be careful of not trying to trap moisture in the hay when you cover it also. It is possible to trap moisture in the hay, which can cause a fire. You want the hay to be able to breathe... so tarps can't be too tight if you put some of them over the top of your hay storage. Note 2; moisture in hay can create spontaneous combustion in certain cases, but I am not real good on the info on that, other than you want to learn about it some. Note 3; Areas of the country that have multiple hay crops per year, can sometimes have trouble with the 3rd round of hay right before end of growing season. But I forgot the exact explanation why. Something about its making can act funny sometimes. I'm not an expert, but hope this will help you to think about this.
Parasites are also a concern. It won't necessarily cause them, they have to already be present, but grazing forages shorter than 4 inches in our typically wet climate significantly increases the risk of the livestock picking up parasite larvae from the grass. This is why we both try not to graze shorter than 4 in. And graze both cattle and sheep together, because both are a dead end host for the others parasites. With this system I rarely have parasite issues.
Yes we tighten them up as we figure out how much they actually need. We've grazed up to 1,000,000 lbs. Per acre at times, but I find that labor wise I'm more than satisfied with the results of much less stock density (around 100k) as long as they are trampling most of the seed head stems. Couple this with the fact that I work away from home for 8 hours a day and higher densities mean less acreage gets used each day while I want to have this tall forage all mashed down at or around the longest day of the year. The longer it stands tall and in seedhead the less the quality and quantity we can grow during our limited number of growing days.
Sorry I thought I replied to you earlier. We put them in for may calves and take him out before we'd have December calves. So August to February/March, sometimes they are in with the cows till fresh grass in April. Any Cow that calves more than 90 days outside our window or fails to calve goes to the freezer or sale. The heifers are separated from the bulls from Nov.-August. The ones that breed get to stay as cows the ones that don't go to the freezer.
Doesn't sound like the fence is hot enough. Try steel or high tensile wire , poly doesn’t care enough punch very far. Check you voltage on the fence, I'd like to have at least 5KV to keep them separate. Our weaning paddock is 8 strand HT but typically only the middle strand is hot, sometimes middle and second from the bottom. Keep in mind too that these calves are 9-11 months old. Good luck!
Funny I was just thinking about this very issue on our farm as well. I try not to worry about all of the fescue and focus on not overgrazing the orchardgrass. Once I resisted the "urge" to clip and just let it work itself out the pastures really improved for the long haul.
Going back through comments I think I missed answering your question. Here in eastern Ohio we don't really have a rainy season except spring, but March and early April are our rainy/muddy season but all winter here can be that way. So this form of feeding works for the sheep, they sort of build a waste hay pack to stand on. The cattle either are bale grazing or we take them to a concrete pad. During the growing season thoufh they are all out grazing.
In some areas of the country, if its a cold season they have to be careful when putting animals in a shelter or barn that they aren't breathing their own ammonia from their manure. This can cause sheep pneumonia if it can't air properly. This mostly is an issue in winter... For rainy season, you want to let them let their hooves be dry some of the time and not always wet because of hoof rot. Sorry not an expert on that either; but people say it gets in there from wet and cold too much. Its better if you don't have them standing in their mud all the time. In theory you could rig something up with tarps cheap if you want too, but then you'd need T posts also. Cords can be an issue for some animals trying to chew on them. If your pasture isn't swampy and can drain properly you won't have as much to worry about in rainy season (?) But local conditions can vary and have their own necessary practices. Worm and parasite issues, often increase more than normal when exposed to their own manure too much. The solution is to try to move them more.
Have a welding shop build you 9 foot diameter bale feeders with metal 18 inches from the ground. To move them.. place a light duty chain on the inside of the bale feeder in the shape of a " Y " to move it use your tines......reach inside the feeder and lift it. Make sure the chains droop at least half way down into the bale feeder to make room for larger bales on top. So much more waste with bigger bales..... downsize the bales to around 3 or 4 foot. I use all 4 ft bales... faster moves less pugging !
Not that I'm aware of. We peel the outside layer off of our outside stored bales so they don't have to dig through the layer that might have mold in it. After that Dad bales all my hay and he has a moisture meter on the baler that tells him if it too wet. Also my sheep are so picky they'd starve before they anything that was moldy.
Some animals are VERY sensitive to moldy hay. Like horses especially. You even breathe wrong and you can get a collicky horse. (Sheep I don't know.) But sometimes knowing about how the other animals can react can give you more insight about safe points with other animals. People are doing weird experimentation on pushing the stress points of what's allowed with cattle, not so much with mold but other things... and that's why when the heat index goes up you'll see mass cattle die offs in the midwest in summer... because they were already playing with the allowance points of things... but then bacteria growth goes up faster with the heat.
Where you at? When will you plant the turnips? Seems like you prefer bale grazing. I do a combination of bale grazing, and unrolling. Bale grazing where I need a lot of nutrients, unroll where I need a little. I prefer the unrolling most of the time. I will spread seed over the bale grazing areas in late February. I’m on the Cumberland Plateau in TN. Shallow top soil, close to rock. Interested in the turnips though.
Eastern Ohio, right across the river from Wheeling, Wv. Or Pittsburgh, Pa. I do a combination of both as well but bale grazing is becoming my favorite by alot!
Same sort of soils here, still Appalachia but a little colder and later season. We spread a shotgun mix of seed including Italian Rye, Red & White clover, birdsfoot trefoil, Orchardgrass, crimson clover, forage chicory, plantain, and turnips just before spring green up. If the bale unrolled field are really torn up and we have to level them up we add Sorghum Sudan. The forage chicory, plantain, and turnips really get the compacted or plugged up areas growing. Around here turnips in the spring, radishes after the longest day of the year. Radishes work better for compaction but if they are planted to early they'll just go to seed. Thanks for the comment!
I dont see Greg Judy ( Mr. Glyphosate) working with his animals in 4foot of snow in the hills ?!?!?!?!?!?! In Iowa the winter of 1988 / 1989 we had " ice " the entire winter ! No cow could walk in the field..... flat ground or otherwise ! I had to take a tractor with chains to spread a light coating of manure / bedding just to get the cows out of our timber to eat. That was every single morning ! The manure / bedding would melt into the ice.. and just a new coating of ice would be formed ! Not pleasant to see cows doing the splits trying to go out in the field to eat ! Even to drive on the county gravel roads.....if you didnt stay in the middle of the road .......you would slide off into the ditch. It was a deadly winter ! Your right....do what you know works for you ! Consider the unthinkable.......and be prepared !
First..... bales smaller bales...... Buy some light duty chain..... make a " Y " shape in the center of your bale feeders which drop half way down into the bale feeders. This way you can reach in and over the bale feeder and move it with your loader / tines . Smaller bales mean moving the cattle more often and spreading manure around and less mudding ! When driving on a pasture " never " drive a straight line ! Cattle will follow it ! Drive like your drunk as hell back and forth ! Gateway mud ??? Move the path where you enter the field. You have electric fences....easy to do !
Has been a crazy winter. You are right. When planning on where to fence and especially where to have gates, think of the long term affects. Many blessings.
You should get rid of those rings and get a bale unroller you can pull with your side-by-side before one of those calves break a leg climbing around on one. That way you wont have trampling around the rings and better distribute the manure.
Thanks for the comment. We do have a bale unrolled that we use for other herds. I actually like this form of feeding better because I don't have to start a tractor all winter to feed this group of calves nor do I have to make mud driving it out to the field everyday. Because the rings are only in place for 5 days max with stockpiled grass under we really don't get pugging and the forage will normally come back stronger and brighter in the spring. Over a ten year period we'll cover the same amount of the pasture with this method as we do unrolling.
It almost sounds like your a sales person for " Greg Judy " ( Mr. Glyphosate ) ????? Never had issues with calves harming themself yet. Bale feeders work great.....been using them for 40 years. Bale smaller bales.....this way.......less time in one area.....move the feeders daily ! A 3x4 bale works great ! (Not the 5x5 bales or larger ! ) They clean it up in short order and move on ! Use light duty chain....form a " Y " inside the bale feeder. Have the chain drop half way down into the feeder. Using the tractor loader / tines to move it daily....or when a bale is gone. However....... Mr. Glyphosate does everything right .......heavenly !!!! Never a problem in the world ! At the same time needs how many so called " streams " of income ??? A very closed minded person and highly critical of his neighbors ! Imagine if your his neighbor....and he broadcasted world wide..... your land/ soil ( as neighbor ) is dead ? I question how his neighbors feel about him ????
If you let the sheep graze some of that behind the cows I'd think the sheep would clean up some more of the hay and kick it around more. But water management is definitely important too!
They might at that although I'm not worried about wasting that amount of hay, it will just help the soil and the subsequent growth so its really not a waste. Thanks for the comment!
Have you tried unrolling the hay? Don't feed the sheep and cattle with the bale rings, good chance of the sheep getting stepped on. If you combine them together you will get better utilization of the stock pile. The sheep should stay as long as you dont push them too hard. Pastures looks good
Yes we unroll hay for the cow herd, on the next hill over and have been for years. We're giving bale grazing a try this year so we don't make as much mud with the tractor.
@@georgeheller2281 we have done that. It works but the hills can be a blessing and a curse. With so many convex and concave slopes the bales tend to unroll in the same or close to the same path. We use a bale unroller so we get better coverage of the field and better manure distribution. Bale grazing appears to give us the same manure distribution with no tractor work all winter.
Thanks. We're planning on having a pasture walk this winter sometime with the Eastern Ohio Grazing Council to show it off in person and do a bigger video. I really like unrolling hay as well for the reason you stated but I don't like having to take the tractor out every day and the mud that eventually makes around here.
I use a bale unroller for feeding my herd. I love the fact that none of the cows have to fight to eat. I like the fact that your trying both methods to see what works best for your operation. Every place has different situations and the ability to adapt is a must.
I know we haven’t spoke in many moons , but just keep on keeping on. As you said it’ll all work out. Glad to see you carrying on your family’s tradition.
