We've decided to share a bit of our life and operation here at Wholeview Farm in Wisconsin's beautiful Driftless area near the Kickapoo River Valley. We practice adaptive grazing and strive to build healthy soil and be good stewards of the land.
We'll see, which rams we keep for breeding this December is still the subject of some debate. But we do need to get into the business of selling animals at some point here, so if someone wants to buy him that would be good.
We do get some dirty ones. Usually we eat those ourselves and sell the nice looking ones. It helps to keep fresh bedding in the nest boxes as much as possible and if you can block the hens from going into the nest boxes at night that will help as well.
Yea, we try to be consistent with that but made a mistake when tagging that ram lamb. It can be tough to stay focused in the heat of the moment when handling the sheep.
Hi Nicky and Joe, my daughter in law, Hootie recommended that I watch your you tube channel. I watch several sheepy podcasts. I’m a knitter and spinner. We used to have a 4H lease program with sheep, goats and cows. At home we raised Holland Lop rabbits. Cindy is my daughter. I’m curious, what kind of sheep do you have? Hootie said they were haired sheep. They look like Shetland sheep to me. She also said you have fainting goats. They were fun to watch at a goat show. They would faint when they got startled. I have subscribed to your channel. Nice job!
Thanks for subscribing! We really enjoyed meeting Cindy last week. Our sheep are indeed hair sheep so we don't have to shear them as the shed in the warm weather. They are a cross of Katahdin, Barbados, and Dall sheep. We have 7 fainting goats and the rest are Spanish, Boer or a cross of the two.
At what temperatures do you use the supplemental heat when the chicks are outside? this is the first time I’ve heard of someone having the Chicks outside when they’re young. I really like the idea.
When nighttime temps are expected to be in the low 60s or below, we'll turn on the heat lamp when it's just chicks in the brooder. If we have a broody mom in there with them it's not a concern as she'll keep them warm enough.
Wow! The hay raking! Great the way and that you're handling sheep. Awww Poppie's baby, Honoria, she's got Poppie's veiny face. Joe, your handling is so nice and gentle, great shepherding. What detailed records, keep up the good work. I've botched a banding, there are offspring to prove it!. Great how you two work together. Nikki your comments make me laugh...ha, ha, ha, ha,!!!!
I'd be making the paddocks much smaller, so the animals do a better job of cleaning each area up. Also I'd move them every day to reduce the parasite load probability, knowing that cow and sheep are a zero sum equation. I love the amount of feed that is left on your pastures as well.
Thanks for the feedback Peter. We normally do much smaller paddocks and move daily. The larger paddocks were just a response to our context having temporarily changed. I was out of town all week on a work trip so wanted to keep things simple for Nikki to manage the farm and the home by herself.
So great to see Lynell and Joe cutting the hay. It's fun seeing the sheep, goats, cows and Sonata in the wooded area. Wonderful to see Dash with her healthy triplets. I hate feeding hay to my animals when it's full of thistles. Love your videos!
It's been such an adventure to find the animals every day in this big area. I do feel that mowing the field was the best option. Better to return the nutrients to the soil than to make some sub par hay.
I am SO glad you took my suggestion of getting some Farmer's Defense Protective Sleeves!!! As your momma, I hated seeing your arms scratched up and bleeding in your previous video. Those wild roses are just terrible to tame....but you & Nikki are sure doing a terrific job in your battle with them! Dad and I sure do enjoy your videos!!! 👍 Keep them coming!!
This video was filled with so many fun things, loved seeing Gertie riding the mineral feeder. So impressive that you cleared as much on the fence line as you did, wow! I never knew there was such a pretty creek place on your property. Can't wait for my next visit.
Thanks for this detailed info. My question (after watching you crawl underneath) is, where are the safe lifting points on the frame for a swing-arm car hoist?
Thanks! We aren't ready to trust the dogs with the lambs overnight yet, so it's just supervised visits for now and then they are in a paddock next to the flerd separated by a poly braid fence.
They aren't too friendly with each other but so far they seem to be getting along. I think there is a big difference in attitude when they are in a place of abundance vs a place of scarcity. By moving them every day and managing the forage we can create abundance!
@@wholeviewfarm I know!!!! I thought I deleted my comment. Yes, moving animals requires thinking through it all. You have a beautiful place to have your patience tried!!!!!!
Beautiful goats! Oh my Poppa-lotsa, loved seeing her pregnant belly, there was a time I thought she'd never be a mother. Everything is coming along, what exciting pasture and tree plans you have. Joey, my condolences on the loss of your cousin. Your message is timely for me.
No, we wouldn't plant that one. It's a pioneer species that can be pretty aggressive. The birds drop seeds all over so we're happy to let the sheep and goats munch them down.
Does autumn olive"take over" a farm there like it does in missouri were greg is? I would like to plant some autumn olive here in minnesota. The fruit is really good.
This is a new one for us to be dealing with, so not totally sure what to expect. My understanding is that it is pretty aggressive and can take over an area.
Thanks, we love it here! Yes, we have a 1/4 acre training lot that all new livestock goes to when they first arrive. It has woven wire on the outside of the wood posts and high tensile electric on the inside. We sub divide the lot using poly braid and try to spend at least a few weeks rotating within the lot and supplementing with hay until we feel they are respecting the wire and getting into the habit of daily moves. It really only takes 1 or 2 good shocks for each animal and they get the idea.
Ok, I have been using netting for my goats. I am planning on switching over to Poly Braid this summer. We have a training area as well but yours sounds like a bit better set up.
@@KeystoneFarm It's definitely worth the effort and cost to setup a good training pen. Though if they are already trained to netting I think the transition to poly braid will be much easier. I suspect if we push them on brush control it gets a lot harder to keep them contained. Part of our success so far has been keeping them content by having access to fresh forage every day. If you plan to keep them in one spot and really clean an area up I suspect the netting will work better.
Yea, I'm excited to see them. We only found a couple last year but now I'm seeing them here and there throughout the woods. No big patches, just ones and twos so we're not going to harvest and see what we can do to encourage them to spread a bit.
Thanks for the tip. We'll have to see how it goes because we will not be spraying any pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or other "icides" on this property. Assuming the grafts take, we may find that was the wrong genetics for our situation in which case we'll keep trying new things. On the other hand, I think a lot of what we internalize as "The way things are" is based on a limited set of factors and we may be pleasantly surprised what we're able to produce with holistic management and a healthy population of predatory insects.
