$2K to $1.4 Million With St Croix Sheep on Grass 

Haha, that’s awesome!🤠🌱

Wow, 2 to 3 years, that’s incredible! I’ve often wondered what we’d look like starting with 10. Man, $400/ton for hay tho…whew!

Oh I’m so joyful at that thought of you being together as family❤️

Thanks ks, appreciate the comment.🤠

I run an IT business started started a goat dairy farm recently in Wisconsin. I can see these kind of numbers working great in conjunction with a 10 year plan where the farm is an effective tax write off while building a debt free farm business for our children. Very responsible and recession proof!

@@patrickhoerterExcellent point, Patrick! I hope all are paying attention.

Hey, thanks so much! These comments keep me goin!🤠

Hey, thanks for watching! Email is in the channel description if I can help! Best of luck to ya!🐑🐑

Thanks Ben! Hopefully we’ll have a few more lamb pics here soon

Thank you for the encouragement.

That’s exciting though, you can do a lot on 5 in my area! “Painted desert”…I’ll have to look that up.

Those are great sheep. We are on 10 acres (currently using only 4-5) we have one ram currently and 4 ewes we are breeding. 7 babies this breeding cycle. Working on clearing the woods for Silvopasture. Definitely have to be creative with the grazing space (have a flock of goats also) but our pasture gets better every year!

Thank you for this. I think this clarity it will help some folks.

@@birchfieldfarmingare you aware of or know Greg Judy?

@@stellarjayatkins4749Yes I am.

Hi Pierre, Here in Ohio we have pretty rough winters and no grass is growing during that time, so we feed hay harvested from summer. There are other options than hay, like “stockpile grazing” but freezing water is something to think thru with winter grazing. Our hay season is about 120 days here.

That’s awesome, I had family worked at Wright Pat. Thanks for watching!

Man, that’s gonna be an awesome lambing! It’s the best time of the year, brother! I need to look into the Int’l side. Our registry has changed hands in the last year, and I’m not thrilled about some of the changes.

@@birchfieldfarming Super happy with the Int’l, and they will accept registration from other credible registry groups. Rates seemed very reasonable, I was surprised when I didn’t see your name and wondered why, but didn’t reach out to ask. You’ll see us on there as Harrisiana.

@@appalachianheartsong5487Great to know! I’m over on the other side at St. Croix Sheep Breeders, Inc. The registry used to be awesome, but they sold to Livestock Conservancy. Since the sale, all our names and listings require general public to create an account just to find us as breeders! Great to know you’re happy, as I’m looking.👍

@@appalachianheartsong5487I’ve been thinking too - a few of us need to get together and form our own registry with grass-fed stock/zero dewormer and serve the emerging market with these beauties!🐑🐑

@@birchfieldfarming First lambs on the ground this morning. A set of twins and a singleton. A little early but all seem to be strong and are suckling! So excited around the homestead, and we pray that you have a healthy lambing season.

You got it, thanks for watching

Correct, breeding stock sales - sheep vs cattle then on to meat lbs, then $

…tough to answer over RU-vid comment, but have you tried marketing breeding stock? We’re in kind of a niche with 100% grass-fed, No de-wormer, and selling to other homesteaders looking for that independence on grass alone. I don’t have a lot of experience on the lamb meat side, but that’s actually what we got the animals for. I went with registered stock as well, which has given us a leg up on the breeding side.

Thanks Andy🤠

Hey, congrats Bobby!

@@birchfieldfarming thanks, several years in the making but this year I'm starting my sheep flock !!! Hope to make a living some day off of it, just one day at a time.

@@bobbyfoster1417awesome, stay in touch🐑🐑

@@birchfieldfarming will do !!

You are correct, and I am impressed! She’s actually a registered American Milking Devon with a Rotokawa grandsire. The cream she gives us is pretty awesome.

@@birchfieldfarming That's awesome. We have our starter herd of registered AMD cattle coming this week. We plan to use them for dual purpose milk and grass finished beef.

@@ecchastangOh wow! Can I ask general area where you’re located and farming?

@@birchfieldfarming We are outside of Chattanooga in Dunlap TN. Mowbray Mountain Farm online at all the usual places. We bought 119 acres 3 months ago, and are pasture raising berkshire pigs on non-GMO corn and soy free feed, and American Milking Devon grass fed/finished beef. We will will have pastured eggs, lamb, and dairy in time. It is a slow process but we are excited. We have a newsletter if you want to follow along. Our herd is a bull, 2 bred cows, 2 bred heifers, 3 weaned heifers and a weaned steer.

@@ecchastangSounds amazing and thanks for sharing!🤠

All depends on your goals, context, climate, soil health, and ability to persist!🍻

LOVE to all the naysayers bumpin my views with your comments! Keep ‘em ROLLIN baby!!🐑🐑🔥

@@birchfieldfarming It was a genuine question. Never looked after a sheep in my life.... How many sheep can one person handle?

@@mourbonaventure7475Depends on context - my expectation is several hundred, more with trained dogs. I know one solar grazing contractor planning to run thousands, making about twice what good row crop ground rents for here.

Awesome, thanks for watching!

Why do you say the numbers are off?

Great idea! We’ve actually “fence row grazed” with our sheep in the past with great results…I agree with using every square inch!

@@birchfieldfarming Great message. Well done video. Very engaging. Leviticus 23:22 “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.’” Just something to consider. Not sure how it applies to today. Except that there is a portion of what we own that is for something other than production. It doesn’t say it, but when those farmers left the corners of their fields, they were providing food and habitat for wildlife as well. As a town kid growing up in farming community, farmers blessed me by allowing me to be able to set traps in those corners of their farms. I harvested fur that I could sell, and they did not charge me a dime for that. When farmers use every square inch of their land for profit, in my uneducated opinion, they violate this scriptural principle (commandment). (You see the commandment being kept by the wealthy farmer Boaz in the book of Ruth).

@@davidpeightal4918That’s an interesting perspective, especially viewed thru the lens of loving God wholeheartedly then loving neighbor as oneself. I’ve often wondered with our farming in general and the curse to work the ground, what are the spiritual and practical implications of that as viewed thru the post Christ event of Him becoming that curse for us? How does/should this impact or even completely change our relationship to the ground? I’ve enjoyed reading about your past experiences on the land.

@@birchfieldfarming this got really long. Only read it if you have time. Some is scripture. Some is my opinion. you raise a deep question that probably whole books have been written trying to answer. My mom and dad both were ordained pastors in a mainstream Protestant denomination. My beliefs were well formulated and intact until I started listening to scripture every day for hours as a truck driver. The Sabbath was thrown in my face almost every single day as I listened. I decided to start observing the Sabbath. And, turns out, for me and many like me, the Sabbath is the “gateway drug” to understanding scripture in ways that I could not possibly understand before that step of faith and obedience. Jesus said things like ““You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.” (Mark 7:9) He said it a lot. And some people believe his teachings were for the Jews, and his teachings ended with his death and resurrection. To me it is silly to think he was only teaching the people who were alive at that time and had no insight into the fact that his teachings would be studied by people like you and me. He kept all the commandments, and taught his followers to keep all the commandments. The commandments are almost always on the same pages with words like “love”. John said “sin is transgression of the law”. (1 Jn 3:4). This was long after Jesus had died and risen. The definition for sin is still the same as it was in the beginning. There are many commandments that do not apply to me. Some are for women, priests etc. But I pay attention to all of them. And even the ones that don’t apply to me help me understand the character of יהוה God which never changes. You started off the video with some of His commandments. The principles still apply, and you are testimony to the fruit of paying attention to them. All his commandments are toward a better life, better family, better society, nation, world. The Gospel of Jesus re-opens the garden for us to be forgiven and eat of the tree of life and never die. It changes nothing of the eternal principles that always apply to creation. These principles are understood and enjoyed and employed within the parameters of His commandments.

@@davidpeightal4918I have time. Life and blessing to you, friend. May all who read this rest in the Peace of Jesus both now and in the coming times.

Man, those are some pretty awesome goals! Are you running St. Croix? Thanks for sharing!

…I just now passed that compliment along and he’s smiling ear to ear! Thanks, Stuart!

Thanks for watching and commenting. Appreciate all the positive feedback here!

Thanks for watching! We sell breeding stock direct to small farms/homesteads, no auctions.

Unfortunately, you’ve misunderstood the entire analysis.

Aww Grace, thanks so much!😀

Ha!…you got it! 🐑 🐄 💩

Interesting, Alan…thanks.

You know it all depends. When repeatedly using one ram it’s called line breeding, which is an acceptable practice but also requires skill, as traits (both good and bad) will be magnified. You’re just fine to start with one ram, but I wouldn’t go more than a couple generations when first starting out. We started with just one ram and then added another bloodline after 3rd gen. If I were starting again, I’d just buy both upfront and swap each year. All that being said, we did have some success with this technique: After we got our flock started, we identified our absolute best ewe, kept back her ewe the following year. (By best I mean large carcass and virtually NO messy backend at any time of year - NOT just the largest ewe). Then that ewe threw a ram and we kept him back and watched. He was superior in growth, but more importantly clean on the rear all year round on grass. He’s currently one of our sires. Best of luck, Steve!

Welcome here and thanks for following along! The extra males are your meat. Males are separated at lambing (mid-April) and re-introduced around mid-November. This allows the breeder to only introduce selected top rams for breeding. Look up “linebreeding” when you have some time, as there are many different strategies and variables when producing top stock.

@@birchfieldfarming Very helpful. Appreciated. Thanks.

Indeed…and the proof is in what’s actually working in the real world. Farmers buying everything retail and selling it wholesale is no longer a viable option. We’re sold out every year with a waiting list on the direct sales side. Tremendous opportunity with several different paths for folks wanting to convert grass to a balance sheet asset.

Hi Ann, Just a suggestion: If you could drill down a little deeper on your question - with the words “sheep” and “market” b/c there’s wool, meat, milk, breeding stock, etc. If you could be a little more specific in what you’re interested in doing with sheep, folks might be able to better help you. My video here is specifically about the potential of hair sheep (no wool) breeding stock and meat done on all grass.

SW Ohio

Interesting…I’ll have to look into this!🌱

Hi Darrel, I made this video like 5 months ago, and I’m not sure I still have it. If you can email me at birchfieldfarming@gmail.com with your email address I’ll send it over if I can find it. Thanks!

Sell out every year and a waiting list at $500/ewe, $450/ram, but I really, really wish folks would take the time to watch the ENTIRE video and grasp the point of what’s being said.

@birchfieldfarming that's really good. I watched the entire video. I guess I just feel like a lot of folks will get the wrong idea from those numbers. You compare earning a salary cumulatively over years to the market value of every animal on the farm after selling none. The thing about the salary is you're seeing that money year after year. To see any money off the farm it will not grow at that rate. I know you touched on that but just my $.02. I don't want to come off super wrong, I do like your content just also value "keeping it real".

@@danielphillips1094Great points and I hear you and thanks for circling back. Here’s my challenge: Is an ounce of gold worth nothing because you haven’t yet sold it for dollars? In other words, the sheep have a market value at all times, sold or not. My analysis is based on that assumption and that folks have a general understanding of what the term “market value” implies, but perhaps we agree on the fact that one bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

@@danielphillips1094 I agree.

Lots of ideas here, might be tough to solve on a RU-vid comment. My point was to highlight the exponential growth when compounded over several years with these creatures. I’d start by asking questions like what are your goals and then drill down to specifics (lambing rate over time, carrying capacity of your pastures, rotation management, etc). I’m assuming you’re 100% grass-fed? If the goal is to simply increase profitability, what are your options on the sell side besides the current situation(other processors, selling direct to consumer, etc)? Have you considered selling breeding stock vs meat?

Thank you so much for this encouragement! You’re absolutely right on Kingdom principles.

Yep, all depends on your goals and context. That being said, the “Angus of the sheep world” must be wormed regularly in my area, and I wanted minimal inputs on grass alone. Some of the new soil health data confirms the biological destruction caused by chemical wormers, plus I don’t want the extra labor. I’ve always said what I give up in carcass size, I gain in parasite resistance. The Royal White (St Croix/Dorper cross) comes close, but I still haven’t found an unwormed flock.

Thanks for checking in, Ben! Spring has sprung and has us behind on the farm! Hope to have another video out very soon.🤠

Sounds exciting, Tom! We’ve done a bit of milking with our Devons, and I sure do respect anyone who works in dairy.

Everything went North of us, thanks for asking. How about you guys?

You do not have to be registered to sell, but we are a registered breeder. Several options to choose from for St Croix sheep registration - Google the breed and select what fits your farm goals best.

What most folks don’t realize about Greg Judy’s operation is the reason it works for him is the ground is VERY poor in his area and cannot be row-cropped. Unfortunately, row-cropping drives the land market everywhere else, which makes his land leasing content largely irrelevant to the rest of us. I LOVE Greg Judy but context is everything in ag.

@birchfieldfarming All the good ones say context context context. Greg did say they cannot really rowcrop because of the hills. You can do cover crops and no till, all sorts of things that Greg can't. I think it is important that context very different. I am in North Texas and we are a lot different. And go East or West very different.

@@tireddad6541You got it!👍

There’s debate about this - using the same ram is called line breeding. It can be done, but takes some initial selection and skill. I would recommend starting with two rams from different blood lines to start and swap each year, then 4 or 5 generations out find another. Good luck with your farm!🤠

@@birchfieldfarmingthanks, that sounds reasonable. I was just reading an article on line breeding and it said line breeding is generally considered breeding half brothers with half sisters and continuing with the animals with the best traits. Whereas in-breeding is breeding brothers with sisters and parents with offspring. It also said, if it works, it’s line breeding. If it doesn’t work, it’s in-breeding.

@@tomcopeland6424…Yeah, that’s the old saying, which I have been guilty of using before, too. Not all subscribe to that thinking tho. Best thing is to hop in the ballgame and learn all you can! 🔥

Thanks for watching!🤠

No dewormer, no antibiotics, no grain. Yes, they are healthy without a vet. We paid a little more upfront and sought out a breeder doing it right, and it was one of the best moves I’ve ever made for our farm.

sounds like exactly what I'm looking for

@@ericamundson4700Carcass size is not as large as some of the other meat breeds (Dorper), but I wanted minimal input animals and they’ve worked out in that regard.

Thanks! We use Free Choice Enterprises mineral system and let them self select what’s needed. I like it b/c the pastures re-mineralize over time thru the animals. Thanks for watching!

@birchfieldfarming I'm doing the same but it's more expensive so searching for an alternative

@@McCoyFamilyFarmMan, it sure is! Cattle hammered my phosphorus for awhile after I introduced. You know what’s interesting though is I had a soil test done and my pasture was deficient in phosphorus! I think it’s working but you’re right it is expensive, especially initially. I’m hoping it levels out over time. Let us know here if you find a better alternative.

Wow, South Africa!🤩

Marcus, email is in channel description anytime you need it. I’d rather not list it in comments with the robots. Message me anytime.