Thanks! The current drought has been a bit challenging, though we’re still able to make it work by keeping soil covered and not overgrazing. It’s an art, and I am still very much a student.
@@birchfieldfarming I think the mindset of your still a student is such a positive/healthy mindset. I look forward to watching more videos and learning from you. I’m looking to start a farm in the next 3 years
Timing your rotational grazing to have the chickens in the paddock roughly 4 days after the cattle and sheep, gives the flies and beetles time to lay eggs in the manure and the chickens will then eat the eggs and larvae before they have a chance to hatch
@@birchfieldfarming as far as I know the beetles will have layed eggs and moved on after roughly 4 days. The chicken won't get all the eggs which leaves enough for the cycle to continue.
@@Only-Memories-In-The-End Chickens can no doubt spread manure, but I’ve been ate up with an idea for several months now over winter: Feed biochar to cattle, auto-inoculating as it passes thru digestion, then dung beetles bury char along with manure in pasture. Essentially, terra preta with no digging. Biochar has also been shown to increase yields in dairy cattle, as well as slow grass digestion in Spring similar to hay. We make char as a by-product of our Maple syrup production..hhhhhhmmmmmm….🤔
@@Only-Memories-In-The-End If there’s one thing I’ve seen, it’s that there’s ideas (some of them good) and then there’s reality, and the two seldom line up…..but when they do……🤣🍻
Greg Judy built swallow birdhouse to eat a ridiculous amounts of flies. Just a thought. New to your channel and ty vm for posting and sharing info on your farm. God bless.
@birchfieldfarming read online about lavender oil, which can be put in the cows' feed or put on their backs. To help against the flies. Have yet to try it but talking to a supplier about it. Unfortunately couldn't bring it in time so had to use chemical this time next time want to try the oil
Excellent work. Due to decreasing acreage we are now encouraging our people to run profitable regenerative smallholder farm. I will show them this video.
For your flies- You might want to try reusable fly traps. They are a trap designed as a catch bag. When they get full, you just dump them out and hang them back up. You'll probably want to dump them in a can and burn them. The rotting ones will attract more. Another thing you can do is make one by drilling some holes in the sides around a 5 gallon bucket. Leave a quater sized opening in the lid. Place (for example; a deceased chick) in the bucket. (Preferably red) The flies will find it and lay eggs. When the larvae hatch they will crawl out of the side holes- free food for your chickens! Thanks for sharing!
@@birchfieldfarming I got my first 3 cows a couple months ago. I have alot of bush on my pasture and am thinking some sheep could really help. thank you for posting this it is inspiring
@@escapetheratrace4798 Oh cool, congrats!! Yeah, sheep can help with the brush. They say goats are even better on the woody stuff, but I didn’t want to deal with escapees all the time. Sheep are a fit for us in that regard. Best of luck to you and animals!🤠
Thanks! I’m a firm believer now in rotating animals. By our figures, it just about doubles carrying capacity. We have 30”+ annual rainfall though, so very good grass growing conditions.
WoW! I really love your channel! I'm going to watch everything! We're fixin' ta git ready ta do pretty much the same thing as you so I feel a great affinity for you and your operation! I'm a big fan of Greg Judy (check out his tree swallow bird houses for fly control- also the rotting meat, fly bucket thing for the chickens). But I really didn't think it would be possible to rotationally graze even 5 cattle on such a small acreage so you give me a lot of hope! I don't want anything but grass fed, no chemicals, no grain, (no nothin') rotationally grazed cattle. We're in the process of getting the place ready to sell so we can move to the Midwest, buy 5 to 40 or so acres and build a self-sufficient homestead. Whatever we can find and afford. The value of our place has been going up dramatically lately but so has the prices of land! So we'll see... I have a design for the ULTIMATE chicken tractor that I found in an obscure channel here on YT. It's really a piece of very elegant, inspired and brilliant design. It's amazing what you can find when ya poke around.... eh? (Like your channel!!!) I have hundreds of books and thousands of ideas from them that I am itchin' to try out. It's a really good time in history to be a homesteader/prepper. Speaking of 'elegant design', isn't that Super Split an amazing and wonderful firewood splitter?! I watched your vid on that. It shocks and amazes me that EVERYBODY is not using them instead of those SLOW as MOLASSES & expensive hydraulic splitters. I don't want a POS DR splitter either... A Super Split is one of the things at the top of our list to buy once we get out on the land. I already have a Wood Mizer mill so that would complete the loop of NO WASTE whatsoever in the wood dept. Another first buy will be a Harvest Right food freeze dryer (for advanced prepping and saving of all that farm & ranch production- and it lasts 25 years!). No more putting cucumbers in the neighbor's mailboxes or giving away excess eggs when we get overwhelmed at the end of the season... (Not to mention door dash zucchini... Heh.) We will buy the Harvest Right at a show or convention (prepper, gun, camping whatever) and save HUNDREDS of dollars on the show price. That's a big tip for ya! :) Well, I could blabber on. I think about homesteading, gardening, building houses and structures for nothing, Permaculture, worm composting and such, all the live long day. But I'll stop. :) Again, I LOVE your channel and am gonna watch everything! You're livin' the dream I'm still only dreamin' about!
Thanks for stopping by! Keep chasing down those dreams and pull them into reality - sounds like you’ve got a great start! Thanks for supporting the channel, and I hope the content continues to bring joy.
@@tickcreekranch Sure thing! I mention it a lot and even used to describe it and say where it is but nobody was interested. People have their dumb tractors and don't want to change! Don't want to know about anything different and better! So I stopped saying anything detailed about it. People are so strange. You're the first to actually ask about it in a blog! It really is genius and far and away better than everything else I've ever seen. So here it is: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SdU63EOdPIE.html So many people have just one shining moment. One flash of genius. This tractor is "Empty Hammock's" shining moment. I will modify it somewhat. I will probably make one tall enough to have a man door in front and do a gothic arch type design and run a wire around the perimeter near the ground attached to a solar electric fence charger to keep the nasties from digging under and use hardware cloth to keep everything else out above. The mechanism is so elegant that it can be pretty heavy and not be a problem- weld it out of steel- carry a battery for the solar electric fence to operate at night- build a roost box with laying boxes that will also provide shade in the back half but up off the ground so that the clucks can get to every part of the grass rectangle- water..... and thus & so... :) I hope you are as impressed with the design as me! You gotta know how to weld though. Maybe a good excuse to learn at your local community college if you don't already know! It's an extremely useful skill! All the best!
Just found your channel! looking to add some hair sheep to our homestead to graze with the cows . We have some bantam chickens that free range in the day to hopefully help with flies and ticks as well 😅😅
A thought regarding flies. Do you have the opportunity for swifts and swallows, who will harvest flies, to nest? I've seen barns fitted out with overhanging eaves so they can build, and human-made boxes for a variety of bird species. Owls for example. The natural process can be the cheapest in the long run, as you know.
Awesome! We are on 5 acres too by Columbus. We are thinking of doing the same thing with our chicken tractors, goats, and pasture pigs. Would love to see what fencing you use and whether you move it or just move the animals? Also, what do you do in the winter?
Fencing is more permanent electric wire - stays hot all the time, wood posts on ends, pvc in between. We use an electronet on the other areas. Wintertime we grin and bear it! We have a sacrifice 1 acre area where we feed hay and have an auto-waterer. Whatever you can do to make an Ohio winter more bearable, do it! Buried water lines and freeze proof hydrants are spectacular. I grew up just north of Columbus in Waldo…world famous bologna sandwiches.💯
This is incredible, and exactly what my wife and I would like to try on our 10acres. But just so I'm clear. All 272 animals, spend their entire existence rotating on the same 4 acres from start to finish? I only ask because a number of people are claiming high numbers on low acreage, but as I inquire it ends up them using more like 15 or 20acres but only 1 at a time. Thank you for the video and you got a subscriber out of me.
Hi Brian, You’re paying really close attention, and I love it! During the grazing season, all the animals were raised on that 4 acres. Here’s another way to “game the system” - feeding hay thru the winter made off additional acreage and brought in. To answer your original question, we use a 1 acre sacrifice paddock in winter because it has our auto-waterer with buried lines but that 5 acre mark is pretty accurate for us right now for all our animals. Livestock numbers fluctuate, we’re up to 7 head of cattle now. When analyzing systems, be sure to ask about hay. I did another video at the end of last year analyzing our rotational grazing method compared to conventional (just turning out and not rotating) INCLUDING hay brought in. We were about 1.91 times conventional for year two - I was pretty happy about that. Thanks for following! Wishing you the best with your livestock adventure.
Yeah, we fed out about 16 rounds and a couple hundred squares. I did a year end video accounting for both grazing ground and hay consumption and came up with us running at about 1.91 times conventional (conventional being just turning animals out for the season). It’s certainly more labor, but in our case is very much worth it to me. Thanks for stopping by!
Welcome, and good questions - Yes, we have our own bull and ram… We lamb in late April, separate ram just before lambing (he likes to headbutt the lambs) and do not put him back in with ewes until mid/late November (Black Friday-ish). This gives us April lambs when the grass is green every year. As far as our bull, we are only a couple years into raising cattle, so leaving him in all the time and seeing who is viable and good calvers and who is not. We’ve dropped calves in November and February but all has gone very well.
Wasn't going to say anything but... Less use of the self stick. You're selling the farm, the concepts, the results to the wider audience. Point your camera at what you're talking about, then talk about it. Sorry if I'm being harsh. I watch hundreds of channels, and never go back and watch another selfish channel. Hope you think about it. Good lookin farm... in the background, I think. You're in the way of what you're selling. Again, love what you're doing. I'm all in on regenerative ag and permaculture. Now sell the none believers on what we do. Our channel will come online soon enough. So I'm counting on y'all in the meantime.
We started doing that last season, and it was amazing! Automatic deer feeder and waterer in the paddocks, turning poo maggots into eggs and spreading pats.
We do run chicken tractor year round, though in different areas - for example, late winter thru spring, we have it on the garden, so chickens can harrow behind the sheep, who just consumed the winter cover crop. We also keep them in a coop in winter to make our leaf/woodchip compost. For protection, there is a roost inside chicken tractor, though we’ve noticed the only time we’ve had a problem is when the chicken tractor is on very loose garden soil AND left in one spot for several days. When on pasture and/or moving everyday, never had an issue with chicken tractor and predation. Chickens are awesome if used in the right context! Let me know of any other questions.
This is fantastic. We have 4 Dorpers presently on pasture (but it’s almost gone now - mid December), 2 of which are due to lamb any day. With pasture at minimum should we feed anything else during this high nutritional demanding time? We feed decent hay at lib, 1/2 cup ewe pellets, free choice kelp, salt and mineral block. I’m concerned because all the good pasture has died back although they are very healthy sheep. Thanks!! We’ll have 2 cows arriving soon and we’ll rotate them, the 20 chickens and possibly meat rabbits next spring. Our pastures are lush.
So we’ve learned over the years (the hard way) that the last 6 weeks of gestation is when lambs put on 80% of their weight. This is a big part of why we try and lamb when the grass greens up in Spring. I have no experience with winter lambing, but it sounds like you’re on top of it! We’re all grass-fed, so I’m always shooting for between 3 to 4% of body weight per day in dry matter forage. If you know your weights, this can be easily figured and adjusted. I would recommend keeping some glycol (energy) on hand in the event that you do have an expectant ewe that goes down (usually preg tox but can be good to involve the vet). Congrats on your growing operation!!🤠
Which state is your farm? We’re in Iowa and wanted to start pasture raised. Wondered what your winters are like and how that affects pasture raising in heavy snow
Ohio - pretty good wallopings in the winter here! Buried water line 4’ deep to an auto heated waterer (Ritchie) and a sacrifice paddock for hay feeding…concrete floor is better. It’s whatever it takes to make it thru out here in winter. I’ve noticed many want to talk up stockpiled grazing in winter, but very few mention in detail the wretchedness of winter livestock watering that comes with it. One of the perks of hay for us is we stay close to easy water. That being said, both our sheep and cattle do well in the snow and colder temps. Good luck to ya!
@@birchfieldfarmingisn’t snow enough for them? We feed all our animals snow when it deeps between -20 and -40. Our chickens do much better because of frost bite and dipping their wattles in the water. Sheep seem to love the snow too but we always give water when we can…
@@spoolsandbobbinsIt can be, but much of our winter is without snow. I also notice when we feed hay our animals seem to drink lots more water. I can’t imagine what you all endure and push thru in winter up north!
Hi, do you run a chain harrow over the area where the stock have just moved away from , in order to spread and disperse the manure into the soil. Hope you don’t mind the query 👍
I do not run a harrow. Have experimented with running chickens behind to bust up pats, but I’ve become more interested in establishing a dung beetle population, which I’m concerned the chickens would hinder. 30+ days rest per paddock has been sufficient to keep things running thru the season for both our grass-fed cattle and sheep.
We are looking at purchasing twelve acres in Nebraska. With about three to four acres for the house, garden, orchard, work shop and assorted places to house animals, do you feel the 8 acres in a "dry" area would support four to five cows, a dozen pigs and about 10 chickens and six turkeys?? Would there also be room for a small hay field?
I’m honored you would ask, but that’s exactly what I don’t do - recommend stocking rates for areas where I’ve never lived or farmed. Your best bet is to talk with someone local to that Nebraska area, maybe an extension office and figure out what a normal stocking rate would be. Once that’s established, I would bet rotational grazing would increase your productivity vs. continuous grazing, but again I have zero experience with farming that part of the country. Best of luck to you!
@@birchfieldfarming Thank you so much for your answer. My husband grew up on a farm in Nebraska (about 150 miles from where we will be) and his father never used rotational grazing. He thinks it has no way of working and my answer is we will never know unless we try it. I'm not sure the local extension office can give us a good answer as most people in that area still use continuous grazing.
@@nancyseery2213 I commend you for being willing to try! So to start, you could always stock at a rate equal to or below the extension office’s continuous grazing recommendations. I would be surprised if you were not able to improve on those baseline numbers in subsequent years. Hey, best of luck to you guys! Let us know how it goes.
I do. Some farmers do something called “stockpiling forage” and graze all winter to eliminate/minimize hay use. We have easy access to hay, which allows us to stay close to winter water source. Unfrozen winter water can be easily overlooked when thinking thru winter feeding location and logistics.
I’ve dreamed of raising pigs off slop (primarily raw cow’s milk) instead of just grain, but I’d need to 1. Be milking our cow and 2. Probably need a dedicated spot for just them, though rotating might be a possibility. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a compost turning set-up similar to Joel Salatin’s pigaerator pork raising them only off slop and corn bits buried in the compost? Also heard they are great for sealing off pond bottoms that would otherwise need dredging…I’m confident this will all flesh out one way or another, stay tuned!!😀
@@birchfieldfarming yeah, I've watched a lot of Salatin and Rhodes talk about pigs fattening up on milk, that is the one downside, I have zero interest in a milk cow.
We live next to a dairy farm so they brought us their “extra” milk once a week for our pigs. They’re in our freezer now but we’re getting a milk cow now because we have 5 hungry kids, 50 chickens and will have more pigs next year. They LOVE milk. A homestead seems to pretty much revolve around a milk cow… learning to make cheese with the kids now!
Yes, we have a portable water tank with a float valve that we move with the animals. Two elevated IBC’s in barn loft fed by a windmill well supply water to tank. I’ll be posting a video on it here in a few days.
Hey, was just wondering you mentioned that you have 8 paddocks and rotate every 3 days. How do you let each paddock rest for 30 days? We love this idea but would love if you could answer this for us
Yes, great question! We have an approximate 1.5 acre section of woods at the end of the paddocks where we can spend up to a week. It’s been great as a buffer of sorts and gives the animals brush and such they don’t normally get on straight pasture. Having that overflow section was also a huge help this past fall with the drought. Hope this helps and thanks for the question!
@@birchfieldfarming Thank you so much! That helps a lot!!! We have about 2.5 acres of our 6.5 acres that are wooded so that actually could be a great solution!
@@rootedreliance9463 It’s been a great fit for us, animals seem to enjoy the shade and eating the undergrowth, and it keeps the invasives cut back. Hey, good luck with your set-up!
Great suggestion - We have barn swallows nesting in the barns that help, but perhaps some houses on corner fence posts in the actual pasture would up the impact! Thanks!
@@birchfieldfarming Purple Martins would be great if you can attract them! Also, have you considered free ranging your chickens after the flerd is out of the pasture to eat the larvae? I know chicken tractors are the rage now, but a 2-for-1 bug control and meat growing makes more sense to me.
@@CriaAndKiddFW Yes! Tried following up cattle rotation with roosters, worked ok…lots more labor. They did bust up some pats. My latest question for the regen ag folks: Where are all the dung beetle farmers?
8 1/4 acre paddocks, rotate every three days, how do you have a 30 day rest period for each paddock? Sorry, the numbers are not adding up for me, please clarify
8, 1/4 acre paddocks and a 1.5 acre wooded area when finished with the 8 paddocks. We usually do the woods for around a week, depending on conditions. I like the wooded area at the end b/c it not only provides shade, but also gives the animals leaves/twigs/nutrition they don’t otherwise get on all pasture. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Very minimal shelter req for our sheep, as they stay out all winter. Electric in existing barn. Water is elevated IBC tanks in loft of barn, several (Powerflex) hook-ups throughout paddocks. I’ll see if I can link to that vid: Pasture Water Point Install | Multi-Species Rotational Grazing | St Croix Sheep | Red Devon Cattle ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-S6A1praJGvY.html
Yes, 1/4 acre paddocks, sheep & cattle together 3 days, paddocks are set-up 2 rows of 4 right next to one another. Also have an over flow larger paddock in the woods that we use at the end of the 24 day rotation. The idea is to not return to the same paddock for at least 30 days rest to break parasite cycle for sheep, so we do about a week in the woods. Thanks for watching and commenting.
The animals are rotating thru the different paddocks, so they’re always grazing out on pasture. New grass every 3 days. The 30 day rest is for each individual paddock after it’s been grazed.
Where is your hayfield for making hay? How do the cows get other minerals they need from grains? Do you grow or buy your own chicken feed? It does not seem that this farm-however nice, is sustainable.
The hayfield is at the back of the property, the cows get minerals from a mineral bin we pull from paddock to paddock (cows are ruminants and don’t need grain), yes we buy chicken feed. The only thing NOT sustainable is the current enslavement model of American agribusiness/agriculture. Tell us what you’re doing to shake things up (other than trolling those who are)?
@@waterdogherbfarm2652 I run thru a 1.5 acre wooded paddock at the end of our regular paddock rotation (qty 10, 1/4 acre paddocks). In some of my other videos, I’ve talked about the benefits to this “overflow” paddock at the end of each rotation - I can pump the brakes, so to speak, and give more rest when needed. Plus the animals get browse and such they don’t normally get on straight pasture. If we would encounter a dry season, I would most likely keep them in the woods and feed hay as necessary until we could return to the regular rotation. This would effectively clear more undergrowth and apply more litter, both of which would help our wooded area grow more grass. If I didn’t have a woods, I would probably pick a paddock to sacrifice and feed hay until I could rotate again. Hope this helps - good luck to ya!
Do you keep the chickens in tractors 100% or open them? If you open are you using electric poultry netting? I want to rotational graze our land but moving the netting and mowing underneath so frequently is daunting.
Well, two different types of chickens here - layers & broilers. The broilers stay in the tractor and move once a day. The layers follow cattle/sheep in the rotation for part of the season, and we do keep the layers in netting. I will say that is probably the most labor intensive job on the farm. Moving two of the 164’ heavy chicken nets each day with birds takes us about an hour. However, the harrowing and fertilizing that layers do behind cattle/sheep is phenomenal!
We do broilers fully in tractors, too. Layers are in a couple tractors. I have a 164’ net but lately I put fewer birds per tractor and leave them in. The netting is such a pain. We’re considering subdividing into 1/4 acre or so paddocks but with Hog wire and gates or maybe using hog wire down length of pasture and getting 75’ netting to make it easier. I’ve a bull and heifer and about 60 layers right now. Looking to add Kune Kune pigs eventually. I’ll do broilers again in fall when it cools down. Thank you for replying. I appreciate it.
Thank you for the information although you don't mention names and all types of grass you have in the farm also you said land is 4 Acres but it looks more then that what you say?
Hi Hadi, Many different warm and cool season grasses as well as legumes (Red/White clover, alfalfa, etc). We own almost 60 acres here, but only do rotational grazing on about 4, so your eyes were right!
No coyote issues with animals, though we do hear them howling at the trains! So I have to conclude sheep with cattle are a fit, and no need for guard dogs (in our context).
I don't understand the math here. Once you move them out of a paddock you only have 7 paddocks left at 3 days each that is 21 days before your out of paddocks. Where do they go for the last 9 days before you can return them to the original paddock? You said that you don't go back before 30 days?
Yeah, I should’ve done some more explaining. We have a small wooded area at the end of the paddocks that allows us a sort of gas/brake pedal, depending on what the grass is doing. Since this video, we’ve upped the paddocks to a quantity of 11 and still have the wooded overflow area. We’re up to 8K to 10K lbs of live weight animal now on under 5 acres, or about double the traditional stocking rate…the point is the system is still working well. Thanks for the question.
@@birchfieldfarming Awesome, thank you for the reply. I have 5 acres in TX that I am going to set up. I am hoping for just 2 cows, 2 pigs, a horse and chickens. Your videos are making my plans seem pretty reasonable!
That’s a great question. I’ve heard of folks milking right out in the pasture. Doesn’t work for us though since I need to separate at night. When you figure it out, let us know!🤠
@@brookemenefee9659Our American Milking Devon has a bold set of horns, and she’s not afraid to use em. I can’t imagine milking her without a headgate…that video would go viral tho!🤣
I know this video is old but but do you know roughly what your stocking rate of sheep and cattle is by weight per quarter acre? I'm curious because we have dwarf goats and are getting Dexters. Trying to get an apples to apples comparison.
For ease of math, let’s say we had close to 8,000 lbs total on 4 acres that year (not counting chickens). That would put us at 500 lbs per 1/4 acre if we divided it out, but we were running that total weight (8K) thru all the paddocks, just 3 days at a time. Does that help?
Yes, hot wire to subdivide. So this vid was a few years back. Yes, qty of 8 paddocks at 1/4 acre, however, we have a couple acre woods at the end of the rotation that we would send them thru. I’d highly recommend this, as it gives us a gas/brake pedal in the paddocks, since the grass growth is highly variable with season/precipitation. Does that make sense, Marcus?
yes, for sure. so you have the ability to give them 1/16th of an acre each day if you wanted to, to increase the recovery period during slow growth periods
@@Marcus-hw5ilYes, you could do that, but I like just keeping them in the wooded section until the paddocks have fully recovered. Sounds like you’re catching on, friend!
@@birchfieldfarmingi can’t wait to get out of the burbs and do this myself. you’re closer than greg judy, i may end up buying some st croix from you when the time comes if you have ewes to spare
@@Marcus-hw5ilThink way ahead, as we’re booked up for several seasons on the sheep. In the meantime, swing up for a farm tour sometime, and I’ll show you around.
Keep it up with all of your animal husbandry--awesome. But you got a lot of shaky math. 1) Eight 1/4 acre paddocks takes up 2 acres. You say you utilizing 4 acres. (so 16 1/4 acre paddocks maybe?) 2) You say you keep them on each paddock for 2-3 days and that they don't go back on the same land until at least 30 days. 3 days times 8 paddocks is 24 days. (so 16 paddocks and 2 days per paddock maybe?) All the viewers out there be very careful. If you don't get boatloads of rain in your area, then having this many animals on 4 acres will require significant hay purchasing during the "warmer" months and not just in winter. If they don't overgraze I bet they are growing excellent soil.
The math is dead on. Watch the video again starting at 1:12. Here are my words, “Eight quarter acre paddocks with an acre and a half overflow and another half acre upfront.” That math is 4 acres. 24 days in the paddocks, leaves me 6 plus days between the 1.5 and .5 acre sections, hitting 30+ every rotation.
If you were running each 1/4 acre paddock for one day then yes, 7.5 acres. We run 3 days on each of 8 paddocks and have a wooded area we run for a week or so after rotation. I like to go about 33 days total so paddock #1 has a true 30 days of rest.
Are your animals vaccinated? Did they receive ANY pharmaceuticals in any shape way or form since conception to now? Did the animals parents' receive ANY pharmaceuticals in any shape way or form since conception to now? Do you have any man made industrial chemical on/in your property?
Almost subscribed today. Love the content, but can't survive the repetative tongue click noise (just as annoying as someone saying "um" or "like" every other word). Not even lowering the volume helped reduce the annoying bad habit. I'll check back in the future to see if you have corrected it so your content shines through.
