I interviewed Joel Salatin and asked him how he uses sheep within a permaculture system. Get more Joel content on Abundance Plus: bit.ly/3HcGFp0 10% Off Coupon Code: GRASSFED10
Well, he did mention something big: sheep eat things cows won't. Sheep will harvest weeds, brush and other plants, helping to get that sunlight energy from the system, and covert it into more meat, milk, wool, and leather. So, if cows pass first, followed by chickens, sheep would go next, to clear the remaining usable plant material. Sheep will also act as the homestead lawnmower. So, he implied a lot, but stayed still unconfirmed regarding the effects of chickens on sheep manure, which is fair, he may still be observing it...
Our sheep and egg layers run together. Like in the same paddock. 4 sheep, 4 chickens on 2,500 sqft for 72 hours. The chickens literally stand on the sheep, snacking in flies.
Good interview. I agree with Joel, run poultry behind any large animal on the farm. To get the most beneficial use of chicken following sheep I believe you need to keep the sheep in small lots so they are forced to properly eat what's there but also confine the area they are "depositing" there waste so the chickens can be more effective breaking down that waste. So you move the sheep every day or twice a day. I remember the videos of you moving your sheep when Justin and family visited you a few years ago. Running with the sheep. Anyway I'm thinking if you're moving the chickens twice a day you might need to double the amount of chickens you have to properly manage those lots. But that's not a bad thing right? More meat chickens and more eggs you could sell and barter with? I believe in a three animal rotation though. Could you bring in a cow or a steer, just one or two. This will benefit the soil with more diversity of manure, better use of the grasses being grown but also and very important parasite natural parasite control. And lastly better use of available land. I became a fan of Joel a few years ago because of the way he used his available land. By using 3 or more types of animals on the same piece of land it's like your using more land then you actually have and improving that land also. My comments tend to get long,I apologize. So last thing here. I don't think most homesteaders who have sheep or goats make enough use of "renting " their livestock out. As you know goats and sheep are great for brush control. When your heard gets large enough again consider going around to different folks, post at some feed stores, etc for people who would like natural weed and brush control where they pay you to bring in your "gang" of brush busting sheep or goats. There are a few people who I have seen who do this and they don't even own their own land but just transport their animals from site to site. Just something to think about. Anyway have a great day 🌤 😃👍🐑🌱
Understood. I'm about 2 years from getting cattle. My "pasture " isn't in good enough shape. So I'm going to build it up by introducing chickens turkey. Next goats,then pigs then eventually cows. Since I'm a bachelor I'm going to go with kunekune pigs And Dexter cows. That will reduce pressure on the land and me. Have a great day 🌤
The real benefit of sheep is using undesirable forage for other stock. I recommend running about as many sheep as you have cattle or horses on most farms. if you manage your grazing well you will not notice any decline in production of your other stock and will see less undesirable weed growth wile improving forage stand. second sheep and cattle often are dead end host for each other's parasites. by running both in a mix stock operations you reduce overall parasite load in all stock. third you forget
I like sheep for their ability to thrive on weedy pastures. They’re much less likely to lose condition over winter in my climate, and there is no need to feed hay to them. I also have a lot of forest to transition into Silvo-pasture, and the volume of re-sprouting from the roots would require me to brush hog constantly…. Where as the sheep love the young tree leaves. I think using sheep as weed eaters is a fantastic way to reduce use of chemical/mechanical controls, and they also taste pretty darn good as well!
Anyone here use their sheep for fiber, meat AND milk?? We got goats for dairy but now rethinking our system after looking into the nutritional benefits of sheep milk? I'm guessing production might not be enough for ppl to warrant using them for this purpose as much? We are learning so much but so far to go. We want all of what we keep to be as efficient/multi purpose and symbiotic as possible so if I can have an animal that gives fiber, milk and meat that would be great. For chicken we always get dual purpose breeds too instead of specific egg layers/meet birds. We are limited to 10 acres so trying to max out the space usage wisely
Sheep tend to cut the grass really tight to the ground whereas cows do not. So the initial disturbance and recovery time needs to be adjusted for sheep… Birds of all types eat pasture… The benefit of running chickens behind cows is to break up the cow pies and spread them… Other bird types don’t scratch and dig like chickens do. Greg Judy is good to watch, but understand that he doesn’t make and spread compost like polyface does not chase with birds (but he builds bird houses for the wild birds to try to control flies)… So they are similar, but yet different enough to be worth understanding. Any ruminates that drop small pellet type droppings like rabbits, goats, sheep, alpacas, etc. do not necessarily benefit from chickens specifically. Turkeys, Guinea hens, or quail could be used instead of chickens. Be careful about this because parasite issues (worms), propagate via poop… You always want your large ruminates on clean non poopy pastures, not grazing right behind something that just pooped and pissed on the salad. Also… Avoid chemical wormers (ivermectin and the like). Toxic chemical wormers contaminate manure and that manure kills earthworms… You don’t want that on your pastures because they will grow slower and take longer to recover.
We have about 3.5 acres of yard we rotate 6 sheep on. I still had to mow all season. I could have ran 12 or 15 of them (... wish I did...). We're in Southern Michigan. 2.5 acres of good grass will easily allow you to run a few sheep for sure.
I miss having sheep. Will be adding a few this year. One I train herding with my corgis and we miss this work. I also love how gentle they are on the land. My last farm I took an extremely neglected field divided into 4 pastures and rotated the sheep every 2 weeks and seeded used pasture after moving them and had the best pasture for years. I never had to fertilize and didn't have to supplement their diets until well after first frost. I will be using them here for the same thing. Development of pasture and filling my freezer and training my dogs. Loved the video.
I’d love to see training corgis to herd. How useful on the farm. They are a nice size and the ones I met have great temperament. Do they stay good in the house when trained or do they want to be outside day and night? I’ve a 12 yr old begging for a dog, must sleep in her room at night….probably in her bed. But I like every critter to have a job. This sounds like perfection, or as close as a living thinking creature can get.
Ann, yes they are absolutely wonderful in the house mine sleep in bed with me and pretty much go everywhere with me but they're also fine when I leave them alone in the house they housebreak very easily I would say training is in between training a border collie and a German Shepherd so it's pretty simple border Collies being the easiest and sometimes German shepherds can be stubborn but I would highly recommend them
We moved into a home with a couple of hectares of neglected, hard-packed land out the back. It was our responsibility to *maintain this land for the owner, as it came with the house. We threw 20ish sheep onto it which brought the grass (weeds n rubbish) back to a controlled level initially. Now 1.5yrs later, the land is starting to respond to the increased green waste and gentle agitation of the soil which sheep do as they graze across the paddocks. We allow the sheep to mow the lawns around the home which is where our chickens are. I have not noticed any symbiotic relationships between the two animals except the occasional squabble over the mash lol. We have just dug in a large garden bed which we intend to develop by regularly adding a bucket or two of sheep manure into the soil. We are endeavoring to increase microbiology and worm activity over time this way. If we notice any pos/neg changes due to our little setup, we will definitely share them with you. We do, however, not foresee any drastic neg aspects because we are dealing with natural products supplied by nature, for natural use. Man-made never beats God's design.
Joel Salatin has so much important and necessary wisdom about growing and raising our food! I love how you worded your question, "stacking the function". What an excellent mind picture of what really does take place when things are done according to how God had originally planned our animals to live and function together on this earth. His plan was and is always perfect. We are the ones that disrupted it. Glad to see that many true farmers are seeking ways to revert to the natural ways of farming that are beneficial to all their "livestock" which benefit all living things. God bless you, Dan! Continued prayers for Miss Dance Partner for healing and for her needs to be met.
We live in a brittle environment where cows would be a little too destructive. We are trying out sheep for meat, milk, and fiber this year to try and build the soil with a lighter animal. We are also going to be trying out running chickens with our sheep to see if we can figure out an arrangement that works like Joel was talking about with poultry and ruminants. Our pigs and chickens really compliment each other and we'd love to figure out an arrangement where all three can work together.
Our sheep clean the drops in our orchard. During the winter they eat all the bark and buds off the apple tree pruning. During the summer they also enjoy the leaves, and often bark, on any pruning I do.
@@Jj-gi2uv Thanks for taking the time & the info. I can see turkey as they are endemic to the area I am thinking of. I am not looking for solely agro birds but more of a combo food/restoration project. I have considered the losses due to escape & or predation but think the overall value can make mitigation worth a try.
Excellent video. My family and I have goats and chickens and are about to venture into sheep and add a family milk cow. There is so much wisdom being shared between your channel, Joel Salatin, Justin Rhodes. I am just tying to soak it all up so we can put it into practice.
We started running a chicken tractor behind our sheep in paddocks. Then we gave a 30 day rest. I think it will take more than one year to see the differences so we will compare to this year. We also put chicken tractors in new flat land that we have cut the trees off of and not planted grass. What we have found is the nitrogen in the chicken manure really helps start off the sections of the new pasture over the summer and then we seed them in the fall.
Greg Judy uses sheep with cows and recommends sheep as the cheaper startup. He doesnt use netting or chickens but focases on the different forages sheep target that cows avoid in a grass fed operation
I see you posted your comment/question twice. You have a tricky question. 1st, how productive is your land? Are you letting the horses have access to the entire pasture all the time? For the pasture rotation to work you need to limit the amount of land/pasture the animals haves access to for the day. Then move each day. So unless you're willing to do that your going to have problems with any animal following the horses. Can you do long narrow parcels, then move every day or every other day? If so do that plus the poultry so the birds begin to break up and spread the horse manure and begin to improve the pasture health. When it improves ( the pasture) to the point it can sustain more animals perhaps you could add sheep. Like maybe 3 because they are heard animals but I wouldn't use more then 3. Good luck and have a great day 🌤 😃🐑🌱
@@victorbenner539 Thank you so much! What a good idea! Right now horses have free run but I can set it up in strips! They are used to electric fencing!! Best response I’ve gotten to my plee! :-)
@@losnolt it's always a pleasure to help someone. Here's something else to perhaps help. Are your horses confined to your pasture? I mean can you take them for rides,walks else where? I'm asking because maybe you can take some of the pasture by getting them on grass other then yours and get some riding/personal time with your horses. You know,ride time,fun time for you and the horses. I recommend checking out both Joel Salatin and Greg Judy. They both teach pasture health and animal/ pasture rotation and maybe you can learn something to help. One of the things they talk about is using other folks pastures also. So good luck. I would love to hear in the future how you did. Maybe in the near future I will finally have my channel up and running, watch for it. It will be about farm and feild ( like salmon fishing, mushroom hunting, etc) to table via my smoke house ( grilling, bbq smoking plus some cast iron cooking, etc) should be fun,just gotta make time right? Anyway have a great day 🌤 😄👍
@@victorbenner539 I actually have 82 acres about 7 miles from me but keep my horses where I can see them daily. I am also working on the fence there, clearing trees from it. But I could ask my neighbor about rotating them through a small corner or two of their property. Such good advice. Thanks! And let me know when you get your channel going. I’d love to learn more about fishing, and I guess cleaning them, as I live on a private lake!
@@losnolt This is good news. Like I said earlier check out those two gentlemen. You might get some tips on how to intrest your neighbor. With good management you can help to improve their pasture also. And you have access to a lake,cool. Now I hope this isn't to much information but I'll give you a idea of where I live since I talked about salmon. I live in the South Western portion of Washington state on the Cowlitz river. If you're old enough to remember when St Helen's erupted and saw the log jams on the Toutle River after the eruption. The Toutle is a tributary of the Cowlitz and in turn is a tributary of the mighty Columbia River. So to put it into humorous perspective I live down stream from not one but two volcanoes. But hey these rivers have salmon. I have about a 8 minute walk to the river from my 10 acres or a 15 minute drive to launch my jet boat. So where ever you live I hope the weather is kind to your pastures. 🌤👍🌱
