Mob Breeding

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Richard Perkins is a globally recognised leader in the field of Regenerative Agriculture and is the owner of Europe’s foremost example, Ridgedale Farm, Sweden. He is the author of the widely acclaimed manual Regenerative Agriculture, regarded as one of the most comprehensive books in the literature, as well as Ridgedale Farm Builds.
His approach to no-dig market gardening and pastured poultry, as well as his integration of Holistic Management, Keyline Design and Farm-Scale Permaculture in profitable small-scale farming has influenced a whole new generation of farmers across the globe. Garnering more than 15 million views on his blog, and teaching thousands globally through his live training at the farm and online, Richard continues to inspire farmers all over the globe with his pragmatic no-nonsense approach to profitable system design.

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5 фев 2021

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Комментарии : 130

@herdyshepherd1411 3 года назад

Loved this interview. We breed pedigree fell sheep in the north of England and some of this would have blown our minds a while ago because we were for a long time trying to breed the perfect individual sheep. But we have basically come to many similar conclusions in the last decade, and we manage our herd as a collective now and base management on culling and several other techniques Bjorn promotes. Putting back in the best maternal genetics of the home flock is the key to what we do. One two steps we haven’t taken yet, but he’s right. Loved it. Come and see us Bjorn.

@sjaron23 3 года назад

I am nowhere near being a farmer but the new ideas and talk of open source are so refreshing and empowering.

@MildlyFanatical 3 года назад

This is my favourite video and video format on this channel for months, and I like and watch all of them. liked, shared, commented. Anything I can do to vote to reinforce this behaviour haha

@Leo_S94 3 года назад

I like how direct he is and just says what he believes straight up based on his knowledge and experience. I agree with Richard that human breeding is "high questionable at times" as well haha. Great conversation thank you.

@virgilfisher1869 3 года назад

We found a lot of success breeding our egg layers by incorporating several roosters, they helped protect the flock. We would just hold back a couple of days worth of eggs and give them to a mother who wanted to roost, we separated her and gave here a small run as apposed to the wild out doors that everyone else had. She would intern raise them and we would eventually reintroduce the new birds back into the flock. One interesting side affect was that we had virtually no issues with the young and old birds as they were mixed together. Fast forward a couple of years and we had virtually no problems with predation or egg production. Our best survivors were a mix of Cornish cross and Rhode island reds.

@kaleygoode1681 3 года назад

Having watched farming programs through lockdown and being shocked at how few sheep birth without interference it's a great relief to see someone is working with nature rather than saving everything and increasing suffering (as is happening with humans). Explaining that it's intelligent selection of mating rather than culling (they're all going to be culled) helps. Great interview, I hope it's well understood by the masses and implemented widely. 👍

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

When breeding and culling has the same criteria the magic happens.

@herdyshepherd1411 3 года назад

I always find you sensible for respecting what conventional farmers are good at as a counterpoint - would be great to hear you interview a great traditional livestock breeder, some of them are incredibly smart and brilliant at what they do - we try to use both perspectives More of this please - this subject is my life’s obsession

@BrookhillAngus 2 года назад

VERY good interview. I would like for both you and Bjorn to visit Brookhill Angus. Much of what was discussed in this video is relatable to how we breed. Keep up the great work.

@hope4truthlight162 3 года назад

We always said if it worked it was line breeding, if it didn’t it was inbreeding. 😂🤷🏼‍♀️. Great vid! I really appreciate it!

@joannabenson2279 3 года назад

A fascinating interview. Thank you to Bjorn for taking so much time to talk about his passion in this subject and to you Richard for doing these long interviews and for being such a great interviewer.

@averyleslie3371 3 года назад

Greg Judy is also a great example of this.

@Elfunko99x 3 года назад

I love Richard, as well as Greg, and to get more in detail on all these questions Greg has really detailed everything the in the last year. On the ground film analyzing animals in the field is very instructional. 👍

@christinemose7308 3 года назад

Wow, this was a life changing interview and very timely. I'm in early stages of my backyard rabbitry so I had just enough experience to get the nuances being spoken here and not overly invested in any modern breeding practice. Some concepts were over my head, being an old suburbanite, but I'm very excited to see how this information translates to the outcome of my breeding program, small scale as it is. The larger context is fascinating as well. We have neglected these holistic approaches for far to long. Hopefully more will adopt Bjorn's practices as we come to understand the limitations of large scale corporate production. Now, to cultivate the appreciation for these products in a market that has grown too accustom to that thin wedge and short sighted list of advantages attached to large scale, monoculture, high yield animal husbandry. Cheers!

@michele5142 3 года назад

This was absolutely amazing. I cannot wait to get started on my own little farm. I just have to find the right land with the right conditions. But when I do, this model is what I will be implementing. The chicken breeding I find especially interesting due to my age. But I would love cows and pigs free range as well with this system. Thank you for yet another brick in my wall to becoming a small regenerative farmer ❤️. Björn you are a breath of fresh air THANK YOU! And Richard thank you for your passion for farming♥️

@darinkaklipa7300 3 года назад

😁 In Croatia there is PLENTY!!!! of affordable land, and in different ecologies and climatic zones. Plenty of fresh water (as well as the gorgeous Adriatic sea coastline & islands), good roads and infrastructure... Older homesteads with a choice of buildings and in different states of repair for €10.000+. Great geo position of the country. Hugely under-valued in many ways! Warmly recommended!

@chrisgait5533 3 года назад

Thank you both for a very interesting interview, very informative. It made me think about my bees, basically the queen remains productive for 7 years, but the drones (males) are replaced every year and are sons of the queen. When I've had an aggressive hive I've replaced the queen with a more docile queen leaving the same drones and it has worked. Thanks again both

@rlyman111 3 года назад

Enjoyed listening to both of you. Thank you for thinking through the processes of your life work and sharing the results and challenges. Love “Being roughly right that precisely wrong”. Cheers!

@Dzloof1 3 года назад

I cant believe how much education in one video. Thank you very much.

@covercropkings539 3 года назад

I’ve watched this at least a dozen times now. I’ve been very active in Regenerative Ag for several years now but this is fascinating. I am fortunate enough to already have been calving in synch with Nature and we sell breeding bulls so we keep several bulls to sell as coming two year olds. So I will be doing this concept starting this spring and plan on developing a purebred shorthorn seedstock operation with these principles.

@ken1010ken 3 года назад

This is logical on so many levels. It doesn't fit at all with modern livestock registries and breeding programs, but with modern understanding of genetics actually makes a lot more sense! I believe the philosophy behind this system has only been over-turned in recent history when we went from landraces to "breeds", whether it was conscious or not.

@DavinHoyt 2 года назад

Please explain more.

@magnuseriksson5547 3 года назад

Tack Björn för en väldigt intressant och detaljerad genomgång om breddavel. Detta har du redan berättat för mig tidigare, men lika intressant i alla fall. Kul att höra om fredsfåret och randiga kon också. :-D Blir ju sugen på att skaffa får igen... :-p

@colinwientjens1871 3 года назад

Breeding is easy for pasture animals once you know the size and shape of the animal that suits your context the best. I’ve been breeding my dairy herd in Australia similar to this for a while, I’ve probably got the most breeds of any herd dairy herd in Australia, but the breeding method is simple even if it seems complex with all the different breeds. Once the results get to a certain point the progression snowballs as the pool your breeders come from is better and better every generation if your getting it right.

@robertling9872 3 года назад

Bjorn and Richard, thank you for this beautiful and informative conversation. It is interesting to use this breeding method.

@TheForkedtoungue 3 года назад

This method is what led us to domesticated animals, all our top bred lines were done this way for thousands of years.

@robertling9872 3 года назад

Thank you for your response. Totally agree. I live in a 1200 acre garden with deer, roe deer, wild boars, mouflons, horses, sheep, etc. around me. All wildlife has been screened in this way for generations. You can breed large chickens that lay beautiful brown eggs and have muscular and beautiful meat. As long as you slaughter manually, you do not need to comply with the small sizes of the slaughter factories.

@restorationhomestead9203 3 года назад

Where is the love button. ❤️ You both have done a great job of unpacking what mob breading is. Now all I need is some land to start putting this in to action.

@IngerMaaike2 3 года назад

That chicken breeding sounds like heaven. at present I breed pig genetics lots of measuring and weighing. Not a clue about chickens though :D

@eclose0923 3 года назад

Very interesting - loved the parallel to cat breeding and explanation how much easier it is to find the worst animal(s). Also loved the advice to keep bulls and steers together and let them fuss at each other instead of destroying fences/trees/barn stalls - will definitely try that!

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

At least it works well when they were calves together and always knew each other.

@aemma_official 11 месяцев назад

This is so great, we need this kind of thinking in dog breeding. ❤️

@Yassous83 3 года назад

Wow, what an enlightening conversation! 🙌🙏 Truth bomb after truth bomb! Thank you both so much for sharing your knowledge and insights.

@sweetpeasandyarrowaranchdi8327 2 года назад

I really hope you do more of these. I understand the concept, but some of it is hard to implement in the current beef market in the US. Without having all the infrastructure in place to do our processing and manpower, we're stuck in between growing cattle for the industry and doing regenerative ranching. We get discounted prices for taking bulls to market over steers. I was thinking usually by the time we move pairs to another property, you can see that certain bull calves look superior. It would be easy not to castrate those ones and let them mob breed. But we would still have our hand in picking on looks, instead of things we cannot know. I don't know where to draw the line? This needs to be talked about a lot more.

@trillium7582 3 года назад

Thanks so much for this, Richard and Bjorn! I've become very interested in landrace sheep and haven't known the right language to look for more information. This conversation is a real gift, my thanks to you both!

@jorisvaganee8877 3 года назад

I love it, Richard. I've learned a lot and i still have to watch about 30 minutes. Thanks a lot.

@barbaraappleton6864 3 года назад

Thank you for sharing this information! So educational...Bjorn is amazing!

@VikingGrazers 3 года назад

I loved the video. As a newcomer to farming and not liking the ways things are done im now learning about holistic management along with learning all I can about sheep, chickens and growing enough food for my family at the very least. Also saw a vid of yours Richard about a farm sitter. Brilliant idea. I did it once in my first year farming and even though it was only 2 days it was great experience. Loved Bjorns input, would love a sit down and chat with him as well as yourself sometime down the road about new entrant holistic farmers and a way to break into the Industry. Bless!

@montybrack7223 3 года назад

A few years ago I was scanning muscle and growth rates in my sheep, quickly found that the lambs grew faster than expected but too fast for their legs, which had to be splinted for a few weeks (the vets suggestion ) it won a first at the Great Yorkshire Show but practically the lambs were not commercially viable as you cant go around splinting all your lambs. They were the " Berrichon du Cher " breed. Foot and mouth came along, and I ended up selling up my land.

@zokowawa 3 года назад

Very cool and very inspiring!

@swamp-yankee 3 года назад

Thanks for doing this interview. Its great to hear from EU graziers. I'd enjoy hearing you guys talk grass management.

@craigcharlestone 3 года назад

Very unique content... great stuff.

@adamfontana537 3 года назад

Great stuff. Some great information that I have been practicing on my live stock breeding

@reachjohnoconnor 3 года назад

Absolutely great information and questioning.

@tomaszjasieniak6081 3 года назад

Thank you for that video. So much information.

@billybowen3023 3 года назад

Thank you enjoyed this!

@robpaton7 3 года назад

RABBITS... Yes! We were planning to raise some broilers for our own consumption in a chicken tractor this year, but buying in feed isn’t really feasible if you want to go truly “closed loop”. Rabbits, on the other hand, eat green stuff that I can produce with only sunshine and water! Shame they are so weird in their behaviour, regarding buck/doe interactions and eating each others’ babies etc! Would be very interested in finding out if they could fit into a holistic approach, then all you have to do is convince people they want to eat them...! Looking forward to seeing your efforts on this front, if it happens. I might just do a very small scale trial this year, will update if I learn anything!

@olafalafel 3 года назад

Super interesting!! I'm looking to start a few flock of Cameroon sheep with a friend and interchanging between our flocks. This breed is a small hair meat sheep, but it's a disappearing breed here in France, we want to try and save the breed, while using them to regenerate and maintain our pastures on very sloping topography. We only have 3 ewes and 2 rams yet, but working once the fencing is finished we will look for more. Great pointers and philosophy! Thanks for sharing, a proud owner of your first 2 books ;-)

@paulbutler8061 3 года назад

Thanks for a great video

@matthewlittler7854 3 года назад

Very good information, I am considering grazing animals alongside layers but a long way from that point

@euphioquestion420 3 года назад

you don't have to be the fastest person running from a bear, just not the slowest.

@25Soupy 3 года назад

Super interesting interview Richard. I have heard of the Lasater beefmaster and watched a few videos a few years back but didn't pay much attention to it. But this interview with Bjorn really peaked my interest in it!

@specbarn 3 года назад

Really good introduction and a wonderful flow. Björn seems lika a really awesome dude! Where in Norway is his farm? How many herds of different animals lives on the farm? Does he sells any of his peace sheep? I have a thousand questions! Super interesting! I love that Darwinism is discussed in the open and the line "you owe it to the herd" perfect. Thank you!

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

Thank you (I am Björn BTW). I am currently not on a farm (rather, I am ""between farms), but at this time there are a little under twenty farms inspired by my principles in several countries, among which some are in Norway. The Peace Sheep is still a few years from being officially launched, but you can get mob bred Spelsau sheep in Norway, and also Reindeer, Hereford cattle, and Aberdeen Angus cattle. Please boil your thousand questions down to twentyfour, and I will be happy to answer them.

@TowerHand 3 года назад

@@morbidangel7358 Thanks for sharing your insight, generations of it. I've recently been replying to people who ask how I'm doing with "Good enough!"

@matthieubontemps 3 года назад

@@morbidangel7358 Hey Björn, thanks a lot for the interview. About breeding meat chicken: what kind of flock size and structure do you think we would need to create a "proof of concept" open-source chicken? I may be able to get grants to research that (I'm a farmer and scientist), and this is something that has always interested me since Richard talked about you at his farm.

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

@@matthieubontemps A few hundred laying birds and thus a few thousand chickens raised would go a long way.

@cherylcarlson3315 3 года назад

Very interesting. Found I had done quite a lot right with changing bucks in my dairy herd... accidentally but hey!

@icryostorm3727 3 года назад

Hugely informative - really enjoyed it - im shifting towards this style but more by accident then design. - the maternal/terminal sire that we currently practice is good with our niche pedigree flock but as weve made little extra profit since moving to all grass wintering etc then im thinking a change is possibly needed, both for homegrown genetics vis biosecurity and dealing with inhouse issues (feet/worms)

@ashtree9693 3 года назад

Fantastic

@maghmuda 2 года назад

brilliant

@Sarma1188 3 года назад

This reminds me of how responsible hunters choose their animals. They know that mostly they should go for the sick and weak. And only now and then you hunt the big healthy bull for a trophy.

@davidakerlund3551 3 года назад

skip the rabbits and go guinea pig, ive been breeding outdoor guinea pigs pretty much the way he describes mob breeding for 10 years Hopefully adding cuy to my herd this coming week.

@mosesodhiambo5000 3 года назад

16th minute and my head already 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

@bodgerliz5138 2 года назад

You're selecting for Hardiness essentially, robustness. A quality of animal that is capable of working with nature and humans. Justifying pragmatics.

@martijndegraaf1481 3 года назад

Heroes!

@montebottens3775 3 года назад

I wish there would have been more about what to do with the bulls. What is meat quality like compared to steers?

@TheEmbrio 3 года назад

Having been to Canada and France, I wouldn't say at all that France produces meat intensively ! Lol ! Charolaises are quite big dual purpose cows, that much is true.

@MsCaterific 3 года назад

💜

@andrejsbriedis4521 3 года назад

Thanks a lot! To my opinion this is the best piece of information on mob breeding "out there" . I've been thinking of testing mob breeding on sheep, and this video did convince me to try it out. Thanks again! Are there any suggestions on mob breeding for beekeeping? :-)

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

Easy answer (I am Björn BTW): bees do mob breed! There is no king, just a queen, and when the queen is a "princess" she mates with many different "princes". The beekeeper can also decide to propagate colonoes that are productive and functional. With bees, it is indeed addressing complexity, because one has to score and cull colonies on how they do maternally, and then passively watch how these decisions unfold paternally. Bees are sort of "open pollinated" like pumpkins or pines, so unless rigorous steps are taken, the breeding is (much to my taste) a mix of culling, propagation, and natural selection. Ir in other words, natural selection within frames set by man.

@andrejsbriedis4521 3 года назад

@@morbidangel7358 Thanks, Björn! The honeybee reproduction is indeed the maximum of mob breeding - the queen mates with up to 20 drones and in most natural situations the beekeeper has very little influence on the drones that make it to mating. In my apiary overwintering success is one of the "culling" events. And last autumn I finally had enough courage to stop treating against varroa mites in one of my yards - this will also do some "culling" and I'm ready to accept rather high losses there. But in a longer term I hope to arrive to bees that can cope with varroa mites without human intervention. Overall my colonies are fairly healthy and mite counts done by a bee health project some years ago found few or no mites in my colonies. Possibly thanks to some varroa resistant genetics I imported 10 years ago. Another aspect that I should introduce in my beekeeping is getting rid of the worst colonies (yes, every year there are some, and sometimes they bounce back in the summer, after not looking so great in the spring).

@andrejsbriedis4521 3 года назад

@@morbidangel7358 Any suggestions how to go on with mob breeding for sheep? In mid December I let in a purchased ram with my 11 ewes. So accidentaly the lambing time will (hopefully) be arround dandeline bloom. Can I use the same ram for another round of breeding next December (at least for the old ewes that are not relaed to him and seperate the new ewe lambs and breed them with their best (half) brothers), or get rid of the old ram and breed with the best lamb rams?

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

@@andrejsbriedis4521 If you intend to mob breed your flock, it is better to use the sons of your ram than using the ram again. There is more genetic diversity in his sons, which makes it safer in the long run.

@andrejsbriedis4521 3 года назад

@@morbidangel7358 Thanks! Yes, you are right about the genetic diversity. Will breed with the best sons then.

@HMSAmilia 3 года назад

This is similar to my fathers philosophy with the game on his farm. He shoots only males, as the females are the reproducers, as a 100 males cannot produce a calf, but a 100 females with a single male can produce at least 50 offspring. The weakest females nature will take care of, as she will die in the veld during birthing or she will be killed by predators, in the end his heard has gone from about 20 to about 200 in 20 years, despite droughts and hunting for meat.

@marybillups8901 2 года назад

That is a good practice!

@danhead1082 3 года назад

Thanks Björn and Richard I run a herd of goats and have been trying to figure out the best way to manage the breeding. As I rotationally graze/browse them daily I need to try and keep the herd as consolidated as possible (I.e as fewer herds as possible). My concern is with breeding the doe kids too young and negatively impacting their performance. That said my inclination is to allow nature to play out and if they get bred at 7 months which would be the youngest possible age then they would have to be able to cope and thrive with that or be culled. Alternatively over time population may start to reach sexual maturity later and hence avoid being bred in the first year. For this to happen they would need to reach sexual maturity after 9 months assuming a sixty day breeding season. I’m very interested in how you manage this with your sheep and if you have any other insight. I’m thinking that the young buck kids will need to be weaned and removed from the herd prior to 4 months of age to avoid them breeding prior to the breeding season. I’m thinking you must use the Rams from the previous year, hence about 17 to 19 months old at time of breeding? Have I got this right. I’m incredibly motivated by your talk and as a Greg Judy fan I feel you have answered a lot of questions I had regarding the efficacy of what he does. Thanks so much 👍

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

(I am Björn) We are exclusively using rams from the same year. So typically seven months old. i make a point of judging bucks and rams at typical weaning age (4 months in our context) which is close to typical slaughter age under ideal conditions. Similarly bulls are judged at one year and three months, so we can identify the sorry ones before breeding. A lot of bulls are great looking when they are six years old, but how they grow after 18 or 20 months is totally irrelevant.

@danhead1082 3 года назад

@@morbidangel7358 thanks Björn. That all makes perfect sense. It certainly would simplify things that way. And by doing so you are doing the opposite to what I possibly suggested and selecting for early sexual maturity in the rams, which would make sense given your 4 month typical harvest age. What age do you first join/breed your ewe lambs? Are you leaving them in the flock with the Rams during the breeding season? If so and they subsequently don’t get bred in this first breeding season (7-8 months of age) would that be a signal to cull or are you looking to select for late sexual maturity in the ewes?

@northofnowhere3611 3 года назад

Does a mob breeding philosophy have any use for breed registration clubs or stud books? I’ve thought for a long time that a locally adapted landrace must be superior for agricultural purposes, but I can see some value in knowing that some breeds carry certain traits better than others. My (mostly) Dexter herd seems to suffer a fair degree of heat stress in our brief summers and I like the idea of breeding in some heat tolerance. Perhaps traits could be determined geographically rather than through a breed registry?

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

In essence no. With this type breeding the pedigree can be replaced with a farm name and an individual number/name of the animal. This animal then represents the philosophy and practice of the breeder. We can confidently say that any male we sell has a mother, a paternal grandmother, a paternal great grand mother, that has at least did good for three years without any issues, and on average did this for five years. The animal usually does not have a pedigree with this system, but it is however entirely possible. By bloodtyping every animal the calves can be matched to their sires, there are two of "my" breeders that does this, in order to not lose a valuable market for breeding bulls. It is all about context, really.

@mosesodhiambo5000 3 года назад

🤯

@rayward9265 3 года назад

Björn -- What is his last name, web site, email address. I caught the Norway part, but I imagine he's not the only Bjorn in Norway. Has he written a book? What are useful books to read on what exactly is line breeding, in breeding, out breeding? Mob breeding? A definition of exactly what this is would be useful. What is the overall plan or program for breeding to build a herd/flock?

@bountywoodsfarm8594 3 года назад

His name was posted in the end of the video: Kullands Bjorn Johansson. He said he can be found on Facebook.

@rayward9265 3 года назад

@@bountywoodsfarm8594 Thanks!

@dronedrovinguk2186 3 года назад

Brilliant video. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Never heard of Mob Breeding but makes a lot of sense and I will definitely be going this way. I’m a new farmer, I’ve been on the regen route now for 2 years and I’m loving the knowledge I’ve built and working with natural cycles. I have 2 questions, with sheep, firstly, at what point do you select the ram lambs you are going to keep and I’m assuming you don’t breed from them in the first 12 months? Should I leave them all entire instead of castrating them? I have about 200 breeding ewes. Also do you dock the tales on your flock? Thanks. Shout out to Richard, legend! Have you tried wool mulch on your plot? I’m experimenting with it - see my experiments on Twitter @WojtekBehnke - would love to know your thoughts?

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

We use ram lambs for breeding when they are seven months. Official selection is when they are on average 4 months old. Castrating is not done in nordic countries other than for the odd pet sheep. It is a management tool, that you must figure out if you have any use for. It is extra work, unnecessary suffering for the lamb generally, If castrating has been useful, this may change with mob breeding, simply because you have to manage uncastrated males anyway. Tail docking is pointless in hair sheep, and nordic short tail breeds have short tails already So docking tails is only meaningful in some breeds. And yes, by means of breeding, any sheep could have a short functional tail.

@dronedrovinguk2186 3 года назад

@@morbidangel7358 thank you! I am going to try this! when do you wean the ram lambs off their mothers? And how long do you need to keep them separate before reintroducing for breeding? I would much prefer not to castrate and dock tails, seems pointless and those rubber bands are hardly sustainable!

@dronedrovinguk2186 3 года назад

@@morbidangel7358 how many rams would I need to service 200 ewes in a shorter window, did you say 14 days? We normally leave rams in for 2 ewe cycles so 8 weeks. What if the ewe doesn’t cycle in that 2 week raming period?

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

@@dronedrovinguk2186 17 days is one cycle, so 17, 34, or possibly 51 days are the best breeding periods. If you can afford to cull many opens, shorter time. It has a lot of value to make lambing shorter, which speaks for a shorter breeding. And I like treating all ewes as close to the same as possible, so I like giving them either ONE chance or TWO chances to breed, and prefer to avoid giving for example ONE AND A HALF, OR TWO AND A THIRD chances. Does this make sense. Five ram lambs for two hundred ewes will settle them, but we make a point of using "too many" in order to A. minimise human error in selection, B allow more genetic diversity, and C allow competition between the rams. How many ewes do you have that lambed at one, consistently produced twins after the first year, never lost a lamb or needed individual help? Their sons is your maximum number of rams, and from this group you can sort off the small, the weak, and the ugly. Then you have your breeding rams for the first year, if they are 5, 25, or 35. What breed(s) you raise may make a difference. Whether you use terminal rams also plays a role - you could use your maternal ram lambs for the first cycle, and terminal rams for the second cycle. Or you can have a breeding group with your worst ewes with a terminal ram and a group with your best with your own rams. The more I know the better is the advice.

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

We wean at 110 or 120 days, some less seasonal breeds are weaned at 90 days, no answer fits all. What time to breed? One pregnancy length from good spring grass - I like to say lambing should be when there are flowering dandelions. This way, the ewes are gaining condition before lambing, and milk the most when the grass is the best.

@danielwillms8315 3 года назад

Tracking which ram to which the ewe is bred to is irrelevant to this breeding plan, correct? Because culling is based on maternal qualities? What ratio of rams to ewes is ideal? 1:10? 1:5?

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

Yes, it is irrelevant what SPECIFIC ram sires what lambs. And it is Important that the quality of the rams is high enough. So not just any rams, but any of the good ones.

@danielwillms8315 3 года назад

@@morbidangel7358 Thank you. And what about the ratio of rams to ewes?

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

We have had one to fifteen or one in twentyfive most of the time. It is not as important, as long as their quality is decent and they are having some competition.

@PandaLoui 3 года назад

On the back of the culling because of unable to birth by self. What about a Cow/Sheep that has a calf/lamb that is too big to birth without assistance but never had issues prior. The same thing happens in humans. Does this mean this Cow/Sheep would be culled out of the breeding programme??

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

Usually yes. If the calf is a male it is also out. Its sire has been culled already as the bulls are used just one season. Over time, there is a balance between what kind of calves there are and what kind of cows there are. Birthing problems are only seen among animals bred by humans, never in the wild. This is far from coincidence, but it can be avoided by selection. We can make animals that produce food and other products for us without putting them through suffering, and we can make our lives as livestock keepers far easier both in terms of management and in terms of quality of life. Do we want to live a worrying life for a little more growth? Also, the average is what counts in production, and the average is higher if all calves make it. When it comes to the "no issues prior" we must remember that all animals fail at some point - and the later in their life that happens, the stronger we can assume the genetics are. There is also another detail worth mentioning: when we decide to let one animal live, we simultaneously decide that another must die. Once this realisation has arrived, thinking becomes clearer. If I decide to keep the cow, i must send another - a healthier one - to slaughter. is this what I want? Bad luck is highly heritable.

@PandaLoui 3 года назад

@@morbidangel7358 I appreciate your answer and have taken something away from this. Essentially the Heifer isn't the issue in this instance, it's the bull who as you said has already been culled from completing his seaon. If any bull calfs they would also be culled. The Heifer would be fine given her history to continue. Ultimately if there's no issues then your herd are gentically strong (which is the goal) instead of having gentically strong individuals. Thanks

@northofnowhere3611 3 года назад

Bjorn, thank you for your detailed introduction to this topic. Would you say there is a lower limit to the number of maternal lines to begin with? I believe I have two unrelated maternal lines and one is more satisfactory than the other so I am gradually eliminating the others. I have recently purchased an unrelated bull, and I have a yearling bull calf from my “good” line who seems to have great genetics, but worry about all of my preferred females being closely related to him if I use him next year. I have just a small herd, 10 breeding age females.

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

As long as you are growing your numbers, you have plenty of diversity even in those few cows. Being small at one time does not hurt diversity much, but being small for a long time may do just that. The test is in time.

@mandersson6754 3 года назад

A Swedish guy running breeding programs based on Swedish breeds in Norway if I got it right. Is that based on some larger Norwegian interests, funds or contexts or did you, Björn, end up there by personal reasons?

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

I am doing just under twenty breeding projects, in several countries, and the Peace Sheep are in Sweden.

@mandersson6754 3 года назад

@@morbidangel7358 OK, tack. Norway sometimes have really strong policies supporting homesteading, so I got curious if you were maybe involved in some grand project there. + The opening about the SRB cattle and Gotlandsruss breeding along with the Peace sheep sounded very Sweden oriented.

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

I am swedish, and live in Norway.

@mandersson6754 3 года назад

@@morbidangel7358 Det hörs!

@benstromback5809 3 года назад

Patagonia sponsorship?

@osarlous 3 года назад

Can you link Bjorns Facebook please?

@mediterraneanpermaculture6701 3 года назад

Anyone know why you would let a female progeny of a weak animal continue breeding but not male?

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

It is depending on context a lot. We cull females every year; but I try to make a point of the possibility of deciding to cull an animal, and actually harvesting it does not have to be even the same year. Another thing that touches upon your comment is that we have room for harder selection on males than on females, as one male can give tens progeny in one season with no special effort. And since the main selection of males is on their dams/mothers we are basically breeding the older and proven females to all the females through their sons.

@mediterraneanpermaculture6701 3 года назад

@@morbidangel7358 Thanks for this.

@maranscandy9350 3 года назад

So that’s what happened in the movie Idiocracy.

@Mandy-cn5cl 3 года назад

This is sensible livestock breeding but looking wider not 'throwing out the baby with the bath water' as we say good livestock breeders have always done this but maybe not breeding both males & females from same base ...show breeder's never do this & the consequences are every where dairy cows with bad feet Belgiunblues that can't calve ..sensible livestock management dint do this but they got suckered in to buying fancy breeding not using their own .. you can eat lighter chickens at similar ages you just need to train your customers to eat lighter more tasty birds & still breed them up to grow faster eating less corn ..YOU CAN DO IT RICHARD !!

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

The ill effects of show breeding are not from mating related individuals, it is from making reductionist breeding decisions, putting look before health and function.

@Mandy-cn5cl 3 года назад

Also it makes me realise that some time after the 80s things really started to get out of proportion with bad breeding I guess it's about big pharma again vacs & treatments rather than good breeding & management. .things definitely need to change the Xlana sheep breed in UK has been bred like this by farmers who grassfeed

@morbidangel7358 3 года назад

If males and females are selected in different ways, the result is a slower progress. There is a perfect example of this among american composite cattle: the Beefmaster was bred both sexes the same, the Santa Gertrudis (that started with a similar mix, there is British and Indian cattle in both) was bred for female performace in the pasture, but the bulls were selected from feedlot performance. Basically, the genetics that were promoted in one generation got punished in the next.

@ssubotai 3 года назад

An unethical aspect with hybrids, is that the product is not part of the circle of life as they will never breed or have the potential to breed.

@jardinseducatifs2230 3 года назад

Not true, real hybrids are not infertile. In fact the genetic variety of hybrids make them a good start for selection.

@ssubotai 3 года назад

@@jardinseducatifs2230 Richards lambs might not all have offspring, but some could get selected for breeding or sold as lifestock. However non of his chickens or turkeys will ever have offspring. This is the purpose of hybrids.