Along with "you don't need a barn!" -- how about adding "you don't need a brand new pickup truck!" since I see that way too often, those truck payments are like worming sheep.
If your just starting out, a new truck is a sure fire way to lose your farm. Years later when you have cash flow and no debt, if you want a new truck, go write a check for it. You earned it!!
We appreciate you doing these series on small scale property 5 - 50+ acres. Thank you, Greg. Thumbs up on all four of these videos. saved right to our acct! Very helpful information.
If a person watches this series and follows the steps, it would be hard to fail at grazing. Your clear and concise directions will boost anyones ability to be a grazier. My farm is an example of following simple instructions, and keeping things simple. No barns needed, deer, elk, moose, and bison have no barns. Thank you again Greg, and have a wonderful day.
God Bless. ….. Greg can you please put descriptions/ where etc you get your water supplies down below in your videos or a quick link . And any other equipment in future . I’m trying to find them
Hi Greg, How do I supply water on a leased field where I don't have installed water/well? Also, my leased field is 100% cleared and we have strong summer sun and strong winter rain/winds. What do you suggest for shelter from the elements?
Greg after watching your videos for the last couple years this is exactly what I've done on my place and just now getting going with my small flock and rotating daily. One question I'm hoping you might cover is on a small operation like this what do you do to get through winter?
On a small operation or a large operation, you must adjust your stocking rate going into the winter to match how much grass you have available on your farm to take you through the winter with minimal hay feeding.
Greg love this video series. Question on the Timeless posts, how fire resistant are they? I live in Texas and we do have the occasional brush fires around here, especially with the drought last year. Is there a thickness that would be okay if a grass fire moved through or would it most likely be a total loss?
Glad you broke these into four videos. I like the eight to ten minutes better than the plus twenties. If you want to back up and hear something again it is easier with shorter videos.
Greg, a little hint for your presentation: You may want to use different colors in your drawings. Like blue for water, red for hot wire, black for title and fences ... you get the idea. It takes a little more thought and practice (as you are doing it live), but users will better understand what you are trying to show them. And that's what you want, right?
Be subscriber and watch every video since day one; if folks only watch (1) of your videos. This is the one. It recaps the entire process. Excellent presentation 👍. Sounds like Jan had time to finish up supper dishes as well. Hope you two enjoy and glass of wine 🍷 and relax. All who watch LIKE & SUBSCRIBE to keep Greg’s algorithms running 👍
Picking your breeds wisely for your AO goes a long way towards not needing a large barn. The whole "need a barn" theory mainly comes from commercial farms wanting to grow animals not meant for their climate and/or wanting to WAYYYYY over-stock their land for maximum profitability over sustainability. There are a few exceptions though. For example; if you live in cold climates (northern America) you will probably want a place to tend to animals, do milking, birthing, etc. during the winter months. Some of the "need a barn" group think seems to stem from people not having modern fencing like what Greg has architected for us.
Not much to make a video on. You need to watch all his other videos to learn the entire system. The MIG system is what keeps the animals healthy and the land healthy. Compared to industry standard which is medicine, chemicals, buildings, and tractors. With mig all you use is a fence and electricity. And maybe a bale unroller when you scale up enough to justify one.
As a reforming suburbanite who had moved to the country and is just getting started at sheep farming, I cannot express how grateful I am to have access to this wisdom before I invest money into infrastructure. Thank you Greg Judy!
If you have 50-100 ft between quick couplers and a 6ft hose, how do you reach each temporary paddock? Are your temporary paddocks always big enough that there is a coupler within 6 feet?
RE: some calling themselves "regenerative" or "permaculture". I'm beginning to be wary of those words as regards some youtubers as some use like they don't know what it means. And it shows.
To be able to rotate the animals. For 30 days.. 30 spots.. you was have to have . 200 feet wide by 1000 feet long.. you need to have each spot 100 feet x72feet
Greg have you thought about teaching how to build pasture from bare dirt or freshly logged land with sheep? or how to know how much stock pile you need for your small flock on lets say 10 acres. im always stressing numbers and paddock sizes and how much for what.
We in South Africa dont have that blue post. Wish we had that black ones is waist of money en time they brake like that. Worst money i spend on electric fence.
Sir, great content as always. I may have missed it in a prior video, but could you provide any comments on shade. I understand it maybe more geographically dependent, but you may have an idea of what glaziers due more south of you where their paddocks are open.
Hi Greg , in this 5 acre rotation , is there shade in every paddock, I'm trying new things , and trying to get out of the habit of sheep needing to be able to go to a barn for protection . Thank you for your videos, I look forward to them each day.
Animals do not need barns. People believe that animals need barns, they are much healthier out in the pasture than stuck in a barn. If you want disease in your animals, then a barn will do that for you.
Thanks again Greg. Understanding they are only in for a short period, what is the most that you would suggest in the theoretical 36'x16' coral w/ hot wire? We have a little more than the 5 acres. May start with 20 sheep. Also would love to hear how you might manage this farm assuming it has no trees for shade or shelter.
Thank you for your help, these are great videos, could you address multi species grazing, I have horses and am looking to add cows or possibly sheep to my ranch (10 acres in NF Florida) as of now I rotate my horses in paddock divisions. Appreciate it. Terrell
If you have 10 acres with horses, you don't have enough grass for cows or sheep. 1 horse will eat what 3 cows do each day. On that small of an acreage, you better be careful or those horses will destroy your grass stand. Horses have teeth on the top and bottom of their mouth which allows them to bite the grass off flush with the ground, which destroys the ability of the grass to grow back quickly. The horses take off to much of the solar collector.
Do you think it feasible to divide the acres in half and use the cows to build up one half and rotate them off to rented acreage and replace them with the horses and allow the other half to recover? I am very grateful for your help, thank you.
This series has been so helpful! It has helped me get out of my paralysis of analysis. You make it sound so straightforward. Thank you, Gregg. You're a blessing.
Thanks for the advice! It’s great giving us all this free information and I hope everyone uses it wisely. I know I do. I also like how you use your time wisely. Before you start the calving season, you make all these videos so when calving season starts you are busy with calving and not busy making all these wonderful videos for us. I was working on my property today just a little bit because I’ve been working so much. I need to cut up a big (60’ fallen over) hickory nut tree because that’s where I need to put the fence at. I have a problem with one of our ewe lambs she wants to be on the other side of the green grass. It’s my son’s lamb, but I might have to replace her or break her to hot fence again. I did 2 other sheep earlier this year which took a few days. I put them in a corral with hot poly braid. At the same time, my new LGDs are in there too. They both got along great but I need to set up a protected dog food area like you have. I have off tomorrow so I’ll be working on more farm stuff.
You mentioned someone in Minnesota puts his sheep in the woods when its 40 below. Does this same concept apply whether your land is all pasture or has a mix of woods?
Sheep netting works and is way easier than chicken netting but it is a beast to move or keep hot. Often have to weed ear or mow under the netting but the poly wire doesn’t require any mowing. Netting does give better peace of mind but polybraid also doesn’t break as easily as the netting. If you listen to Greg and don’t buy animals until fence and water are done then polybraid will be all you need. If you don’t listen and you get animals before having fence then the netting is a life saver but it slows down progress so much your really better off waiting to get animals until after setting up fence and water.
Yes you can use the netting. When we first brought our animals to the new farm, all we had was sheep netting. We move two times a day for 3 months before we graduated up to polybraid. Netting works great, but don't skip the perimeter. We ran 14 ewes and two gaurd dogs, and all the lambs as well.
We aren't on land yet, but I'm trying to plan so that when we move, I will know exactly what we're going to do with our fencing to try to speed up the process to getting livestock. I plan for us to start small, with a few St. Croix sheep. They would be on "approximately" 3-4 acres, I had planned on dividing the section into four separate rotational grazing pastures in the hope of doing regenerative farming because the land is going to need it. Your method seems much more intensive though effective. Do you think that four rotational pastures would be doomed to failure, or might it work as well?
It will be better than the Columbus Method, “turn them out in the spring, discover them in the fall. In your rotation, you need enough time for the plants to grow back after they’ve been grazed.
Hi Greg. I live in Northern Ireland. I have 4.25 acres, pretty much as you've drawing on your 4 videos. Over the last 2 years I have placed a hot wire around the boundary, strip grazing a total of 13 sheep 5 of which are lambs, on 2 strands of poly wire. During summer I cant keep up with grass growth. I have no machinery except for a quad and a roller I've just purchased. Question is can I crimp the grass enough by rolling it to stop it going to seed, in turn feeding the soil? perhaps I should I add angle irons to the roller to impersonate the hoof prints? I will buy more livestock (weened lambs) next summer. I'm new to this and don't want to over stock by moving too fast. Thanks Peter.
Sir, assuming these 5 acres are out in the country - what AC source is used to power the energizers? (I don't recall seeing power meters randomly placed in ag fields). Thanks for your wisdom!
Thank you! On a lease these particular owners not open to all of this, is there a minimum number of paddocks a person could get by with. It has good web wire perimeter. Would dividing this 25 acres only in half be doable or not?
Get your stocking rate right, do not be overstocked. Then make sure your rest period is long enough to let your grass grow back fully between grazings. It could be done with 8-10 paddocks if you do it right.
I hope you're getting a nice check for your videos. I swear every time you took a breath they ran an ad. It's worth it but, dang, tested my patience greatly. Thanks for the information. Ag needs to change or we're going to go right back to the bust bowl days.
When your grass growth slows down, you have to slow down your rotation speed. Smaller paddocks and reducing your stocking rate will allow you to give your grass more time to grow back in the summer.
Just ordered one of your books! Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Do you have any videos or books on converting timber land to pasture? I live in East TN, so half of my property is timber. I would like to one day scale up and lease an acreage, but I imagine whatever I find will be covered in trees.
Looking at getting land in northeast Arizona. And have dorper sheep for meet and goats for milk. Thanks for the wonderful teaching and your love for farming and animals. New subscriber. Will be using that fence and piping system.
I have always been skeptical about electric fence energizer claims. 100 miles of fence, 200 acres etc.etc. I recently saw a energizer ad. The solar energizer has 100 acres / 30 miles marked on it. The listing/ad/ description is more realistic. It states the energizer will efficiently cover a half mile /.5 miles. Explaining this in one of your videos would be interesting.
Hey Greg, Is your main income from the sheep weaned lambs or do you sell growers? Do you take them to process and sell the meat. I'm just trying to figure out my end game and what is profitable for my area.
Our marketing of sheep includes everything you mentioned. The cull ewes usually get sold at the local auction. We direct market all the good stock directly to customers.
I was thinking…if you have water lines ran with connection points…after moving the animals, why couldn’t you run a tall garden sprinkler to help the pastures in the slower growing summer months?
Hey Greg! Happy to see these videos! I’m curious as to if you think that I’ll be able to stockpile enough forage for my 6 dairy ewes (ranging between 100-150lbs each) and 2 rams on my 5 acres here in MO (KC) using these methods for winter grazing! Would love to hear back! I know that this may not be the case year one, or even two, but with the small amount of land we have, and how mild our winters have been the last few years, I’d love to stop feeding hay, and keep them moving!
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher have you come across any plans for a simple inexpensive mobile structure? I've only seen ones using corral gates ($$$) and they don't seem to work well. Maybe something using cattle panels that can be pulled easily and doesn't get blown away in a storm.
What a fantastic series Greg, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. Seeing all the theory on this small scale has been very helpful as I'm a small land owner looking into this. It's great seeing your large operation but having it all broken down into a simplified, small scale operation just helps that little bit more. Thanks again. Duncan.
Greg, I agree that timeless fence is pretty good, but her in southern Missouri we have a lot of rocks and sunguard fence posts from powerflex are a good alternative. We predrill the holes with a smaller diameter hammer drill bit. It moves all the rocks out of the way and then driving in the post is easy and your post always goes in straight because I can predrill the hole straight. Timelsess just doesn't work for us. I saw that you used fiberglass rods in some of your videos and you said they lasted 20 years so they are probably good enough. We also use the gallagher reels for our polywire. They are a lot more expensive, but they are a lot better than the o'brein reels.
I’ve never been in an area that harder soil then Cochise County Arizona. After using a water pick to blast a starter hole, the Timeless posts went in like a snap.
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher Oh yeah a water pick. I saw that in a video before, maybe yours. We might use that on our other more flat property! I'll research that more. By the way my wife and I were just watching your Arizona video about setting up a water line and it helped us out a lot. We are going to set up the livestock watering system and even use it for irrigation. I just got a 500 foot length of 1 inch hdpe line with the proper attachments. Thanks for the great videos. We really appreciate your hard work and you sharing your great knowledge.
There’s one more video I’d like to suggest in the series. A cost analysis on the fencing and irrigation hardware for the 5acre scenario. Thanx for sharing. Now I just need 5 acres to lease. That would be another good video, how to find land to lease.
This information is just priceless! Thank you for taking the time! We started grazing with a portable solar powered energizer and it doesn’t deliver enough of a shock to keep the cows in very reliably. What energizer do you use for your fence?
I went to the farm supply store and got a bit of a surprise. I was looking at the high tensile wire and saw that there is steel and aluminum. Do you have a preference? Reasons?
Thanks for all the great info! Just a quick question… for a three stranded temporary fence, do you just serpentine the braided wire to create three strands?
Greg, thank you for this series. We have a new 6 acre pasture we will be doing exactly as you have layed out here. One question, do you need to make the cattle panel corral electric?
