You have no idea as to how much I envy your wonderful way of life. We have only 5 aches on a mountain in Northwestern Washington, the state. We have chickens, ducks, geese and a GSD. We raised cattle many years ago. I am 64 and should know better, but now I think I also want goats. Thank you for your wonderful video.
Cut your pasture into smaller plots, plant good grasses and rotate the animals from one to the other so each plot has several day or even weeks between graze off. If you plant grass that your animals won't eat/ then buy all the feed, you're shooting yourself in the foot. As for county rules, the people will always out number the gov. so use that to your advantage. Don't be a sheep and let them push you around!!!
I definitely agree with Arahntzz that they need to add a paddock system and plant a salad bar style seed mix with chickens following the goats rotation their profitability would go up.
Kinda stupid to plant non-low edible plants on your pasture so the sheep dont eat it all, really stupid! Thats a waste of your pasture! If your having a problem with your sheep eating the plants to the point they die, you need to make sections in your pasture, paddocks.... so that the vegetation has time to regrow while they eat another area, this is how you control worms to.
Arahantzz I whole heartedly agree with you! But I can’t agree with calling names. It seems to me that this rancher does not depend on their pasture for nutrition is because a lack of year round water for the pasture. I would look to increase the size of her pond and look to use the additional water in the pond to irrigate the pasture. They could also use rain water harvesting methods which can greatly increase captured water. Many Universities have EXCELLENT Agricultural Depts like the Colo U that published this video. Many will provide the best advise for a pasture mix which would lower feed costs and improve individual animal nutrition. This is especially true for milk producing animals because the food consumed effects the make-up of the milk.
It's not the number of animals that is the key factor. It's the time of the rest period with no animals, allowing grass regrowth. Crossfencing does this.
Overgrazing is a function of time. I think she's misleading people on her idea of pasture management. Undergrazing is just as damaging as overgrazing. Look at individuals like Allan Savory, Jim Gerrish and Joe Salatin for advice.
+Zachariah Bauer I can only say for my farm I split the pasture in 2 keep a herd sized for 1 side. Swap them in the fall after the pastor has grown all year they eat it going into fall/early winter. Reseed in the fall after the animals come off and leave a nice cut fertilized field. Better food lower cost not a lot of extra work
+Michael Paliden you reseed every fall would it not be better to just use a padlock system and move them every week or so then no need for reseeding every fall
The Animals move every 7 days when not clearing other people's land. Goat land clearing 4 hire, I Like to overseed with winter annuals as there is still a lot of bad grass the pasture gets better every Year.
I'm on my eighth year of my program and I wouldn't do it any other way. I am like you with very minimal acreage. I have bought my farm I did not inherit my place. Mob Grazing is 250,000 LBS of livestock per acre per day. That is how I set up my paddocks. I move my animals twice every day. Use Google earth to figure out your rotations. Rest of the land is what you want. If you are truly interested in Mob Grazing you need to read Greg Judy's books they will get you started. This will get you started on manure, water, and mortality management. I no longer have to address these three problems that you have. And for god sake stop selling you manure that is your fertility of your property. I do not even worm my animals any more because they are one fresh grass all the time. I think your marketing is correct you cannot compete against the bigger producers. But you also cannot farm like them ether. you just need to read Greg Judy's books he raises cattle but the same program can be applied to sheep goats even chickens. IT WORKS (check out his you tube videos that will get you started but you must read his books over and over.)
My whole life I ate lamb with that special lamb odor, and I hated eating lamb. Then, I had a chance to eat lamb the Sinjiang area of China (near Kazakhstan), and was shocked to discover there is no lamb odor at all, just fragrance of the lamb meat and fat. Do you know what makes the difference on the odor in lamb? Is it the breed? Is it the feed? Or something else?
sfbluestar I know exactly what you mean. We raised lamb for 50 years. when you eat lamb that has the smell and aftertaste, you can bet that it was frim a breed that had woll. the oil is what makes it stronger tasting. what you need to find is a source for lamb that is a hair sheep such as a Kathadin. they do not have wool but have hair which they shed in the spring. they are a meat animal only. the flavor is mild with a wonderful smell.
I would recommend not to get an ag degree, but to watch many YT videos especially on 'regenerative' ag, soil health, and start with Allan Savory's TED talk. That way you get info not influenced by global companies selling chemicals. The 'Green Revolution' of the early 20th century was dead wrong.
No, the wool is clean on the animal but every time she lies down bits of straw stick in it. So the sheet keeps all that out. It's very hard to pick out bits of foreign material. Only producers of the finest fleeces can do this, since it's impractical for large flocks.
