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Nicholas MacInnis
Приєднався 11 лют 2012
This channel is dedicated to sharing my experiences with habitat restoration and ecologically sound land-use practices.
Our strategy for rebuilding soil organic matter
When it comes to building organic matter ( carbon) in your pasture soil one of the strategies you can employ is giving the land an extend rest period and letting some forages fully mature. It’s not the only strategy for building soil but it can be used quite effectively in degraded pastures that have been over grazed or neglected.
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Відео
Impressive pasture transformation with rotational grazing
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Impressive pasture transformation with rotational grazing
Balancing milk production and fertility in beef cattle
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Balancing milk production and fertility in beef cattle
Starting a farm? Be prepared to do this
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Starting a farm? Be prepared to do this
How we’re managing newly established pasture
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How we’re managing newly established pasture
Thoughts and advice on getting started in small scale beef farming
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Thoughts and advice on getting started in small scale beef farming
Small-scale beef farming - back on pasture for the year
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Small-scale beef farming - back on pasture for the year
Regenerative beef - docile cattle are a must!
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Regenerative beef - docile cattle are a must!
Biggest success factor for regenerative beef
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Biggest success factor for regenerative beef
Balancing woodlot ecology and economy
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Balancing woodlot ecology and economy
Two tips for raising healthy calves through winter
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Rolling hay out on pasture gives the cattle herd lots of room to feed which prevent calves from being pushed away from hay by bigger cattle. Our calves also stay on their mothers all winter which provides necessary protein for their development.
Winter Whitetail Habitat Project
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Continuing efforts started last year on a section of the woodlot to improve habitat for deer and grouse.
Silvopasture development with cattle
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Silvopasture development with cattle
Adaptive Management on a Regenerative Beef Farm
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Adaptive Management on a Regenerative Beef Farm
Regenerative Sheep farming in Nova Scotia
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Regenerative Sheep farming in Nova Scotia
Evaluating late season pasture conditions
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Evaluating late season pasture conditions
Whitetail deer habitat restoration post project review
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Whitetail deer habitat restoration post project review
Restoring riparian zones - context is key
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Restoring riparian zones - context is key
Growing a year’s supply of winter vegetables
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Growing a year’s supply of winter vegetables
Small-scale regenerative beef - early season
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Small-scale regenerative beef - early season
Managing the Acadian Forest: Leaving deadwood
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Managing the Acadian Forest: Leaving deadwood
Improving winter food sources for whitetail deer
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Improving winter food sources for whitetail deer
Business model for small-scale regenerative beef farm
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Business model for small-scale regenerative beef farm
Looking for solutions on the Margaree River - re-vegetating the floodplain
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Looking for solutions on the Margaree River - re-vegetating the floodplain
Nice vid portraying the enjoyable and relaxed long-term approach :) A little here, a little there seems to do well. Complete and regular mowing and forestry mulching/clearing has a negative"golf course" effect. Some patchy clearing, then leave it for a few years while moving about the property leads to diverse layers of habitat for grouse, quail, turkey, etc...Been working an area like this that was previously utilized as hay fields, and seen an increase in wildlife after letting brambles come up. I've also noticed that digging micro ponds is a great way to promote wildlife activity!
@@cobococreek1224 thanks for comment - agreed on all points! We just put a pretty big pond in last week. Gonna do video soon.
Hi Nicolas! I’m curious what size calves you get from the Red Poll bulls influence? I have some Dexter heifers that will likely be around 700 lbs when they’re breeding age. I’d like to breed them with a red poll but don’t know if that would stress them too much. Thoughts?
@@Haakonson55 hello ! I think the short answer would be it depends. When I had a purebred red poll bull here two years ago I had a few calves around the 60lb mark. I would suggest if you go the red poll route to find a smaller framed bull that produces smaller calves. There can be quite the difference within each breed.
Sound advice Nick
@@IanMacInnis-z3h thank you Ian!
Why didn't you brush hog this field? I don't really have an opinion, but would think more organic matter would've gotten in the soil if it had been clipped vs matured/stagnating.
@@paulkaufmann8130 good question, couple reasons would be 1) I don’t have the time and (2) the organic matter that’s it the mature grass will end up in the soil one way or another whether it’s chopped by a mower or trampled by hooves or pushed down by snow. I noticed that mature grass like that helps hold air in the snow pack and acts like an insulated blanket during the winter. Reduces winter kill and gets the grass growing earlier in spring. I’m not against using the bush hog but I would prefer to do it closer to the end of June. Theres alot of slow growing late season forages that are growing right now that would be impacted at this stage.
Nice looking roan shorthorn.
@@ryanforbes3021 yes that steer has really filled out since they went out on grass.
A national park in Zimbabwe was turning into a desert. It's a long story so I'll cut it short. The park director had the locals move their animals every few days, in a very planned way, didn't overgraze. Basically did what you are recommending. Desertification stopped and the rivers came back.
@@raysilver2b I’ve heard several similar stories.
Not a farmer so don't know what I'm talking about, but from other similar videos I watched years ago it seems you're giving your cows (way) too much space, if there was less they would probably be less picky about which grass to eat and you'd have a little bit more manure per sq foot. But that would probably require more time, work and resources, and you seem to want that grey grass to remain as cover, which is usually the opposite of what people want (they want it as cow manure on soil). I really don't have an opinion here.
@@georgecarlin2656 yes you are correct in those observations. Am I managing this to its full potential, no. I’m watching Greg Judy’s updates on his channel, his crew is moving their mob of cattle 3 times a day and doing a much better job of keeping the grass in a vegetative state. I had between 30-80 cows here grazing over the past five years. I wasn’t happy with the residual left over the past few years and I noticed the spring flush had declined the past two years so I’ve decided to change things up for a season.
I just moved into an almost identical pasture. The golden rod is slowly going away in it but orchard grass is taking off. My cows will eat goldenrod in the spring but not now
@@tomtompkins5856 interesting that’s what I found as well. Typically this pasture gets grazed in early June on the first pass, 8 weeks later this year. Lots of goldenrod but I’m not gonna worry too much.
@@nicholasmacinnis1486 did you get a red poll bull?
@@tomtompkins5856 no I didn’t. I’ve decided to keep one of my own bulls ( half red poll, half Hereford). He’s really turned into a solid animal and he’s out of my best cow, so gonna bred those genetics back into herd.
@@nicholasmacinnis1486 I like the look of the red poll hereford crosses you have.
@@tomtompkins5856 I’m quite happy with them. I’d like to get a couple more Herefords to breed to my bull,
What are your main goals in the next few years?
@@user-oz2bc6cz7b slowly build the herd and make a profit
Everything is looking good buddy. Cows are having a grand snack. Hooe the rest of the season goes well
Wise words!
How do I still make money off of it while having the expense of getting it butchered
@@druwright factor your processing costs into your sales price.
Cattle Look Great
@@alvinjharris5230 thank you!
So would you consider the heavier milking ability a strike against the red poll?
@@landlustacres7475 good question , I wouldn’t say necessarily because they aren’t large animals compared to a lot of other breeds. If I was running a larger herd of pure red polls I would just keep an eye out for the cows that are taking 4+ cycles to breed back.
@@landlustacres7475 I heard someone say once in regards to hunting dog breeds and I think it applies well to cattle… there’s as much difference within breeds as there is between different breeds. I plan on getting a red poll bull at some point in next year or two, I really like them for my type of operation.
@@nicholasmacinnis1486I used a red poll bull for the first time last year (the calves were fantastic this spring), I really like the breed but the possibility of increased milk production gives me pause. Also I found some of the bulls I looked at to be a bit leggy for my liking, not enough to put me off but enough that I made sure to choose the shortest legged one.
@@nicholasmacinnis14864 cycles to breed back might get her culled in my herd.
@@landlustacres7475 good thinking, I had bought two heifers initially and one never thickened out, she was quite leggy so I butchered instead of breeding. Tasted good but looked like it had too much dairy influence for my liking.
Wow... so free to be a canadian that you need government permission to cross a river... what a shame. Revolution is our only solution.
Pasture looks great Nick!
@@fenboatesbishop9901 thanks Fen!
Not just in rainy weather, but icy, snowy, blazing hot, high winds-are times when some farming tasks can be chipped away. When possible, do something that the weather won't make it more difficult.
@@user-kv2pt4lu9y exactly
Greater plant species variety boosts the nutrients available to the ruminants, better health...
@@user-kv2pt4lu9y absolutely
I watched a video where Greg Judy referred to sheep as an unfair advantage. Even though most of his video's are about Cattle he seems to think sheep can be very helpful as well. I hope you keep making video's about rotating sheep on pasture and other regenerative ways to use sheep.
Thank you for watching! I will keep updating on the sheep for sure
I keep hearing sheep make better pasture for cattle. Do they not also make better pasture for sheep?
Yes they do ! You need to manage them in a way so that you don’t over graze their preferred species ( forbs).. few strategies available to get there. I’ll discuss in another video.
We run a flock of 40 katahadin sheep and 20 kiko goats, the goats this year especially have been going after the Canada thistle, but all hit the weeds hard.
It’s quite the sight to see, watching animals eat vegetation that most folks would consider junk. Where abouts are you? New Brunswick maybe?
@@nicholasmacinnis1486we are just north of Dawson Creek BC, so we’re a ways away. But we also run a herd of mixed cows with a heavy red poll influence and use a pure bred red poll bull.
@@landlustacres7475 oh nice .. I like the red polls a lot for this type of management. Good tasting beef too off the steers
What is the current rate for custom grazing today - Southern region around East TN ?
Not sure TBH. Best to check with locals.
Total Grazing has greatly improved our land in a short period of time. Our grasses became so much more dense. Ultra high density grazing has allowed us to triple our forage production inside one year from AMP/MIG type grazing. I’ll admit it’s a radical concept compared to everything the regenerative agriculture world has been preaching. Btw paddocks and animals are looking good 👍
Thank you … just for clarification, total grazing is essentially the total removal of forage ( several times a year) followed by a year of rest? Similar to what that Hobbs fella on instagram promotes? Ironically I did that somewhat by accident and I did see tremendous improvements
Lots of Orchard Grass👍
Yup!
What video did Greg talk about the amount of acres required to have a full time income? Also, what does he consider a full time income? $50k, $150k?
I just went back through a few videos and couldn’t find it… there’s an awful lot of them to sift through lol. It was definitely in the past 3 months, he was at the leased farm he has with the barn near the road if it’s any help.. the context of the video is this - someone with 18 head on 25 acres called looking for a bull. I’m guessing what most guys would consider a FT income would be closer to $50k
@@nicholasmacinnis1486 yeah he never really talks details about the economics of it. He always says, “well it varies depending on location”. I think we all understand it varies but it would be nice to hear actual real world scenarios. Maybe you can do a video as you grow?
@@jhost0311 when I have some time later in the summer I’m going to put together a couple recorded presentations on this subject. Not to put words in his mouth, but I expect that Greg’s definition of “making a living off the land” would be a farm that produces between $50k and $70k…. Essentially you’re looking at farm revenue north of $150k per year to get there.
Yeah makes sense. What’s your avg profit per cow? Like $1500-$2000?
@@jhost0311 that seems high. Depends on the animal, if I’m buying 700lb steers and raising them for 12 months and then butchering / direct selling I think the profit is closer to $750 per head.
Wise words for sure. You have some nice looking grass there too!
Thank you!
In northern BC we’re in a pretty serious drought, I’m very jealous of your grass. I like your approach to grazing and enjoy the videos, keep it up.
Thank you! Sorry to hear about the drought…. We went through one in 2022, needless to say I learned some tough lessons on stocking rates
More color in the herd? LOL. Tell that to the Brazilian beautiful ALL white cow - the most expensive cow in the world - valued at over $4 million.
Hmm not sure I mentioned anything on color.
@@nicholasmacinnis1486 Listen to minute mark at 4:50.
@@patrickruiz7963 oh .. I actually said “ culling “
@@nicholasmacinnis1486 Ah - now that makes sense. I agree with you. What are your thoughts on the breed Charolais?
@@patrickruiz7963 I’ve custom grazed alot of them over the years. A little big for my liking but there are a lot of nice ones out there. Depends on what you’re hoping to do and your local markets.
Hello from Olean ny
Nice video, thanks. Cheers from Uruguay
Thanks for watching!
Rather look at the cows than the walls! Lots of green in NS now. I'll be back in NSnext week maybe I'll be able to get into the farmers market and pick up some beef.
Hey Dominic , not selling at the market this year. We’re doing a 12 week CSA this year instead … 9 month old baby on our hands so had to cut out a couple things lol
@@nicholasmacinnis1486 fair enough!
Look at the camera!
Nothing better than cows on grass. Hoping your season is fantastic Nick
Thanks Dominic !
We had a fairly easy winter in New Brunswick. Not as much snow as usual and the snow went fairly easy this spring. It's actually on the dry side here at the moment
Yes we are on the drier side as well.. had about 40mm of rain two weeks ago which helped, before that the rivers were at July/ August levels.
@@nicholasmacinnis1486 thats more rain than we've had lately. We've had close to half an inch over 3 showers in the last couple of weeks
Another bonus of calm, quiet cattle is the fact that they are easier to work around...less likely to get hurt than if you have spooky, crazy cattle. I worked at a place that had cows that would just as soon kill you as look at you.
Yup that’s very true. I’ve custom grazed a few cattle over the years that were on the aggressive side. Not fun!
Are you a member of the ruffed grouse society? And what kind of gun dog do you have
I have been a member in the past, there wasn’t an active group in my province ( Nova Scotia) until this year. I’ll join again as a member for sure.
Very informative - thanks!
What the minimum size in acreage for an long term viable forestry person, 5, 8,10 acres?
For nova Scotia climatology region
Yes Alderson high increase nitrogen, they tend to finally die off around 40 plus years to give way to another tree species
Damn autocorrect Alders ... high ....
Good question, I think there’s a lot of variables that you need factor into that equation. Depends on what you’d like to do with the property, 5-10 acres is probably enough for someone looking to improve forest ecology / economic value in terms of producing your own firewood for example.
You're doing something right, your cattle look great! Butch Ashland Ohio
Thank you butch !
What do you do in a really cold spell or blizzard with them? We r in NB with pretty cold winds. I think we need at least a 3sided shelter?
Well we just went through the toughest three weeks of weather I’ve went through in five years of raising cattle. -19 temps on a few occasions and high winds, plus 3 feet of snow in a three day blizzard. I have some wind breaks set up near a mature spruce tree windbreak. The cattle really never seemed to be uncomfortable, kind of remarkable really. One of the keys is to have lots of hay to feed them. I’m going to make a video very soon on dealing with blizzards.
@@nicholasmacinnis1486 thank you!
wow, they're gorgeous
Very impressive! Hello from Oklahoma. I lived for a month in Fredericton. Beautiful land there boi.
Animals look healthy and happy. Cows are a crucial key to turning this ship(planet earth) around! Is it possible to have your email Nic?
Hi Karl - my email is macinnis.nicholas@gmail.com
@@nicholasmacinnis1486 thanks Nic
Good video... I like to see regenerative operations in different areas
Thank you for the comment!
good advice, looks like red angus or south poll in there
Thanks for comment - these are predominantly Red Poll cattle. A British breed originating around 1800 I believe, developed from Red Devons and a couple other breeds.
Could you tell us about the differnt breeds you have. Do you have any breed perfances.
I have a mix of British breeds, Herefords, Beef Shorthorns, Red Devon and Red Poll cattle. My preference would probably be the Red Poll. A lot of my cows were sired by red poll bull. I’ve got a few videos up on the channel about them.
Building a herd on your farm is a great way to have a very well adapted group of animals. Each offspring bred and born on your farm will be more adapted than the parents. Epigenetics
Epigenetics … exactly. I underestimated its importance when I started. You must be starting to see some big changes in your herd and flock now George versus a few years ago
@@nicholasmacinnis1486 it is apparent in all the ewe lambs, larger and more hardy than our original ewes we purchased.
@@georgeheller2281 crazy isn’t it. The last two years my lamb crop has been far superior to the earlier ones. I also culled a lot.
Everyone looking great after the weather! 👍
Thanks Dom! You guys dodged the bullet on this one lol
Hey Nicholas. I saw a picture of some of your cows on the cover of Rural Delivery. Atlantic Beef and Sheep should do a producer profile interview with you.
Yes that was nice of them to feature one of my photos on the cover.
Good information Thanks for sharing