Hello. Great video. I learned a lot about electric fence setup through this. I am working as a terraformer turning the Sahara green, starting in Egypt. I also work with and advise farmers on how to be more sustainable (I will definitely refer my clients to this video). If I may make a recommendation to help you with the drought issue and to increase your hay supply, set apart a small section of your land to grow Sorghum-Sudan grass. You can cut it constantly to make hay for the winter. And during the drought, you can simply hand water the plot (not that it needs it. Sorghum-Sudan grass is very drought tolerant and will still grow several feet a week even with little water). I hope this helps
Hi, as an Irish beef farmer with 55 heifers on 60 acres I would definitely recommend that to increase your stocking rate, you should reseed your paddocks with a mixed pyrennial ryegrass and white clover sward. You will be ablee to grow so much more grass and the clover will naturally fix nitrogen to the soil. I would say reseeding is probably the most important investment on your farm. Keep up the good work!
@@grante.7525 Well know I’m only eighteen studying Ag Science in College next year but we’ve learned that clover is crucial to the award as not only is it highly palatable for both cattle and sheep but it fixes nitrogen to the soil reducing fertilizer costs and increasing variety in the sward is better for the environment. This is white clover I’m talking about but when mixed with a majority perrenial ryegrass sward it’s ideal.
@@jamesfinn6137 You are correct. We have been doing a clover/ryegrass mix for the longest time in New Zealand. Also at your age, i'd suggest getting a job about there for 12 months. You will learn a lot and will be a great adventure.
I'm just empty nest mom homesteading our 5 acres on Whidbey Island with my full time working husband. We raised our 3 children on the land gardening, animal husbandry and homeschooling. I love what you are doing. My husband found your channel and shared it with me. We try to raise a good portion of our food with a garden, orchard, layer chicken and ducks, milking goat, and Corriedale sheep 🐑. I added a CVM ewe last spring and she delivered twins on Easter Sunday! We use the sheep for meat...we do the butchering ourselves to make it economical. I chose the Corriedale because they are dual purpose. I wanted to spin and weave the wool. I'm really wanting to do better rotation grazing. Your information has been helpful. We do it some... but need to improve our systems to make it better. You are an amazing young lady and God has gifted you with many talents. God bless...love your channel.🧑🌾🐑🌼❤️
@@theShepherdessyou are so thorough sister! Great details in video, don’t know how you grab videos and do it all at one time hehe! God bless you many times and prosper you and guide you always! How are you doing on this?
Wow - the cyclops fence charger!!! I used to be sales rep for those 20 years ago. Those were (and probably still are) absolutely positively the best fence chargers on the market!
I love the way the message wrapped up on this. The coolest part about restoring (or simply improving) pasture is how it benefits everything. Better for the animals, the environment, water management, *and* the rancher. Never thought I could be so excited about "grass" lol
I was only following something my son mentioned once and I was on UA-cam watching Joel Salatin... which led me to Gabe Brown and Ray Archuleta... what a rabbit hole!
I am struggling to raise @ 45 head (cow/calf) of beef cattle on a 100+ year old 126 acre farm I took over from my dad in 2017 before he died. I appreciate your videos and your experimentation. With the way beef prices have stagnated, I'm definitely looking at alternatives. Thanks for your videos and showing different mindsets of how to be profitable on small acreage.
I’m on the cusp of inheriting a 40 acre farm. Granddad keeps a small flock of sheep and I’ve dabbled in beekeeping. Keep me in the loop my man, I’m likely to be in a similar boat soon, and would love to make it my main gig.
Those are awesome chargers. I have an 8 and a 20 joule cyclops. The 8 joule is about 25 years old and the 20 joule is 16 years old. They have not been treated kindly to say the least. Never had a problem except had to replace the little fuse by the cord when lightning hit our power lines. I had numerous different chargers over the years before these. Plus the company that makes them is a small family run company. I bought the first one after visiting with the man that started it. He was helping me repair my fence charger at the time. He was repairing fence chargers and decided that he could build something that would last. He did just that.
Try using a fence stretcher and a concrete block to pull your ground rods. Put the fence stretcher jaws on the ground rod and use the concrete block as a fulcrum.
The term used is "AQMD" and is an acronym for Average Quality Management District which rates the number of acres required for livestock. I was asked this question 25 years ago in Arizona by my soon to be wife from Texas who oddly enough was managing a Hotel I was staying at. I've always had horses and she wanted one as well.... Usually in Indiana and other "green pasture" areas it's 1 acre per horse and better with two for switching paddocks. We ended up with four horses and her wanting to move back to Texas, so ten acres it was, thank God.
I don’t have a farm or any farm animals or any use for this product HOWEVER I clicked out of curiosity and stayed for personality! Even as someone who’s not a farmer this was very informative and I love the hustle! New subscriber!
Wow! You are so impressive to me. You’re doing all this work, plus a full time job, plus filming and sharing all of this?! I’m inspired 🤗. My husband and I know we want to start a farm. There are numerous reasons we are called to do so. We have a 10 month old son and no idea where to start lol… but your channel is helping!
"Starting" can be daunting. But there are some good resources here on the internet. I can reply with some favorites if you like. I would start with 3-5 hens and a 10 ft by 10 ft garden. And build out on that foundation.
I have been working on improving my fence for my Dorpers and lambing and started posting my sheep on UA-cam also. Your channel was a big inspiration for me to get started. thanks
Good info. I have to change up our grazing system, initially it was almost an emergency situation as a 4 acre pasture we use in the summer/fall was going to be dwindled down into 3-ish & it was all looking to be sold. Prayers were answered & it's off the market .. for now. 1 of our field's is completely fenced with field fencing, but the rest just has barbed wire & that's not conducive with my goat's (or my lowline angus)Angus, so I haven't been able to rotate anything on it (but a horse occupies it), we legally own a 2 1/4 acre pasture that is technically leased (contract was broken right away), that's missing part of a perimeter fence, but if we can get a couple gates put in on the "boundary" fence, then I can run hot wire (hopefully) to start using that for a pasture, but for now, we're just going to cut & bale it for use later. (In theory. This shows me some hope that thing's can work the way I envision it. Though the livestock always have their own plan's lol
Just re-watching parts, and it really hit me, that you've got the equivalent of 18 beef cows on 22 acres! What a great thing that you got through a terribly dry winter! That's wonderful!
I just came across your website. Thanks for these helpful information. My wife and I just bought our 20 acres farmland in North Central Texas. God's Blessings.
I love your videos. They always make me want to go with strictly Dorper. The really like that you share your journey with us all and help everyone with your upset and downs along the way. Thanks
I’m so glad you are back. I hadn’t seen you in a while. And I thought UA-cam had censored another one of my favorite UA-camrs. I’m glad you were just taking some time off and taking care of business.
We live in Pittsburg TX and recently started with our first small cattle herd. Inspired by your model, positivity and diligence. We have been doing much similar. Put in well water access to three major paddock areas, two weeks ago and are working in additional perimeter fencing. We put in the hot wire with 12j from speedright and that has been a huge help in jumping off to other paddock areas and extending our temporary electric fence capabilities. I enjoy your videos and look forward to reading the Bible versus you post at the end.
Despite the market crash, I still thank you for the level-headed financial advice. I started stock and crypto investment with $4,500 from my livestock farms (sheep and pigs) and since few weeks now I've gotten $25,650 in my portfolio!
I went to high school in Pittsburg Texas. I used to work at Prairie Creek Ranch back in the 80's. Great country I miss it a lot. I wish you the best with you venture!
We just found your channel. Liked and subscribed. After having beef cattle for over 5 decades. My wife and I sold every cow last fall. It was stupid to be in a buisness where everything we had to buy to produce we had to pay retail. and When we sold our produce we had to sell wholesale. All we where doing was swapping nickles. Never made a nickle for our labor. However we have a 3 acre collection /hoard/ junkyard where we reside. and we keep a small flock of sheep to keep it from becoming overgrown. and they do a excellent job. and we have Blackbelly and Dorpher crosses. And two lambs often sell for as much as a weaned beef calf. We would like to expand our sheep herd. however the grazing land we have only has barbed wire. We are working towards changing that. We have enough 4 ft woven wire to go around the premeter. And are buying used chain link fencing when we find it. The plan is to used chain link at the bottom and the woven wire at the top. Get at least a 8 ft premeter tall fence that sets 10 feet inside the current fence that on the property lines. and get a guard donkey. We are simply going to buy the best ram's we can find and keep our best female offspring and grow a larger herd. Im 70 and likely will never own another cow. Good Luck to you.
You are quickly becoming my favorite content creator. While we are striving to be as self-sufficient as possible, we worried that our 12 acres wouldn't be enough to do everything we want to do. But I think we can definitely take some of your advice and maximize the usage of what little land we have. Thank you for another excellent video!
I think if you wanna make money more acreage is needed, but we also have 12 acres and this is plenty to feed ourselves. We also have fishing, and hunting so that helps
We just recently picked up our first starter registered sheep flock. 2 ewe lambs and a 4 year old ewe with a year old ram. Excellent bloodlines. Katahdin hair sheep. I am finding your channel very informative. Thank you
if you feed the cows gatorade, it actually dramatically increases pasture output, and they love it, all my cows drink at least seven gallons of gatorade daily, and im getting 5000 cows successfully grazing on only 3.5 acres, and it works perfectly, my sheep drink red bull, and they are getting incredible grazing numbers!! hope this helps, much respect and support!!
No judgement, they are your animals but I hope you realize the amount of chemicals/poison in those products & if you are trying to feed them good quality stuff you may want to be mindful of that. I won’t even drink that stuff bc it’s poison unfortunately. ☹️
As a small cattle operation in Florida, I am very appreciative of your videos and ideas that you present! we are getting roughly 1.5 acres per cow/calf pair and looking to reduce that a bit and start more frequent moves that allow for more pasture rest. Thank you for everything you do. That Cyclops super looks nice!!! I believe they're made in the USA too!
@@theShepherdess we have a dormant season for our perennials, but we are still warm enough that we don't have any issues planting annuals in the winter time that can flourish with the right amount of water. Out biggest issue of note is that our soils are basically sand and keeping nutrients in the soils and not just washing everything through can be tricky.
I wondered where you went! Glad to see you back! Just moved to Northwest Oklahoma been cleaning and clearing the land for animals and a garden! Blessings!
I am doing something similar with my hydroponic grains system. I am the only one farming in my whole region this year. But what I made is so unique not even engineers imagined what I did. This year I will try to farm thru the winter, I don’t expect a high or even normal yield but as long as there is profitable yield I can essentially have 5 yearly harvest, and with already higher yields per acre. I am doing what you are and saving myself a from buying dozens of acres.
Purchased 4 Australian Whites first cross from white dorper's, just have five acres in the Snowy mountains in Oz, grass is 5 foot high in places ' they are great mate
Stumbled on the video, really enjoyed seeing you having a go. As you’re probably aware, we, in Australia, are very familiar to both farming Dorper and drought. Where in Texas, I visit relatives in Arizona and that’s just a hop, skip and jump to Texas. Btw, read PA Yeomans, Bill Mollison and someone whom has probably heavily influenced you, even if you don’t know it, he wrote “Holistic Management” and lives near you.
Fascinating!! We are really struggling with 7 animals on our 5.5 acre pasture because of the drought in Central TX. Praying for rain but your video has inspired some potential changes.
Glad to see you back and also to see what you wrote about in your email. Its great to see things progressing like this. Don't forget to attach both ends of your hot wire to your zapper as if you have a broken hot wire down the road, you don't want a big section with out power. My wife was interested in your video, so I explained exactly how your system works with all the different animals and she said that clever, so you have a thumbs up from Mrs Footplate. Thanks for posting
So during those hard times if you have to dump your livestock so will everyone else. That means you most likely will loose money. If during times of plenty you stock up on feed so you can weather the storm. Something to think about.
Valid point and something I’ve combed through over the past few months. I’ve put a lot of thought and planning into the topic and will lay it all out in the drought plan video. 👍🏻
Hint for your ground rods removal; Shake them back and forth and pour water down the hole , while pulling them up. I did like your lil leever though, good idea! Is it lever , leaver , leever? Ahhh whatever.
Good job! I'm most impressed with repurposing the ground rods. That's takes some patience and sweat. Even if you don't hit your exact stocking rate goal, your new setup will pay big for you. Good investment.
Great job as always. A little advice for your hdpe or poly pipe instead of laying the roll down and uncoiling it try securing the end and unroll it on the ground like your rolling a tire it will make your life easier.
Guess I have it too good. To remove t-posts, ground rods, or any other thing I bring along a gallon jug of water, pour some around the object, and wiggle it. A bit more water, jiggle the post some more. Usually takes about a quart of the water, sometimes more, but it is so easy to just rock that post around and then just lift it out! I learned to do this as a 100 pound girl that had to compete against all the guys with backhoes and jacks, and my posts were never nicked or bent.
@@hotartesian4163 ohh thanks for the tip, I'm also a small light weight girl so these type of tricks will definetly help me be less reliant on asking others to do heavy labor because I simply dont have the strength.
I love your “paddock pie” design! 😜. Very clever in regards to minimal water tank movement. You have a very keen mindset. I hadn’t thought about “ focusing on reducing costs, instead of profits.” It makes sense, especially when starting out with a small scale operation. I purchased “Quality Pastures” from your site yesterday. I definitely would like to support your business! Thanks for all your efforts and informative videos! May the Lord continue to bless your bounty!
So glad I came across your channel as I explore the possibilities of taking my 40 acre hobby farm in NW Arkansas to a sustainable retirement income farm in a few years. Outstanding examples and video production
Congrats on your first year! If you made it through year 1 without hitting, year 2 is twice as enjoyable! Didn’t think it was possible since I already enjoyed it, but it’s true. 😍
How you doing dear, good to see you again. Glad you are getting your projects done. I'm doing the same here up north working on making pasture. Clearing trees, hawthorn, and rose bushes. We need to double production this year so we are scrambling to get set up. Water is a huge battle , spend them dollars wisely. Take care.
Very inspirational. We started our rotational grazing a couple weeks ago. I'm not doing the Total Grazing plan yet because that's 4 moves per day and right now I'm only do one too. I plan on increasing to 4 moves per day in a couple weeks. We're also going to start running a chicken tractor with broilers behind the sheep. It's a narrow strip, but each pass will widen the strip plus we plan to add more chicken tractors.
@@theShepherdess I watched this first episode a couple weeks ago live. There was another webinar last evening and I watched it too. The video for it will be available on UA-cam in a few weeks. ua-cam.com/video/NRrKeEVtNu0/v-deo.html During last night's webinar the first speaker actually made a case for Total Gazing and I don't think anyone realized it. He said only new leaves photosynthesize. He said older leaves don't produce much in the way of photosynthesis. If this is true, then older leaves are not adding energy to the plant and are taking away from it because they need to be kept alive. Grazing the plant down closer results in a higher percentage of new leaves meaning more active leaves.
On 5 acres of irrigated pasture, we have 5 mature cows. I move the cows between a 3 acre pasture and a 2 acre pasture every 7-10 days. It’s hard to wrap my head around daily rotation thinking that wouldn’t leave enough time for the grass to rest and recover. How many paddocks would you recommend for 1 animal unit/acre? I’m going to start with a small part and work into it slowly.
Your determination blew me off the roof. You're a cowgirl. Awesome! I'm not rich, but I was looking for some goats to buy and farm then for every year and sell them. And you asked to leave a comment what everyone had been doing last month. Well, I'm looking to get married. If you're single, then maybe we have a chance. I'm not that bad looking, and I definitely will learn a lot from you. I dont know much about farming, because I grew up in a city but I'm willing and able to learn. And I think I have a small idea where we can grow business as well. Your video made tired looking at you working. Man! I loved that. ❤ awesome!
I am so happy that you share your faith in the Lord and the clear belief he still gives us blessings. We need more salt like you in the Earth. I am in the mountains in Colorado and trying to generate pasture from an overgrazed farm and I’m in the second year. I have started a small Orchard and from 11 cows now am at 51. Please keep the content coming and God bless you!
Numbers sound good on paper until reality knocks you down. Our family farm is west of Fort Worth. We have been in a draught for last year. One field produced 50 round hay bails last year first cutting. This year I got only 8 bails. You live in an area that typically gets a lot more rain which is great for you. I think about selling farm and moving to east Texas all the time. Especially after the weather showing rain all the time in East Texas.
It’s true. Every plan has to have a lot of flexibility for reality. This years drought is persisting, so we will see how the experiment goes. Thanks for commenting!
Okay, please correct me if I'm wrong but a couple things that are unrealistic. I don't have exact math because you didn't say where your revenue came from and how that was broken out, but there are a ton of costs that need to be figured into revenue which gets the only number that really matters which is profit. I just looked at 40 acres where farmers are struggling to make $190k for the land work as pasture and we have great rain. if someone is starting out they'll have potentially way more initial fencing cost if it's not fenced on the perimeter as yours was. Outside of feed/water during dry spells and gas for farm activities, you have meds for animals, and the sheep are easy targets if you have predators so in our area we have to mix sheep with dogs or donkeys etc (and I've heard lamas work but I have no experience with them). Also during extreme cold for people up north they may need shelters. As my grandpa said "crime doesn't pay and neither does farming" so if you're considering it really do the math.
Do you know you can benefit from agricultural investment without owning a farm land? I invest with a farm that gives me daily percentage without me working. You just need to sign up through their website
Grass also likes being walked on someone did research on the thing and it grows faster, but it needs rest so 1 day on 7 days off or something. Moving animals is done with water, some dude was doing it with paddocks and gates and a central water hole thing was on some farm radio program.
My spouse and I are adding a variety of agricultural stocks/ETF to my present holdings for the long term, We've set aside €250k to start following inflation-indexed bonds and stocks of companies with solid cash flows, I believe it is a good time to capitalize on the market for long-term gains, but it wouldn't hurt to know means of actualizing short term profit.
The market is volatile at this time, hence i will suggest you get yourself a financial-advisor that can provide you with entry and exit points on the shares/ETF you focus on.
@@scotttravis6621 I’m new to all this, heard it's a good time to buy and basically I've just got cash sitting duck in the bank and I’d really love to put it to good use seeing how inflation is at an all time-high, who is this coach that guides you, mind I look them up
@@markluni My consultant is *Maria Perez Lorena* I found her on a CNBC interview where she was featured and reached out to her afterwards. She has since provide entry and exit points on the securities I focus on. You can look her up online if you care supervision. I basically follow her trade pattern and haven't regretted doing so.
Not 5 hours ago I asked my mom if she knew how to get our current ground rods out of the soil so I could reuse them elsewhere. Thanks for showing that!
Welcome back! These are two goals we are working towards for our 5 acre rotation system. Currently lugging 5 gallon buckets for water or using our side by side to haul it out to them.
So here is my two cents. 1su (stock unit) per acre is standard for most farms. Have a look the New Zealand style of block grazing. They have spent millions over the years on research getting it right. From how they do rotations to feed budgets, even understanding a feed wedge will help. See if there is a farm advisor in your area that has a good reputation, will have the biggest return on investment. What ever you do (i can't stress the enough) look after you soil. I'm sure you have heard stories about the great dust bowl. They didn't look after the soil. Good luck
I’m 3:00 minutes in an all I have to say is thanks for the information. I just bought a small farm and I’m hoping to get some cattle soon. Great video.
Perhaps some land regeneration might help with keeping the pastures lush when rains are lacking. Just a few well positioned shade trees would even help significantly
Thankyou for the information. I did not capture the information about the duration for 225K? if you don't mind could you please correct my understanding? is that 2 years? (or) how many more years?. Second questions, Average farmer can sell only 1/2 the price what you price at your pasture, that is because they drop off at auction. Thankyou for checking my long message.
You are inspired me cause I'm always dreaming about project but never start, I will watch your steps and find out what would be suitable 8n my country, just keep going 👍👌🙏❤️
🐑🥩CLICK HERE for my FREE GUIDE to raising beef and lamb: bit.ly/bflmbGUIDE
Hello. Great video. I learned a lot about electric fence setup through this. I am working as a terraformer turning the Sahara green, starting in Egypt. I also work with and advise farmers on how to be more sustainable (I will definitely refer my clients to this video). If I may make a recommendation to help you with the drought issue and to increase your hay supply, set apart a small section of your land to grow Sorghum-Sudan grass. You can cut it constantly to make hay for the winter. And during the drought, you can simply hand water the plot (not that it needs it. Sorghum-Sudan grass is very drought tolerant and will still grow several feet a week even with little water).
I hope this helps
Hi, as an Irish beef farmer with 55 heifers on 60 acres I would definitely recommend that to increase your stocking rate, you should reseed your paddocks with a mixed pyrennial ryegrass and white clover sward. You will be ablee to grow so much more grass and the clover will naturally fix nitrogen to the soil. I would say reseeding is probably the most important investment on your farm. Keep up the good work!
Very helpf information! Thank you very much for commenting.
I thought clover was bad for cows? Or is it a certain kind?
@@grante.7525 Well know I’m only eighteen studying Ag Science in College next year but we’ve learned that clover is crucial to the award as not only is it highly palatable for both cattle and sheep but it fixes nitrogen to the soil reducing fertilizer costs and increasing variety in the sward is better for the environment. This is white clover I’m talking about but when mixed with a majority perrenial ryegrass sward it’s ideal.
Slow and steady. She is doing fine. Dont want to grow faster then you are capable.
@@jamesfinn6137 You are correct. We have been doing a clover/ryegrass mix for the longest time in New Zealand. Also at your age, i'd suggest getting a job about there for 12 months. You will learn a lot and will be a great adventure.
I'm just empty nest mom homesteading our 5 acres on Whidbey Island with my full time working husband. We raised our 3 children on the land gardening, animal husbandry and homeschooling. I love what you are doing. My husband found your channel and shared it with me. We try to raise a good portion of our food with a garden, orchard, layer chicken and ducks, milking goat, and Corriedale sheep 🐑. I added a CVM ewe last spring and she delivered twins on Easter Sunday! We use the sheep for meat...we do the butchering ourselves to make it economical. I chose the Corriedale because they are dual purpose. I wanted to spin and weave the wool. I'm really wanting to do better rotation grazing. Your information has been helpful. We do it some... but need to improve our systems to make it better. You are an amazing young lady and God has gifted you with many talents. God bless...love your channel.🧑🌾🐑🌼❤️
Thank you so much for sharing. I loved reading about your operation and your encouragement in Christ means a lot!
@@theShepherdessyou are so thorough sister! Great details in video, don’t know how you grab videos and do it all at one time hehe! God bless you many times and prosper you and guide you always! How are you doing on this?
That’s $2500 that you will never regret spending!! I absolutely respect your work ethic and long range planning! Awesome work!
Thank you, james! I’m already feeling the relief compared to the old system. 🙌🏻
I wish I could get in on something like that!!
This is so cool. Good advice about starting small too! Zechariah 4:10
Do not despise small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.
amen!
Amen
@@Kelly_Maewhat variety are those flowers in picture?
You are amazing young woman! Your parents must be proud. So resourceful, industrious, strong, and humble. Thank you for the inspiration🙏🏽🙇🏽♂️💎
“Your channel is a treasure trove of knowledge. Keep up the fantastic work!”❤
Wow - the cyclops fence charger!!! I used to be sales rep for those 20 years ago. Those were (and probably still are) absolutely positively the best fence chargers on the market!
I love the way the message wrapped up on this.
The coolest part about restoring (or simply improving) pasture is how it benefits everything. Better for the animals, the environment, water management, *and* the rancher.
Never thought I could be so excited about "grass" lol
I was only following something my son mentioned once and I was on UA-cam watching Joel Salatin... which led me to Gabe Brown and Ray Archuleta... what a rabbit hole!
Snoop Dogg, is that you?
I wish my son could apprenticeship with you. I will always regret not learning this life when I was a young man. And raised my children as farmers.
I would love to learn from her and people like her.
I wish I would’ve learned myself
I am struggling to raise @ 45 head (cow/calf) of beef cattle on a 100+ year old 126 acre farm I took over from my dad in 2017 before he died. I appreciate your videos and your experimentation. With the way beef prices have stagnated, I'm definitely looking at alternatives. Thanks for your videos and showing different mindsets of how to be profitable on small acreage.
You could always sell me some of that sweet acreage…(:
I’m on the cusp of inheriting a 40 acre farm. Granddad keeps a small flock of sheep and I’ve dabbled in beekeeping.
Keep me in the loop my man, I’m likely to be in a similar boat soon, and would love to make it my main gig.
Ur doing it though and that's what counts
Those are awesome chargers. I have an 8 and a 20 joule cyclops. The 8 joule is about 25 years old and the 20 joule is 16 years old. They have not been treated kindly to say the least. Never had a problem except had to replace the little fuse by the cord when lightning hit our power lines. I had numerous different chargers over the years before these. Plus the company that makes them is a small family run company. I bought the first one after visiting with the man that started it. He was helping me repair my fence charger at the time. He was repairing fence chargers and decided that he could build something that would last. He did just that.
Try using a fence stretcher and a concrete block to pull your ground rods. Put the fence stretcher jaws on the ground rod and use the concrete block as a fulcrum.
Excellent idea. I was going to suggest a car jack or pulleys. Use leverage!
The term used is "AQMD" and is an acronym for Average Quality Management District which rates the number of acres required for livestock.
I was asked this question 25 years ago in Arizona by my soon to be wife from Texas who oddly enough was managing a Hotel I was staying at.
I've always had horses and she wanted one as well....
Usually in Indiana and other "green pasture" areas it's 1 acre per horse and better with two for switching paddocks.
We ended up with four horses and her wanting to move back to Texas, so ten acres it was, thank God.
I don’t have a farm or any farm animals or any use for this product HOWEVER I clicked out of curiosity and stayed for personality! Even as someone who’s not a farmer this was very informative and I love the hustle! New subscriber!
Wow! You are so impressive to me. You’re doing all this work, plus a full time job, plus filming and sharing all of this?! I’m inspired 🤗. My husband and I know we want to start a farm. There are numerous reasons we are called to do so. We have a 10 month old son and no idea where to start lol… but your channel is helping!
"Starting" can be daunting. But there are some good resources here on the internet. I can reply with some favorites if you like.
I would start with 3-5 hens and a 10 ft by 10 ft garden. And build out on that foundation.
Your voice is so soothing. I just had surgery and I’m in pain but your voice is so soothing. Thank you. May the Lord bless you!
Praying for you! Thank you for the kind words.
Your energy, drive and faith inspire! Well done, keep up the good work!!
ditto, new sub here. 😁💚🙏✨
I have been working on improving my fence for my Dorpers and lambing and started posting my sheep on UA-cam also. Your channel was a big inspiration for me to get started. thanks
Thank you so much for the comment. Loved hearing an update on your month!
Good info. I have to change up our grazing system, initially it was almost an emergency situation as a 4 acre pasture we use in the summer/fall was going to be dwindled down into 3-ish & it was all looking to be sold. Prayers were answered & it's off the market .. for now.
1 of our field's is completely fenced with field fencing, but the rest just has barbed wire & that's not conducive with my goat's (or my lowline angus)Angus, so I haven't been able to rotate anything on it (but a horse occupies it), we legally own a 2 1/4 acre pasture that is technically leased (contract was broken right away), that's missing part of a perimeter fence, but if we can get a couple gates put in on the "boundary" fence, then I can run hot wire (hopefully) to start using that for a pasture, but for now, we're just going to cut & bale it for use later. (In theory.
This shows me some hope that thing's can work the way I envision it. Though the livestock always have their own plan's lol
Rock n Roll. Solid. God is good.
Just re-watching parts, and it really hit me, that you've got the equivalent of 18 beef cows on 22 acres! What a great thing that you got through a terribly dry winter! That's wonderful!
Iv been a farmer for 22 years now and I'm still leaning.
Tip.
Set up modular infrastructure.
If your small stick to sheep.
Cheers
I just came across your website. Thanks for these helpful information. My wife and I just bought our 20 acres farmland in North Central Texas. God's Blessings.
I love your videos. They always make me want to go with strictly Dorper. The really like that you share your journey with us all and help everyone with your upset and downs along the way. Thanks
Farm life makes me feel more connected to nature and appreciate the value of hard work.
Thank you for advising STARTING SMALL! God Bless you and May continue to bless everything your hands touch ❤️🙌
Thank you!!
I’m so glad you are back. I hadn’t seen you in a while. And I thought UA-cam had censored another one of my favorite UA-camrs. I’m glad you were just taking some time off and taking care of business.
We live in Pittsburg TX and recently started with our first small cattle herd. Inspired by your model, positivity and diligence. We have been doing much similar. Put in well water access to three major paddock areas, two weeks ago and are working in additional perimeter fencing. We put in the hot wire with 12j from speedright and that has been a huge help in jumping off to other paddock areas and extending our temporary electric fence capabilities. I enjoy your videos and look forward to reading the Bible versus you post at the end.
Thank you so much, Curtis! Loved hearing about your setup.
Despite the market crash, I still thank you for the level-headed financial advice. I started stock and crypto investment with $4,500 from my livestock farms (sheep and pigs) and since few weeks now I've gotten $25,650 in my portfolio!
I went to high school in Pittsburg Texas. I used to work at Prairie Creek Ranch back in the 80's. Great country I miss it a lot. I wish you the best with you venture!
@@tiffanyhowards4976 scammer and a thieve
I'm literally tearing up. I love you soo much! Thanks for making the world a better place
I’ve seen a few farmers promoting their intensive grazing. This is nice and well explained
So nice of you, thank you!
We just found your channel. Liked and subscribed. After having beef cattle for over 5 decades. My wife and I sold every cow last fall. It was stupid to be in a buisness where everything we had to buy to produce we had to pay retail. and When we sold our produce we had to sell wholesale. All we where doing was swapping nickles. Never made a nickle for our labor. However we have a 3 acre collection /hoard/ junkyard where we reside. and we keep a small flock of sheep to keep it from becoming overgrown. and they do a excellent job. and we have Blackbelly and Dorpher crosses. And two lambs often sell for as much as a weaned beef calf. We would like to expand our sheep herd. however the grazing land we have only has barbed wire. We are working towards changing that. We have enough 4 ft woven wire to go around the premeter. And are buying used chain link fencing when we find it. The plan is to used chain link at the bottom and the woven wire at the top. Get at least a 8 ft premeter tall fence that sets 10 feet inside the current fence that on the property lines. and get a guard donkey. We are simply going to buy the best ram's we can find and keep our best female offspring and grow a larger herd. Im 70 and likely will never own another cow. Good Luck to you.
I'm not about to start a farm, but I love how you scaled up and that can be applied to many things in life. Loved your focus and determination.
Wow! You have been blessed with such IQ and ambition. Thank you for using it to help people! Thanking the Lord for you today!!!
You are quickly becoming my favorite content creator. While we are striving to be as self-sufficient as possible, we worried that our 12 acres wouldn't be enough to do everything we want to do. But I think we can definitely take some of your advice and maximize the usage of what little land we have. Thank you for another excellent video!
do what you can with what you have. I've just got a backyard but I've got 2 pigs and 3 laying hens and a nice sized garden and a mini orchard.
I think if you wanna make money more acreage is needed, but we also have 12 acres and this is plenty to feed ourselves. We also have fishing, and hunting so that helps
Have you considered a worm farm? I raise millions of worms to sell/fertilize my garden, and to show others how to care for them :) No acreage needed!
How much can you make ? What kind of warm is it ? God bless you.
We just recently picked up our first starter registered sheep flock. 2 ewe lambs and a 4 year old ewe with a year old ram. Excellent bloodlines. Katahdin hair sheep. I am finding your channel very informative. Thank you
This young woman is serious. 😁 About farming and animals. Sweet story. God Bless Farmers, Farms. 🙂
if you feed the cows gatorade, it actually dramatically increases pasture output, and they love it, all my cows drink at least seven gallons of gatorade daily, and im getting 5000 cows successfully grazing on only 3.5 acres, and it works perfectly, my sheep drink red bull, and they are getting incredible grazing numbers!! hope this helps, much respect and support!!
No judgement, they are your animals but I hope you realize the amount of chemicals/poison in those products & if you are trying to feed them good quality stuff you may want to be mindful of that. I won’t even drink that stuff bc it’s poison unfortunately. ☹️
6ft ground rod, dig a 6 ft trench, it is easier to pull out and install. Then for reuse way easier.
As a small cattle operation in Florida, I am very appreciative of your videos and ideas that you present! we are getting roughly 1.5 acres per cow/calf pair and looking to reduce that a bit and start more frequent moves that allow for more pasture rest. Thank you for everything you do. That Cyclops super looks nice!!! I believe they're made in the USA too!
Thank you very much, Joe! That’s a great carrying capacity. Do you have growth year round? Or is there a dormant season where you live?
@@theShepherdess we have a dormant season for our perennials, but we are still warm enough that we don't have any issues planting annuals in the winter time that can flourish with the right amount of water.
Out biggest issue of note is that our soils are basically sand and keeping nutrients in the soils and not just washing everything through can be tricky.
Propagation of cows and sheep and animal husbandry is a wonderful farm project. I'll read the books Ma'am. Thank you for your information.
I appreciate your faith and how you incorporate it into your videos
Thank you!
i think you should see videos on "growing fodder for sheep".
I wondered where you went! Glad to see you back! Just moved to Northwest Oklahoma been cleaning and clearing the land for animals and a garden! Blessings!
Loved hearing your farm update! Thank you for the comment!
One of my fav UA-camrs I’ve seen, very motivating.
I am doing something similar with my hydroponic grains system. I am the only one farming in my whole region this year. But what I made is so unique not even engineers imagined what I did. This year I will try to farm thru the winter, I don’t expect a high or even normal yield but as long as there is profitable yield I can essentially have 5 yearly harvest, and with already higher yields per acre. I am doing what you are and saving myself a from buying dozens of acres.
Purchased 4 Australian Whites first cross from white dorper's, just have five acres in the Snowy mountains in Oz, grass is 5 foot high in places ' they are great mate
We just bought 17 acres in Sulphur springs w 2 ponds... Hoping to have a profitable farm!
3:44 “see where the lord takes it” loved that😭
Stumbled on the video, really enjoyed seeing you having a go. As you’re probably aware, we, in Australia, are very familiar to both farming Dorper and drought. Where in Texas, I visit relatives in Arizona and that’s just a hop, skip and jump to Texas. Btw, read PA Yeomans, Bill Mollison and someone whom has probably heavily influenced you, even if you don’t know it, he wrote “Holistic Management” and lives near you.
we do 1 unit per acre in south texas.. 1 unit is a momma and calve,,, without rotation
i love Dorper sheeps! we just bought 26.5 acres of mixed timberland with a little pasture in it. I want to raise some Dorpers as a hobby!
As a city kid with homestead dreams, this is excellent information, and very encouraging!
Thank you for watching!
Fascinating!! We are really struggling with 7 animals on our 5.5 acre pasture because of the drought in Central TX. Praying for rain but your video has inspired some potential changes.
Just found your channel. The wife and I just bought 5 acres somewhere around you it sounds. We start this summer! Wish you the best of luck!
you can increase the grazing calories per grazing area by growing trees that produces food the animals can eat over the grass
Glad to see you back and also to see what you wrote about in your email. Its great to see things progressing like this. Don't forget to attach both ends of your hot wire to your zapper as if you have a broken hot wire down the road, you don't want a big section with out power. My wife was interested in your video, so I explained exactly how your system works with all the different animals and she said that clever, so you have a thumbs up from Mrs Footplate. Thanks for posting
I loved hearing about your wife! Thank you both. 😁😁
So during those hard times if you have to dump your livestock so will everyone else. That means you most likely will loose money. If during times of plenty you stock up on feed so you can weather the storm. Something to think about.
Valid point and something I’ve combed through over the past few months. I’ve put a lot of thought and planning into the topic and will lay it all out in the drought plan video. 👍🏻
My first video of many! Let’s do this. I’m motivated and ready to see this farm succeed
Tip for removing ground rods. Use a post hole digger instead of trying to pull it. WAAAY easier.
Hint for your ground rods removal; Shake them back and forth and pour water down the hole , while pulling them up. I did like your lil leever though, good idea! Is it lever , leaver , leever? Ahhh whatever.
I have no farming skills. I'm still a new subscriber as your enthusiastic approach to your plan is wonderful to see. I wish you much success!
Thank you!
I love this woman; shes the truth💪🏽
The way she tells this story is very inspirational
Good job! I'm most impressed with repurposing the ground rods. That's takes some patience and sweat. Even if you don't hit your exact stocking rate goal, your new setup will pay big for you. Good investment.
Can’t describe how good it felt once they finally started to break loose. 😅😅
I found so many great ideas in your video, especially at 1:30! You truly are an inspiration
Great job as always. A little advice for your hdpe or poly pipe instead of laying the roll down and uncoiling it try securing the end and unroll it on the ground like your rolling a tire it will make your life easier.
Good tip!
So glad to see you back.
Hope you had chance for a rest.
Thanks for your videos.
👍👍🎯
Hey Shepherdess, next time you need to remove ground rods, try a farm jack. It'll really save your back. You can use it for steel T posts too!
Guess I have it too good. To remove t-posts, ground rods, or any other thing I bring along a gallon jug of water, pour some around the object, and wiggle it. A bit more water, jiggle the post some more. Usually takes about a quart of the water, sometimes more, but it is so easy to just rock that post around and then just lift it out! I learned to do this as a 100 pound girl that had to compete against all the guys with backhoes and jacks, and my posts were never nicked or bent.
@@hotartesian4163 ohh thanks for the tip, I'm also a small light weight girl so these type of tricks will definetly help me be less reliant on asking others to do heavy labor because I simply dont have the strength.
I love your “paddock pie” design! 😜. Very clever in regards to minimal water tank movement. You have a very keen mindset. I hadn’t thought about “ focusing on reducing costs, instead of profits.” It makes sense, especially when starting out with a small scale operation. I purchased “Quality Pastures” from your site yesterday. I definitely would like to support your business! Thanks for all your efforts and informative videos! May the Lord continue to bless your bounty!
Thank you Troy!!
She is the best in world for micro Ranching respect Grace ✊
So glad I came across your channel as I explore the possibilities of taking my 40 acre hobby farm in NW Arkansas to a sustainable retirement income farm in a few years. Outstanding examples and video production
Love seeing your progress and commitment. Just finished out first year gazing and are already seeing improvements in the pastures. Blessings
Congrats on your first year! If you made it through year 1 without hitting, year 2 is twice as enjoyable! Didn’t think it was possible since I already enjoyed it, but it’s true. 😍
@@theShepherdessare you single ?
How you doing dear, good to see you again. Glad you are getting your projects done. I'm doing the same here up north working on making pasture. Clearing trees, hawthorn, and rose bushes. We need to double production this year so we are scrambling to get set up. Water is a huge battle , spend them dollars wisely. Take care.
Very inspirational. We started our rotational grazing a couple weeks ago. I'm not doing the Total Grazing plan yet because that's 4 moves per day and right now I'm only do one too. I plan on increasing to 4 moves per day in a couple weeks. We're also going to start running a chicken tractor with broilers behind the sheep. It's a narrow strip, but each pass will widen the strip plus we plan to add more chicken tractors.
The 4 moves a day sounds intense… but I hear the results are great! Let me know how it goes for you. I’ve enjoyed the info you’ve shared.
@@theShepherdess I watched this first episode a couple weeks ago live. There was another webinar last evening and I watched it too. The video for it will be available on UA-cam in a few weeks. ua-cam.com/video/NRrKeEVtNu0/v-deo.html
During last night's webinar the first speaker actually made a case for Total Gazing and I don't think anyone realized it. He said only new leaves photosynthesize. He said older leaves don't produce much in the way of photosynthesis. If this is true, then older leaves are not adding energy to the plant and are taking away from it because they need to be kept alive. Grazing the plant down closer results in a higher percentage of new leaves meaning more active leaves.
Why four Joe Salatin recommends 1 pe rday. Give then enough grass for that day and then move
For the past month I have been doing wood work and researching building a stone house and raising cattle
On 5 acres of irrigated pasture, we have 5 mature cows. I move the cows between a 3 acre pasture and a 2 acre pasture every 7-10 days. It’s hard to wrap my head around daily rotation thinking that wouldn’t leave enough time for the grass to rest and recover. How many paddocks would you recommend for 1 animal unit/acre? I’m going to start with a small part and work into it slowly.
Your determination blew me off the roof.
You're a cowgirl. Awesome!
I'm not rich, but I was looking for some goats to buy and farm then for every year and sell them.
And you asked to leave a comment what everyone had been doing last month. Well, I'm looking to get married. If you're single, then maybe we have a chance. I'm not that bad looking, and I definitely will learn a lot from you. I dont know much about farming, because I grew up in a city but I'm willing and able to learn. And I think I have a small idea where we can grow business as well.
Your video made tired looking at you working. Man! I loved that. ❤ awesome!
I am so happy that you share your faith in the Lord and the clear belief he still gives us blessings. We need more salt like you in the Earth. I am in the mountains in Colorado and trying to generate pasture from an overgrazed farm and I’m in the second year. I have started a small Orchard and from 11 cows now am at 51. Please keep the content coming and God bless you!
Thank you, Daric!
Numbers sound good on paper until reality knocks you down. Our family farm is west of Fort Worth. We have been in a draught for last year. One field produced 50 round hay bails last year first cutting. This year I got only 8 bails. You live in an area that typically gets a lot more rain which is great for you. I think about selling farm and moving to east Texas all the time. Especially after the weather showing rain all the time in East Texas.
It’s true. Every plan has to have a lot of flexibility for reality. This years drought is persisting, so we will see how the experiment goes. Thanks for commenting!
Okay, please correct me if I'm wrong but a couple things that are unrealistic. I don't have exact math because you didn't say where your revenue came from and how that was broken out, but there are a ton of costs that need to be figured into revenue which gets the only number that really matters which is profit. I just looked at 40 acres where farmers are struggling to make $190k for the land work as pasture and we have great rain. if someone is starting out they'll have potentially way more initial fencing cost if it's not fenced on the perimeter as yours was. Outside of feed/water during dry spells and gas for farm activities, you have meds for animals, and the sheep are easy targets if you have predators so in our area we have to mix sheep with dogs or donkeys etc (and I've heard lamas work but I have no experience with them). Also during extreme cold for people up north they may need shelters. As my grandpa said "crime doesn't pay and neither does farming" so if you're considering it really do the math.
Inspirational to a single father that has the same dream.❤
Do you know you can benefit from agricultural investment without owning a farm land? I invest with a farm that gives me daily percentage without me working. You just need to sign up through their website
Girl you’re so inspiring!!
Grass also likes being walked on someone did research on the thing and it grows faster, but it needs rest so 1 day on 7 days off or something.
Moving animals is done with water, some dude was doing it with paddocks and gates and a central water hole thing was on some farm radio program.
My spouse and I are adding a variety of agricultural stocks/ETF to my present holdings for the long term, We've set aside €250k to start following inflation-indexed bonds and stocks of companies with solid cash flows, I believe it is a good time to capitalize on the market for long-term gains, but it wouldn't hurt to know means of actualizing short term profit.
The market is volatile at this time, hence i will suggest you get yourself a financial-advisor that can provide you with entry and exit points on the shares/ETF you focus on.
@@scotttravis6621 I’m new to all this, heard it's a good time to buy and basically I've just got cash sitting duck in the bank and I’d really love to put it to good use seeing how inflation is at an all time-high, who is this coach that guides you, mind I look them up
@@markluni My consultant is *Maria Perez Lorena* I found her on a CNBC interview where she was featured and reached out to her afterwards. She has since provide entry and exit points on the securities I focus on. You can look her up online if you care supervision. I basically follow her trade pattern and haven't regretted doing so.
I just looked up Maria Perez Lorena online and researched her accreditation. She seem very proficient, I wrote her detailing my Fin-market goals.
have you looked into virtual fencing? it may help automate the rotational grazing without the costs of physical fences
So right on, on everything!
Another great video!
Got 25 acres myself..... Way worse soils though (sandy west australia) but it’s plenty for my 23 sheep and 3 horses.
You are a real inspiration.
Thank you!
Not 5 hours ago I asked my mom if she knew how to get our current ground rods out of the soil so I could reuse them elsewhere. Thanks for showing that!
Glad it helped!
Welcome back! These are two goals we are working towards for our 5 acre rotation system. Currently lugging 5 gallon buckets for water or using our side by side to haul it out to them.
Thank you, Jessica! Yes, the buckets worked great when it was just the flock… but the cows are crazy water guzzlers!!
So here is my two cents. 1su (stock unit) per acre is standard for most farms. Have a look the New Zealand style of block grazing. They have spent millions over the years on research getting it right. From how they do rotations to feed budgets, even understanding a feed wedge will help.
See if there is a farm advisor in your area that has a good reputation, will have the biggest return on investment. What ever you do (i can't stress the enough) look after you soil. I'm sure you have heard stories about the great dust bowl. They didn't look after the soil. Good luck
I’m 3:00 minutes in an all I have to say is thanks for the information. I just bought a small farm and I’m hoping to get some cattle soon. Great video.
Hint: any time that you uncoiling anything that is coiled up, pull from the center of the coil, it wont tangle.
Perhaps some land regeneration might help with keeping the pastures lush when rains are lacking. Just a few well positioned shade trees would even help significantly
Thankyou for the information. I did not capture the information about the duration for 225K? if you don't mind could you please correct my understanding? is that 2 years? (or) how many more years?. Second questions, Average farmer can sell only 1/2 the price what you price at your pasture, that is because they drop off at auction.
Thankyou for checking my long message.
Great info for the small timer, thanks!
Welcome back Shepherdess! May the Lord continue to bless the work of your hands, mind and heart!!!
Thank you, Patti!
I'm 50min south of DFW - my grass is already starting to die. Suppose to get rain this week. But not sure if it'll be enough.
You should research the stocking rates of kikuyu grass. 60 head of sheep per acre depending on climate.
You are inspired me cause I'm always dreaming about project but never start, I will watch your steps and find out what would be suitable 8n my country, just keep going 👍👌🙏❤️