Why Small Farms Farms fail! We've gotta learn to think about this!
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- Опубліковано 19 жов 2024
- Why Small Farms Farms fail! We've gotta learn to think about this! Come along with me as we discuss how the health our our nation depends on our depleted soil. How farmers have become addicted to wasting money on the land just because grandpa did it! Growing soil..and rebuilding our small farms! Stop letting factory farms run our nation's food system!
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If EVERYONE farmed the way you do,, where would you buy your hay for regeneration,, I just had to ask
For the last 500 years if people farmed responsibly and respectfully all of our top soil wouldn’t be gone, we wouldn’t be dependent on commercial petroleum based fertilizers and our children would respect the soil that feeds them. Did we not learn anything from the dust bowl? We’re destroying our soil, thus destroying civilization.
LOL. He would simply purchase it from 500 years ago.
What a useless hypothetical! That really the best counter argument you could come up with?! 😂
@@wexpmedia5889 Who's response are you referring to? I think we could all have a good discussion and maybe a laugh here.
Everybody is not going to farm this way. No worries.
The science involved in regenerative farming is quite extensive. I appreciate that you are educating people about your operation. I have learned much. Thank you.
just wait till I get my microscope and we really study this!
@@StoneyRidgeFarmer might make for an interesting video.
@@markhasenour12 Wow! You really don't get it. Have a nice day.
@@markhasenour12 There is no basic science when it comes to agriculture because every single study on earth that has involved water soluble nutrients as an input has been bad science, and not a single conclusion in a scientific journal where water soluble nutrients as an input were used is correct
The Rhyzophagy Cycle and the plants' cultivation of endophytes is the primary pathway for plant nutrient acquisition. Adding water soluble nutrients prevents both of those things entirely. Entirely. Every single example on the planet where water soluble nutrients (see: even guano and manure) are used to feed plants, the soil has become less fertile and less functional. Every single example on the planet. Every one. That is inarguable
If you use water soluble nutrients as a major input in order to make crops grow, you don't know the science and so you have no idea how to promote and support the Rhyzophagy Cycle and the activity of endophytes...and you lose topsoil over time. You lose soil fertility over time. You lose soil functionality over time. Every single example on the planet is a testament to this
The only "basic science" in agriculture is the Rhyzophagy Cycle and root exudation. That's the only basic science there is. There is no other basic science
@@markhasenour12 Can you elaborate? How is hay+manure not fertilizer?
This is fantastic content. I'm a first gen farmer too and your channel has helped me tremendously. Keep up the great work and thanks for coninuinng to share your knowledge.
Awesome! Thank you!
Great Message to all farmer's and those who are just starting or thinking of starting.
This is one of the reasons I follow your channel. Great information that, if I get the opportunity, I can apply myself. Good stuff Josh! Thanks to the person that argued with you triggering this video 😁 Thanks for sharing and see you in the next vid 🤠
I farmed conventionally all my life until I saw "kiss the ground". Everything just makes so much more sense to farm with nature than against it. Mother nature always wins.
Thanks Josh. I pray this inspires more people to farm regeneratively. 🙏
Pretty much everyone used to farm regeneratively and sustainably. It wasn't until all the small farms sold out and became neighborhoods that you started really seeing the "corporatizing" of farming. Subsidies, financing, and global shipping all meant nobody had to think about taking care of their own land sustainably any more. Just farm it until it's spent then sell it or dump a mountain of fertilizer on it. Same with your equipment. Maintenance? What's that? We just run it until the JD tech says it isn't worth fixing then we sell it and finance a new machine. As a fourth gen farmer running my grandfather's equipment on my great grandfather's land, it really pays dividends to care for your equipment and especially your land, but I can sure see the appeal of the "business" model of farming.
Love it. Store the hay where you use it. Use moveable fencing, rotational grazing and the lightest equipment possible. Your fodder is your seed bank and the cattle are your fertility. I'm wondering if you put a couple of posts under your hay bales if they will store better, up off the ground? Love your channel. Blessings Abound.
I really enjoyed this video... I'm doing similar practices on a smaller scale in Nova Scotia Canada. I was so fortunate that Greg Judy started his youtube video a few years ago, right after I purchased a bunch of farm land. I have alot of fellow farmers in my area rolling their eyes at me too!
Whereabouts in NS are you? Idk how to pm here, but we're also in NS! Would love to connect... Are you on telegram, by chance?
@@AgnesMariaL antigonish county … not on telegram though
Do you store your hay outside as well? We're in NS as well and our bales outside just rotted from all the rain.
@@Whythol yup I do! Even the bales I have left just sitting on the ground seem to store pretty well. Best case scenario is putting the bales up on logs with 6-8 inch diameter. Keeps the bottoms from rotting. I even bought a bunch of bales in June this year that I’m now feeding and those are pretty darn close to 100%. Curious if your hay was wrapped ? I bought some wrapped hay once that was rotten… ended up having to compost 12 out of 24 round bales that I bought. That hurt.
@@Whythol one other thing I’ve noticed is the importance of making sure bales aren’t touching each other. If their touching on the sides with another bale they are gonna rot more. I’ve got some videos on my UA-cam channel that are pretty recent that show some of my hay unrolled. The hay needs to be “dry hay” if there is moisture in the hay when it’s baled it’s not gonna store well
Josh, I am very impressed by your practical, holistic approach to regenerative farming. I have a virgin farm in Zimbabwe & after clearing trees we are trying to improve our pastures by using HDLD (high density, low duration) grazing techniques & moving our cattle to a new small pasture weekly after letting the cattle graze the pasture right down. In 4 years we have seen a massive improvement on our pastures, the grass cover is thick & the perennial grass gets a chance to grow. Look up Alan Savoury! Unfortunately we don't have the luxury of being able to buy hay bales here but it would be a great idea from a nitrogen cycle point of view - you are effectively bringing external nutrients onto your farm through your cattle👍...much respect from Zimbabwe 🇿🇼
Much respect for Mr. Savory with you. Wish you the best with your operation
I have been looking for farmers from Africa to exchange methods with. If you’re interested I would love to email you some videos and show you how I would go about fixing up land. Very cheap methods can get you progressing to a point I’ve not seen on African farms.
I just purchased property in the Cumberland Gap area of Tennessee. I am taking excellent notes here. Thank you Stoney Ridge. I have to do some selective cutting on the 18 acres, mill it, and plant something to get started. I wish the land was more conducive to raising cattle but I will find someone with fields to go in with them on cattle. But thank you for all of your videos.
Excellent message, excellent proofs. Hopefully more farmers will catch on!
Great content, once again.
Will try this on x amount of bales.
I have a small scale farm of cattle.
Maybe yours vs my climate in northern Sweden is a bit different.
Much snow, and -25celcius in the winter.
We put baleplastic on the bale when we produce it and store it outside.
Heavy cost for the baleplastic this year. 100% up in price.
About 130dollars for 14 bales.
Interesting , thank You , for the reminder of why I rent my land out . My grand father stored most of his hay upstairs in his barn for the milk cows and horses, he also stored his tractor and manure spreader there too. As the hay got used we would get more from the hay stacks . It worked for him . In all fairness the last cow left in about 1977 . I am glad that you're plan is working
yep...it's alot easier to rent it out than it is to get out there and loose money working the land lol
@@StoneyRidgeFarmer That and my renter is much better at taking care of the land . Another thing I am not a good mechanic. As we all know , keeping the machinery operational is VITAL . Thank You
Learn something new every day. In ireland, we would keep bails outdoors but wrapped in black plastic. Im not sure if that is more beneficial or not but its certainly protected from the elements
Very helpful! Thank you. This is the way!
Stoney this is your 2nd best video. Temple Grandin was #1.We've been holding off on baling hay and opted to buy hay for now. Expanding our pastures for more rotation this year.
@Stoney Ridge Farmer Just wanted to say Thanks for the vids and your hard work. Your videos have helped me and my family on our journey towards food independence and healthy way of living. Keep up the good work!
So much wisdom. Where would America be without farmers and trucks
I don’t own a farm but would like a small farm when I retire.
I’ve read up on regenrrative farming and also read from dirt to soil by Brown.
Nice presentation. I enjoyed it very much
God bless you buddy. You have a beautiful farm and thanks for your time.
This was super informative and I see the logic you are using. I am by no means knowledge about any of this stuff but I am learning. Thank you for this video.
My grandfather and my uncles use your methods. I always thought thats how it was done. I can tell ya we never used fertilizer. Cover crops like vetch and clover are more than sufficient for N fixation. One of the best things I ever did was buy a bulk 50lb box of Canadian night crawlers and bury them loosely in various places. A handful here and a handful there just random. It really does the job.
You just saved me $30,000, and you’ve increased business for some local hay farmer.
Thanks, man!
Thank you, blessings
Super great video, two thumbs way up. I am a huge fan of Greg Judy and am glad to see you using his methods. I wish all farmers and ranchers thought like you and Greg Judy.
when you stop seeing the land as $$$ and start seeing it as something that's alive..just like the animals..then your life will change for the better
Good morning Josh Keith from Florida awesome job keep up the good work
I'm with you on the outdoor storage. I have about double the hay supply and we prefer to wrap it wet now instead of trying to store it in a shed. Building a shed to store feed in this day and age is way too much of a risky endeavor.
One thing to keep in mind, farmers in northern climates cannot utilize things like the greg judy bale unroller that you are during winter. I have an ATV about twice the size of yours and it cannot make it through all the snow that Wisconsin winters get, even if I wasn't pulling anything. Now prior to snow if the ground is just frozen and looks like what you're dealing with, sure. But in these cases, utilizing feeders, piling it up just prior to the thaw, and spreading on your pastures or hay fields is ideal. You don't need 10s of thousands in equipment for a spreader and tractor, a tractor from the 70s and a decent used spreader is just fine.
I agree with you that you may not be able to use a greg judy bale unroller in WI, I live in WI as well. However I unroll over the winter with a worksaver brand 3point model unroller on a tractor that costs less than his 4wheeler. However I will disagree with the idea to not have a shed to store hay in. I have bales inside and outside, and I hate grabbing the outside bales that have the frozen netwrap on them. Much nicer to have them in the shed.
Use square bales.
Would a snow mobile work?
I do not use a hay barn but I do stack it and always had a huge loss. The "V" explanation makes great sense now. I will have to come up with a new storage plan.
I learned so much just now. Great! Thanks!!
Excellent!!! Exactly what I do, same size operation. We also rotate sheep behind the cows. Great video.
The awesome thing about rolling out hay to feed, is you can also spread out seed for the bare spots you might have in the area. While the cattle are stepping all over the hay while eating they pushing the seed into the ground. Our old landlord use to do this on his field's, & he lived in a desert region and he always had new grasses coming when he'd rent out a couple sections to help other ranchers with their & they always damaged. He was doing regenerative ranching & farming b4 it was a thing. When there was severe drought, he never struggled & it was only later in his life when he started cleaning out dairy ponds that he had a high dollar tractor. Hay was never put in a shed or barn. And he used a backhoe to feed, doctor & bring them in to process, used a quad on occasion.
But most ranchers can't see the benefit, just the work. At least in my neck of the wood's.
We started buying round bales this yr no fancy equipment. Put it on a flatbed car trailer, hauled it with 69 flatbed truck, rolled it off the truck & trailer. 1 is always near our holding pen/bachelor pen & it's rolled back & forth to get the layers off. Our new hay guy just uses twine & it has very little ,"rot" on bottom & pretty much nothing on top compared to the netted bales on here & other channels. This guy charges $130/1100 bale, was 125. Our only heavy equipment is a wheelbarrow. But we're small & broke. Lol good info though
I’ve tried leaving round bales out and they rotted, even when partially wrapped with the black bags made for them. You’re right, square bales are too much work
I have been looking into these practices, love to see them in action! Wish you all the best!
There’s an old saying, “if you make a man think he is thinking, he will love you, if you make him think he will hate you.” you’re going to make people think by talking the way you are,,, and you are going to have haters..😅
You’re absolutely correct. The only profit in ranching is holistic ranching.
Two really good books
-I quit the a habit.
-How not to go broke ranching.
Both of these books change my life and made me profitable has a Ranch .
Very good video.
~Happy trails
Luke Simons
From
Back to the Basics 101 UA-cam channel
I love it, this was very informative. Josh, keep the vids coming, the way you farm just makes so much sence.
Love your rationale sometimes it’s a good idea to reverse engineer the ideas that we’ve been given like you did. Great job!
I think this is great. We store our hay outside too. My husband says it is all good. I’m going to see if he’ll try the rotational grazing and regenerative practices you show here. How much do you spend in the electrical part to keep cows from grazing on plots? Thanks for sharing 😊
the electric fence wire costs about $300 for 1 mile of wire...each step in post is about $2 and they are spaced around 20 ft apart. I have around 4 miles of poly electric fence wire here if that gives ya any idea. I figure I'm into it about $2k
Thank you for all the information. I don’t have my own farm…yet…but this is info with storing!!!
Nice descriptive and well thought out video Josh. Whooo!
Josh, fantastic explanation of what you do, and why you do it. I was sitting here thinking about what you were saying, and it makes way more sense.
On a smaller scale, people could even practice this process with goats, being that they are also ungulates.
Farmers that have bison would also benefit immensely from this way of farming.
I remember what you said a while back. You are soil farmers. When you have great soil, you have great animals.
Thank you again! Perfect sense!
When I was little, I’d sweep out the mow and hay floors of our dairy barn in the spring and put the chaffe down on bare spots that invariably presented themselves . That chaffe made the best grass
I think you make some good points. Your strongest points IMO are about the damage done to non-frozen ground (geography dependent) by heavy equipment. Outdoor kept hay is estimated to lose close to 30% of its feed value in 6 months. So, maybe another way of looking at the math is $50 x .3 = $15 lost per bale per year. Would that change the equation on a hay barn with less hay needing to be purchased? There is value in the waste as you point out. I've been rolling out purchased hay for years and it helps with the soil's K, but not nearly as much P. The normal recommendation for outdoor storage is to butt bales end to end until ready to use, but that isn't possible with the Judy hay unroller. The ideal would probably be only feeding hay under extreme circumstances but need the right stocking rate, smallish cows, and ideal soils/fertility. Simplicity is probably somewhere in the middle with some indoor kept hay for bad weather/droughts and some strategically placed when delivered to limit the travel distance. Thanks for covering these topics for all your followers.
At 30% loss, that's $3,300 per year loss. Would still take him 15 years to pay off the barn.
@@sustainabilitytheory5154 so, still built equity to your property with the building.
@Sustainability Theory - at which point some/all of the barn would need repairs maintenance so recoup cost is going to be 2+ decades. Net wraps and silage wraps also reduce this loss. You can easily mitigate the loss in feed value with proper storage. Stacked, dry and covered the hay will be relatively stable. Especially over winter when Temps and humidity are lower.
add the $3-4 per bale for the net wrap over twine, hay stored in a barn can be twine wrapped. Also if its in a barn it can be kept for more years and still be good. Then you can save the extras from the years of plenty for the years of shortage.
also with outside storage most of the loss first year, is the bottom, even with a tarp you cant keep the bottom of the bales dry and free of spoilage. A well built barn can last 40 or 50 years before they need much maintenance.
He said 3% loss not 30%. that is 50 * 0.03 = $1.50
Very good advice. And accurate info thankyou for the video
Pretty darn smart Mr. Stoney Ridge . Like all your videos. Lot of useful info to use. Thank you sor.
Great subject and financial data. Surprised but you are right. Safe successful farming.
barn kept hay is worth it, but buying a property with existing buildings has been a huge plus for me. otherwise id be wrapping hay at the least, if not a hoop building. living in the north where below freezing is very common its easier to feed in a feedlot style paddock vs. a pasture cause you dont know soil conditions one day to the next, could be knee deep mud, could be frozen solid.
yep...but is easier better? If you've gotta medicate an animal that's not sick to keep it from getting sick...what does that say about it's living conditions? What does it say about our food system as a whole? Look at the mucky mess you see all around your local farms and barns...is that being a steward of the land? Is that practicing good animal husbandry? Hmmmm
@@StoneyRidgeFarmer i don't take medicating lightly, it is expensive and cuts into profits, the goal is to give them one bad day, not many, without spending thousands on water infrastructure like you have there is no way to keep cattle on pasture for winter, but the paddock which needs cleaned as often as possible, offers a shelter and constant open water access( which froze over 8 inches with stock tank heaters in this arctic weather we just had -55°) and feed not in the manure, bunks and raised feeders, i have little to no worm issues here and mainly worm yearly as a good preventative to keep them healthy for the off chance there is a worm load. Resting land and not grazing to the dirt is a huge help, my pastures sit empty for almost 6 months each year. Every operation is different, as long as we aren't moldboard plowing and spreading commercial fertilizer I feel you are doing the best for the land, there's no contest on who's the best steward of the land just do better than those before.
Great video and great info! Thanks for sharing.
Very informative and interesting - - so great that your cows are so healthy - it makes sense what you are saying to move them away from their own waste.
Thanks for talking about farming and how you do things good stuff learn a lot from your channel
You're doing great with this system, huge plug for Judy too lol. Two problem areas: cows are fine and actually like cleaning up even worse 'silage' weathered bales but if raising horses the hay needs to be barn-kept hay as horses do poorly on anything less than perfect. When you rely on outside inputs you have that portion of your operation at a major potential risk. At least think through the scarcity problem solutions for when 'no one has any hay' or when hay is priced as much as spun gold. I've known farmers mixing molasses with grain straw to replace hay in tougher times. You may have a few extra 'fallow' fields or even the lawn around the house and barns or 'the woods' you can graze when pressed. My folks used to graze some of the cows 'down in the swamp'. From beekeeping I learned to check the hive food stores in February and make sure they had half or more honey left as they used since that was the midpoint of last to next first forage.
Wow… hadn’t heard it broken down like that before. Heard Greg Judy talkin about buying hay vs baling his own, but didn’t make sense until I saw this. Thanks!!!
I grew up on our family farm in the mountains of Tennessee. Our farm made it's self run. We not only grew our food but our hay and corn and feed for our livestock and hardly feed hay in the winter due to our winter grass pastures we kept to their selves for our cattle and horses. Plus my dad retired from Ford Motor Company as a toolndie man so he and a couple helpers keep everything running. Mom and the girls keep things growing.lol..so yeah our farm really keeps it's self running. Creeks run threw every large plot of land and pastures..fruit trees every where. Yeah people call mom and dad farm little Eden becouse how our elders built our farm like this. No wasting is a must if your gonna make it on your farms. Sending you love and blessings to you all guys ❤️🌎🕯️💜 oh yeah one great thing bout growing your own hay is it's good hay don't bring in someone's else bitter weeds. Becouse their bitter weeds with take over your good grass lands. You got to be strict..
Excellent comment! We're in Southern middle Tennessee.
While I have always been fortunate enough to not have to put up hay, we did have to store barley straw for our outdoor pig bedding. We always stacked the straw into an "A" frame shape, and cover with a canvass sheet which lasts for about 15 years if properly cared for.
I recognized the Greg Judy roller.... Everything you've said makes perfect economic and ecologic sense. Thanks for the video!
Thanks for the info,you make a lot of sense,thanks a lot👍🏻
Excellent advice.. Thank you good sir!
Excellent job if I continue farming I will try this thank you
I LOVE WHAT YALL DO!! I JUST GOT NOTICE I HAVE TO GET RID OF MY 27 CHICKENS!! I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO JOSH!!! I NEED LAND!!!
Thank you for the perspective. I have been thinking of getting an old hayloader to collect hay I’d cut with a sickle bar and then store in the hayloft like was done in the past. Your points about bringing carbon and grass seeds on to the farm, multi function inputs, in lue of single function inputs like chemicals is very compelling. I’m going to revise our feed plan, though I think I will still eventually get the hayloader for a resiliency option and functional yard art.
Thanks for posting this. I think round bales must weather better than square bales. I used square straw bales to ring a compost pile and they didn't last 6 months. This is good to know what you have done, as I have uses for straw, and storage is an expensive problem - I'm glad I don't need it!
yep...can't leave square bales out in the rain....totally different plan with square bales
I’ve grown up around farmers all my life, worked various jobs on many and I can say I have never met a successful farmer who didn’t have a secondary income. Either spouse who worked outside of the homestead, most common by the way. Or another source of revenue like a farmers market, timber, oil wells, butchering and selling direct to consumers, organic or some special crop. Farmers accept to much risk with little gain unless it’s a generation farm with thousands of acres and most equipment paid for. Good luck it’s an amazing lifestyle hard work big risk and small pay.
After the first 5 years the cows have produced enough calves that is is profitable every year
@@michaelchason7863 is the cost of the land added to that to make profit from cattle in 5 years
@@russellfitzpatrick7562 obv not lol BUT the money u paid for the land is still there .. the value is not lost but locked in the asset (the land)
Spot on and great explanation!
Amen.
How can i do this in the cold of canada...we have to put our hay in the barn if we didnt it would ruin we get feet and feet of snow over winter..i really love how you do your farming and id love to follow it but in my environment im not sure how
Excellent Share 🎯
Depends on where you are located on the storage. When I leave bales out over winter it can freeze up to 7 inches and is impossible to remove the string or net wrap. Have to tarp it. Do like the way you are feeding the cattle... helps with spreading the nutrients and the animals are much cleaner.
Canada is Canada I'm afraid.
The thatched roof illustration is outstanding. The slice of hay from the bottom of the bale likewise.
There's a lot about this video that I agree with. But of course there are some differences that I find in my operation.
I store my hay outside also. Like you, the hay barn doesn't pencil out. But actual hay losses due to rot and mold are dependent on the yearly precipitation and will range from from an estimated 10% to 25%. I make my own hay. Several reasons for this but the biggest is availability. To have my pastures custom baled I am dependent on someone else to fit me into their schedule. To buy hay - if I took this years prices - $100 - $125 /bale! (regional prices, I'm in central Texas.) And that's usually for a 4'X 5' or 4' X 5-1/2" bale. Cheaper to sell cows than feed them during the winter at those prices. I make 5 X 5-1/2' bales which enables me to go an extra day between feedings.
Unrolling hay with a 20,000 dollar side by side dont pencil out for me..
Excellent Video Josh...very enjoyable and informative!!!
If it work it works.... Good vid sir well done in putting your point across 👍🏻 hope there's many more to come.. stay safe 🏴
I don't have cows and don't ever expect to. This is such an awesome application of intelligent farming.
Your round bales do not only waste 3% of the bale if its left out in the elements. Dependent on the way its put up it and the region it is stored it can be 10 to 25%. If you have a 4x5 bale and you have 4 to 6 inches of damaged hay on the outside of the bale that is WAY more hay than one would think. Very true that the heels of the bales are great compost for the pasture or field. I believe they are better though piled and composted then spread on the field. The bale you are showing is, not all that great. If you are in NC I would just think that you should be able to graze all season if you stock pile enough grass. I mean, I have mine digging through snow for grass if its available into December. There is big value in a storage shed, even a feed lot in the winter time. You have to maintain it so its not a mucky mess. The best point you are making is its all relative. The bale is holistic, but don't waste your hay. Its still good for the ground after the cow eats it.
Trouble is you are adding costs. This system depends on reducing costs and maximising natural capital ( free stuff). Don’t forget that increased productivity intensification = more of the farmers potential profit being given to suppliers/ machinery suppliers. In conventional systems, the bulk of money earned from farming is by associated industries. How do you feel about working for others?
Agreed. Even the “good” parts of that bale is not good hay. Good way to get listeria or botulism
Great thinking “outside the box”! The economic arguments alone are evidence enough why we need to break the status quo and really think about “why we’ve always done it this way.” Buildings and all the machinery are so expensive and keep going up and up in price, as well as fertiliser and other inputs but you’ve demonstrated how and why these can be eliminated or significantly reduced. This results in significant cost savings, increased profits and healthy livestock, soil and environmental benefits. Great work and video! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Great video of the man who is passionate and what he’s doing and intelligent for doing his homework
Thanks for this video. There is a lot to learn and it’s great to see your example of how this is done.
We still have grass thatched houses where I come from. They don't leak when it rains.
Thank you 🌞
Great video Josh! I hope to build our first generation regenerative farm here in about 5-10 years. I'm in the clean up process of the farm land I bought that was neglected and being taken over by invasive plant/tree species. I have the land but now just have to be smart financially about how I do it. Still be working a full time job for the first many years of it.
Now here in Missouri i see bales sitting together in rolls and I see bales in open barns as well. What i don't like is when the netting is laying along the road from farmers that don't care about other animals getting caught in the the webbing. There is a lot of farms here that only grow hay mainly because of the rocky land. Did you ever get your transformer to get power to the building yet? You are living the dream!
yep....no matter what you've gotta stay on top of cleanup or your farm will look like a disaster very quick. Still no transformer but hopefully by feb!
Farmers are pretty keen on cleaning up. Netting on the side of the road, or even a square bale that exploded, came off and the farmer didn't see it happen to get it. Remember most are hauling it home alone and can't see around the bale wagon.
I love that you don't medicate up your cattle! When I watch other farmers injecting and spraying their cattle it turns me off to want to eat that meat! Wish I lived nearby......I'd be a customer!
man....I tell ya...drive around in the country in this wet winter weather and look at the mess most farms have. It's horrible!! It only takes a little bit of "outside the box" thinking to be clean, neat and successful
WOW, Great information thank you!
I see your point, but I'm still going to cash flow a series of small distributed hay storage sheds. Just a simple pole barn with an elevated gravel floor.
still gonna get moisture from the ground in your hay brotha...unless you are running 100 or more cows...this has proven to be the best method
I enjoy the thought pattern of your decision with the hay product. You said that you use fall bales of hay and spring hay. You indicate that you have four different hay reserve. Could you have both types of hay on the farm at the same time. I would put one type then when purchasing the bales used, buy the separate type of hay so you can rotate the seed every year. Thank you and I pray that your thought on Regenerative Farming will catch on all over the country. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻Amen!!!
last year we did fall cut....warm season grasses...this year..spring cut...cool season grasses. Different seeds in the bale for different seasons. More broadleaf in a fall cut hay....more grasses in a spring cut hay
Its always smart to take care of things you are blessed to have. Land, house, truck, wife, if you value your investment . Time or money .
Being good stewards of the land is a must but we also need farmers willing to invest in machinery, land and fertilizer so regenerative farmers can do what you and others do. I rotational graze my cattle and also rotate my hay ground. Profit wise, I make more profit from hay. I have never stored hay inside. If I carry over hay, I have guys that will bye it for ten dollars less next year. Great content and keep up the good work. We MUST leave the world better than we found it. Be safe out there!
I was actually thinking that while watching the video.Regenerative farmers need it to stay less than popular. If it were ever to be mainstream, I’m not sure you could afford to buy hay from quality producers.
if we hadn't destroyed all of our soil and become totally dependent on commercial fertilizers and feeding the money machine...then we'd all be regenerative farming. 200 years ago they just called it farming...now we can abuse our land and put a pill on it to green up the crops for the next season.....before commercial fertilizers and weed killers a farmer had to understand soil and it's importance...now it's treated like an inanimate object...remember soil is a living thing...not a machine....remember the Dust bowl? It hasn't been that long ago...remember how fertilizer was invented....WW2!!
Great presentation. So well explained.
Absolutely one of if not the best of your videos. Very well done!
Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!
And you as well. Thanks for the reply.
New subscriber. Great video on regenerative farming. I don’t have a farm just a few acres with a vegetable garden but i am trying the same techniques on my garden. Experimenting with composting. Great content and love your lifestyle. I’ll be watching. Len
welcome to the channel!!
Makes sense to me. Thanks for your insight. Truly appreciated. I thought I was alone in not vaccinating nor over feeding my animals with grains. I do need to do something about further separating food from stool.
Solid argument. More small farmers should think like this!
I'm not going to argue the obvious benefit of buying hay and adding to your soil, my question is this: if you're bringing in hay, that means its being taken from elsewhere. Does the regenerative model allow for production of hay, or is it reliant on a farm running fertilizer. OR is this more of a small regenerative farm taking advantage of large farms utilizing the commercial fertilizers?
I can only regenerate my farm my brotha....I simply cannot control what my neighbor does. Everyone has the option to farm in a regenerative manner by rotating crops, animals and fertilizing with manure v/s with chemicals. That's about all I can tell you. I have no control over my neighbor's practices....but I will buy hay until my land can produce it's own hay
I really love what you're doing I'm about to buy a small piece of property and I would like to have some animals are there and I would just like to say that Your videos are inspiring to me I really love what you're doing you're living A magical life style
thanks so much!
Great video. I would add that it is possible to unroll the bale by hand and fork in a pinch by pushing it. I’ve been leaving my sheep in barn this year because of disastrous drought in western Kansas but normal year it works. Also normal year buying hay makes sense but now with hay 3x price I wish I had my own 😅
you can do it by hand if ya want my brotha...but it's all about efficiency and being able to put the bale on the ground that needs it the most ...now...hay costs doubled for me this year...but it's still gonna cost ya whether it's your time, equipment or fertilizer. Hay here was $30-$35 a bale 2 years ago...now it's nearly 50 !
GREAT video!! Thanks!
Great information!! If your viewer isn’t convinced after this content I don’t know what would.!!
Nice one. I like how you're thinking
I have only three head right now and pay $80-90 per round bale. Yes, it feels expensive at twice the price I paid last year, but it’s a whole lot cheaper than making my own! Plus I can select hay based on what kind of seed I want to add.
We also have a Greg Judy unroller. We are building a brand new farm on neglected land and rolling out the hay helps get organic matter (hay, urine, and manure) in the soil. 5-7 years from now, everything should be on the right path.
awesome!! Keep at it!
Look for balage at that price. Feed out of a feeder away fro water supply. Get a line on contractors who need a place to dump wood chips and place them around your feeder. Give it a few years and you will be smokin'. Then again, I'm just an old dub composting a few thousand yards of chips a year. Yeah, I sequester carbon. Best to ya!
Trying to decide if this might also help control the canary grass in our pasture. Lay it over like a black out blanket & hope for better grasses to grow in its place? Canary is very difficult to choke out with seed…. but what about a thick thatch blanket of seeds? 🤔
Great information thank you....
Thanks for your video, I did not know that the hay did not rot when laying on the ground.