Beyond rotational grazing, we also feed our sheep pumpkins throughout the winter months as a fun treat and extra goodie. Find out how we grew hundreds of pumpkins for our sheep (without planting them) here: ua-cam.com/video/u6ndQeSQ7GM/v-deo.html You can also learn more about why we decided to buy a farm and start homesteading here: ua-cam.com/video/yBOjI315mmc/v-deo.html
I like to halter train our rams. That way even during the height of breeding season we can tie them to the fence and go and do what we need in the breeding pen and then unclip the lead from the halter from the other side of the fence
Nathalie!!! So crazy how I used to watch your videos on how to build my email list and now here we are. Love that you’re doing this so much! We’re not quite the homesteaders we want to be but looking for land! Thank you for such a beautiful inspiration!!!
I know right?! I'm still very much in the world of emails and marketing and online courses... But being able to get outside and spend some time growing food has been amazing for me and my family. Excited for you and your family too! Happy to be connected and on similar journeys too :)
Oh my goodness this is wonderful! Such helpful information. Thank you so much for your time in educating us. I grew up on a hobby farm and always dreamed of returning to homesteading. Sheep were my favorite animal and I have always been interested in milking them. Thank you for this!
That's awesome! In the future I'd love to have some cattle and pigs, but sheep felt like an easier animal to start with. I'm not sure if that's necessarily true or just my perspective when researching ;)
Thank you for posting this video. Which plants in your pasture do your sheep eat first? I'm planning on diversifying my pasture while I wait for my dairy sheep to arrive at my farm this spring. I'm also planning on rotational grazing.
I love that you plan to diversify! I think some of the good forage seeds to plant include things like alfalfa, sainfoin, clover, bird's foot trefoil - these are all high in protein. We have a mix of stuff growing in our pasture, from chicory which they love, to timothy grass which is also good, and some lower quality grasses, too. They tend to eat up a lot of the high protein plants I mentioned higher up, so we need to replant those.
Of course! We bring two 3L buckets per paddock, and we refill them morning and night. So it's a lot of water carrying, but since we milk our sheep and rotate daily, we're already heading out to the paddocks so we might as well carry some buckets of water at the same time. :)
That's totally doable too - then the area would become a "sacrifice area" because it will get very trampled over time, and you might also need to add other bedding or stuff to make sure it doesn't get too muddy and poopy, over time.
We have a dry lot (which does get pretty wet/muddy) that we cover with woodchips and other things to help keep the sheep's feet protected from too much muck. This is where we feed them hay during the winter.
Beyond rotational grazing, we also feed our sheep pumpkins throughout the winter months as a fun treat and extra goodie. Find out how we grew hundreds of pumpkins for our sheep (without planting them) here: ua-cam.com/video/u6ndQeSQ7GM/v-deo.html
You can also learn more about why we decided to buy a farm and start homesteading here: ua-cam.com/video/yBOjI315mmc/v-deo.html
I like to halter train our rams. That way even during the height of breeding season we can tie them to the fence and go and do what we need in the breeding pen and then unclip the lead from the halter from the other side of the fence
That's super helpful, we'll have to work on that kind of training too!
Great info, thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Nathalie!!! So crazy how I used to watch your videos on how to build my email list and now here we are. Love that you’re doing this so much! We’re not quite the homesteaders we want to be but looking for land! Thank you for such a beautiful inspiration!!!
I know right?! I'm still very much in the world of emails and marketing and online courses...
But being able to get outside and spend some time growing food has been amazing for me and my family.
Excited for you and your family too! Happy to be connected and on similar journeys too :)
I've absolutely learned something new today. You are very good on camera I look forward to learning more.
Thank you so much for the kind words!
Well done !
Thank you so much!
Oh my goodness this is wonderful! Such helpful information. Thank you so much for your time in educating us. I grew up on a hobby farm and always dreamed of returning to homesteading. Sheep were my favorite animal and I have always been interested in milking them. Thank you for this!
Glad it was helpful! Thank you so much for sharing your upbringing too - I'm hoping my kids always look fondly on their time at the farm too :)
❣❣Happy Sunday, how are you?
Great thank you!
We've never had sheep on our farm. We've had cattle, pigs, chicken, and horses, but not sheep. This was very interesting.
That's awesome! In the future I'd love to have some cattle and pigs, but sheep felt like an easier animal to start with. I'm not sure if that's necessarily true or just my perspective when researching ;)
What an interesting video with beautiful footage! 🤩We daydream about having a farm. Maybe one day! Thank you for sharing 🙏
Aww thank you so much, I hope you get your dream farm someday too
Thank you for posting this video. Which plants in your pasture do your sheep eat first? I'm planning on diversifying my pasture while I wait for my dairy sheep to arrive at my farm this spring. I'm also planning on rotational grazing.
I love that you plan to diversify! I think some of the good forage seeds to plant include things like alfalfa, sainfoin, clover, bird's foot trefoil - these are all high in protein.
We have a mix of stuff growing in our pasture, from chicory which they love, to timothy grass which is also good, and some lower quality grasses, too. They tend to eat up a lot of the high protein plants I mentioned higher up, so we need to replant those.
very interesting information! i love this kind of farming and youre so organized!
Glad you enjoy it! Thanks so much :)
Excellent, informative video! I'm from VRA and glad I checked in! Love the google earth idea!
Awesome, thanks so much for stopping by!
I know really random but I love your graphics
Ahh thank you so much!
We’re in the middle of London so no chance of farming for us but interesting video! 😊 #vrafam
I hear you! We lived in NYC and London for awhile, and it's been a sort of "full circle" journey to move to the farm :)
Do you mind sharing what you do for water in your paddocks?
Of course! We bring two 3L buckets per paddock, and we refill them morning and night.
So it's a lot of water carrying, but since we milk our sheep and rotate daily, we're already heading out to the paddocks so we might as well carry some buckets of water at the same time. :)
What do you think about me keeping the sheep in one larger paddock and bring the fresh forage to them daily. I call it green chopping then feed
That's totally doable too - then the area would become a "sacrifice area" because it will get very trampled over time, and you might also need to add other bedding or stuff to make sure it doesn't get too muddy and poopy, over time.
You increase paracite risk with stationary paddock for more than 3 days in a paddock. Check your local paracite life cycles.
Where are the sheep kept before you put them in a pasture in the spring?
We have a dry lot (which does get pretty wet/muddy) that we cover with woodchips and other things to help keep the sheep's feet protected from too much muck.
This is where we feed them hay during the winter.