Sheep Tractor- Organized Mob Grazing
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2021
- This is our first attempt in getting sheep in a controlled high density mob grazing system we call the sheep tractor. We tried the mesh electric fence but found for us it was difficult to keep the sheep out of the net and things moving smoothly. We are on a journey experimenting with ways to incorporate biomimicry into our farm system. We are here in Zambia in South Central Africa and grow wheat, soybeans, sorghum and bananas commercially.
- Домашні улюбленці та дикі тварини
It’s so good for the sol to mob graze. I too want to see how to build a sheep tractor!
We will do a build video on the next one we don in a few months! Stay tuned!
How much it may costs? @@CraigForChange
Thank you 😭
I was worried about labour costs for hiring a shepherd but now my mom can do this alone herself moving the tractor
Definitely the way to go for reduced labor issues! It’s simple and allows for higher density grazing and excellent even use of pastures.
@@CraigForChange BTW how are you moving this? Is it heavy?
Can you please tell me what material this is made of?
@@dv9239 it’s out of steel square tube. We are able to push it with two people easily as long as it’s not on super high grass or on very uneven ground.
@@CraigForChange thank you
Woah, that is awesome,.. why did I never think about that,...
It works pretty slick. Now to add water hose hook ups and drinkers to make moving easier yet. Next video… ;)
Love the idea! Will be getting one built for my sheep. What was your cost to build?
Excellent system. Can you tell me what impact the chook tractor that follows has on sheep manure worm survival
I think it will be significant. We will keep an eye and report back.
Question.
Until I can afford something nice like this do you think if I get some IBC Tote Cages and turn them upside down where the floor is on the top as a shade cover and the bottom is open to the ground and grass and if I metal zip tie them together that that would work as a make shift one of these for just a couple of sheep for the time being?
Sounds like it would work as long as there is enough ventilation.
Great system. What is the wall thickness of the 40mm x 40mm tube?
I am not sure. It was a middle grade. I will try to confirm and get back to you with exact thickness.
Please do more videos and give more details on this sheep and goat tractor.
Definitely will do! We will do a build video and some modifications to enhance it soon.
When can we expect to see that?
So how much did this cost to totaly to make?
What are the dimensions?
I’m getting 4 sheep and I think my chicken tractor will work quite well
Let us know how it goes!
That's a brilliant solution Craig! I'd love to build a similarly sized tractor for the pasture system I'm starting. Would you be willing to share the plans to your build? If you were selling them in pdf format I'd be buying a copy for sure :)
So we did it off a napkin. We will definitely get it on a free pdf download but I am in the US until September so it won’t be super fast. Let me see if AI can at least get you the right dimensions etc.
Should be six meters by six meters as our material is 12 meters long. We then just used heave concrete reinforcement wire and then welded and extra strand in low to keep smaller ones in. Then pained it all with rust proof gray oxide.
Materials required to build a 6x6 sheep tractor
47m (40x40mm square tube
12x2m (conforce wire small)
8m (angle iron for bracing)
6m (length of 1” gal pipe) roof
4 wheels
8 large bolts for frames
8 small bolts for braces
Pair of hinges and a latch
6x6m shade clothe.
If you want to reduce this to a 6x3 just reduce it to
41m
9x2m conforce wire. Hope this helps
@@CraigForChange it sure does, thanks a lot! I'll be building the first one within a couple of months. Looking forward to the pdf! And thanks again for sharing your valuable content. Regenerative ag. / Biomimicry is the future!
Materials required to build a 6x6 sheep tractor
47m (40x40mm square tube
12x2m (conforce wire small)
8m (angle iron for bracing)
6m (length of 1” gal pipe) roof
4 wheels
8 large bolts for frames
8 small bolts for braces
Pair of hinges and a latch
6x6m shade clothe.
If you want to reduce this to a 6x3 just reduce it to
41m
9x2m conforce wire. Hope this helps
Hi Craig. With your grass there, say in winter, would you be able to estimate how many moves you make before coming back to the same patch?
In this spot we were only about three weeks as our other pasture spaces hadn’t been developed yet. We have a great video coming out later this evening showing a mod with dairy cattle instead of sheep that really unlocked a bunch of irrigated land for us. Check it out tomorrow once it’s uploaded. :)
What size is your tractor and how many sheep are in it? Thanks
We built it 6x6 meters. The number of sheep depends on how many times you want to be moving it. We typically do 40-50 and move every 2-3 hours.
@@CraigForChange Thank you for the reply. Hope to see it being used again in more of your videos. Would be nice to see what you do for water and what you do with it overnight. Do the sheep stay in it overnight? And are you only moving it every 2 to 3 hours in the daylight hours? Or do you move it also after dark?
We will definitely show some more videos of the sheep tractor and a building video as well as a tricked out version. We leave them out night and day during dry season but not furring rainy season. We use half drums for water in the hot season and every morning and evening but we have a really cool modification that will build in the water system and make it much easier.
How do you water them?
Currently we use half cut blue drums we put in the pen. We are working to add water connections that snap on to built in water drinking units mounted on the side for easy movements.
@@CraigForChange Thank You Craig!
where about in Zambia are you guys farming?
Near Kafue River Bridge in Turnpike.
@@CraigForChange I'm starting to farm black head dorpers in Malawi.
@@CraigForChange Hi, how far are you from chipata?
More videos on this.
Ok we will do a bunch more grazing videos in the next 12 months.
@@CraigForChangewhen will
the sheep/goat tractor grazing videos be uploaded?
poor animals...not able to run ....sorry
So they are not in here all the time so they do get to get out and run and live very good life quality! This is great tool for managing forage and feed however.
You can tell which commenters are avid Disney watchers :)
Large herbivores feel much more comfortable and safe in tight groups. My flerd grazes together no matter what size of paddock they are in. Years ago I worked on a 5,000 ewe ranch and 90+% would graze in one big swath.
How do you pull that thing?
Congrats on the implementation of the sheep tractor!
So it actually has two handles and two people can easily roll it forward. Sheep rush forward for new grass and it works like a charm
What’s the size of the sheep tractor?
It’s 12 meters by 12 meters in this large one. We made narrower ones for between fruit tree rows as well.
That many sheep in that little of an area only moved 3 times a day? I raise sheep. That's just horrible.
This amount is moved more like 6-8. Lower density can be less. We move it as soon as the grass is at the ideal grazing level we are targeting.