If you have small acreage, sheep are your best ruminant animal to manage.
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- Опубліковано 8 бер 2022
- If you have small acreage, sheep are your best ruminant animal to manage. With smaller acreage farms, sheep are much better suited than cattle. It takes much more forage to support a cow for year than it does for a sheep. Be careful though with sheep, most people overstock their farm and run out of forage. Remember you flock can easily double or triple in a period of 10 days when they have twin lambs. 20 ewes that have twins, now you have 60 head! For more grazing info check out my new book " How to Think Like a Grazier" on our website: greenpasturesfarm.net/books/
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Weve got 12 acres in southern Ohio. Started with 2 ewes and a ram one year ago and now have 13! Our Father who art in Heaven blessed us with 8 lambs this spring!! 🙏 ❤
Thank you Greg for all your guidance!
"Stock your farm like you are in a drought". These are words of wisdom right here. Very often less is better. Thank you sir for what you do!
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Learn something new from every video, thanks Greg!!
Glad to hear it!
I second that! 🤓❤️🇺🇸
yayay dr berry!!! love your channel
Dr Berry, thank you for introducing me to the carnivore diet.
Dr Berry is the man! Love your videos, it’s probably why I have sheep!
Thank you for sharing your wisdom Greg
Love our sheep more and more with each day's move!
Always the best information from your videos!
Thanks again for all your videos! I can’t wait to have babies this spring. Our animals are awesome. We got them from high quality breeders. This summer we will be breeding our heifers in July. They all will be 15 months old and they are looking good too.
We have about twenty seven acres and are looking to use three of those acres for sheep with a daily small paddock rotation. Thinking around 5 ewes and a ram.
I learn so much from you. The foot rot was important as well as the 100 to 300 explanation. Thank you.
You are welcome!
Another great video on the importance of sheep.
We love our Gulf Coast (or Gulf Coast Native) flock. Though they're a wool breed, we don't HAVE to shear them, but we GET to shear them, which gives us another product. They're incredibly parasite resistant (we haven't wormed them once in over four years), and no hoof issues.
Are you in Texas?
That’s a lot of sheep. Love watching those pups work that field Pretty cool.
Always good information. Thanks for sharing your knowledge
You can tell these dogs know what their job is. Love to see real livestock guardian dog, not the confused, neglected outdoor dogs that you find on most small farms/homesteads these days. It is obvious when a dog has spent all of its "cute" months in the house being cuddled and loved, only to get tossed out in a paddock at 6-10 months with some sheep they couldn't care less about, much less want to protect. Much better for them to be flighty of humans, than to spend their life begging at the fence, miserably chasing the human affection they were raised to expect!
Thank you for the video.
Love your videos, I'm currently running about 70 head of goats, Boer, Kiko, Savanna and dairy mix on reclaim mine land in western Ky., Also 15 head of horses, mules and ponies, only fed around 75 square bales of hay all winter. Plan on getting rid of horses and getting some sheep and cattle. I haven't had to worm for 3 years.
Hi Tim..do you provide any kind of shelter for the goats?
My grandfather trained me in ranching. The difference in N Missouri between a normal year and a drought is 1 rain in the last week of July or the first week of August.
Sheep and dogs here are doing great Greg. Up to a tich over a hundred. This spring lambing season should be quite an experience. I had to help one last year that was breeched but didn't take much and momma and baby (now grown ewe) are doing great.
Greg might not keep that one
@@charleswalters5284 Maybe not but everyone has to decide that for themselves. I dont believe in culling that aggressively on first lamb ewes.
Lots of great advice.
this pasture right here is #goals
I would like to talk with you sometime about purchasing a group of young ewes and a ram to start my sheep experiment to diversify my farm more.
I like the concept of lower inputs and rotational grazing with our cattle in a complimentary system.
Since wool seems to worth very little here, your sheep would be the place to be on our farm. Do you subscribe to the Animal Unit (AU) concept when stocking the sheep on the land? The sheep follow the cattle?
Another great video, thanks.
I learned the lesson in terms of having feed hay early this year. I screwed up and cut the grass with the tractor too late in the season so we didn't get great recovery before frosts. I have 4 sheep on 7 very iffy pasture acres and another 5 that are forested but I'm seeing amazing improvement, it had only been brush hogged for the decade before we purchased it. My goal is about 10 breeding ewes and 3 rams for generic diversity, plenty for my family to eat a few, sell a few to buy the minerals and it take much less time to move the electronets than to mow, even with a tractor.
Greg, i appreciate your insights so much! You're totally working with nature. Can you move the camera a bit slower?
that's my plan, start small. I have 12 acres of pasture, starting with 2 bred ewes and a wither...
Very pretty animals, your sheep
Mr Judy. I am thinking of running sheep on 20 acres in northwest Montana. Because of snow they probably cant graze in winter/spring. Would i feed hay in winter? Trying to figure a self sustainable way since animal feed is getting high and dry. Thank you for your expertise, very helpful!
learned a lot, as usual
Thanks in large part to you, I now have 11 sheep at my house on about 5 acres, including ones that are destined for the freezer. I just started, and have not much grass growing, so I've been feeding sadly, but this spring should see some good growth, and I'm learning how many I can carry.
Sounds great!
So, I raised sheep and goats growing up in rural Arizona on my dad's land a general rule of thumb is one sheep per 20 square foot of intense rotational grazing paddock or one sheep per 200 square foot of open pasture. So, basically if you are doing intense rotational grazing where you move the sheep every 7 to 9 days to a new paddock you only really need 20 square foot of space per a sheep. But if you're doing open pasture with very minimal rotation then you will need 200 foot per a sheep. And in your case I'd recommend doing intense rotational grazing that way you can fit more sheep into your land and still completely grass feed them.
I use to limit graze,
@@mch.l.trecords9169 We’re they any trouble with worms at that density? AZ is so dry you may not have. I get 55” a year so may be difficult. Thx
@@vandyau1 worms aren't really an issue if you have planted pasture that include plants that contain all the necessary vitamins, minerals, and proteins in them. Like for example goats need copper mineral in their diet to stay healthy and forage chicory provides all the minerals they need all in that one plant. The main reason people don't do planted pastures that often is because it's more expensive even though it's healthier for your animals in the long run. And as far as any problems go in Arizona our main problem was selenium deficiency in our soil so because of that we had to supplement them to make up for that selenium deficiency in our soil.
Gregg, you have just about convinced me I need to focus on sheep before cattle on my 20 acres! The only mental hurdle I have to work through is predator issues. I know you talk a lot about guardian dogs but have also mentioned on previous videos how some situations may not lend themself to dogs. With only 20 acres and neighbors who also have livestock (as well as serious deer hunters) do you think a guardian dog would cause more trouble than it would prevent? Growing up we had to run our neighbors guardian dogs off regularly and would prefer to not be that neighbor in my new location!
High tensile electric perimeter fence with appropriate strand spacing for sheep should prevent that (think greg uses 4 for sheep. A guardian dog that is trained/behaving appropriately should not get out of that. But get dogs from a similar operation who were trained by older dogs on successful operations. If they were raised in electric fence they should be no problem, but accept that some number of dogs don't "take" well and should be given or sold for a pet rather than fighting with their "bad habits" just 0.02 cents. Hope your op is coming along.
@@rblongfellow pot calling the kettle bud. He uses 1 strand on INTERIOR temp paddocks. He uses 4+ strands on all his perimeter fence. Search "perimeter fence" on Greg's channel to see multiple examples across multiple farms, and maybe you won't make such a absolute jackass of yourself in future. If you are going spout off on stuff you don't know, at least don't be smug and accusatory about it. Just want to put that here in case someone reads your comment and then gets sued with liability because they tried to use a single strand perimeter fence. Your ignorance could be costly.
Best sheep video I've seen on UA-cam, your passion shines through!!! I'll be looking to get some Dorsets - either 4 or 6 - for to put out on an acre.
Do you lamb yours on pasture, unassisted?
Yes we lamb on pasture unassisted
Great time to be in sheep. Rough time to get into sheep.
You got that right.
Why
@@tanonymous2557 sheep are at an all time high in cost to buy. Finding good breeding stock right now is tough.
Love Greg's field talks! Funny and relaxing! When is his birthday?
He’s a Gemini. 🙂
@@C.Hawkshaw 😃
I bought your book Comeback Farms. I live on my family farm in East Tennessee which is 65 acres, but only about 15 to 20 acres are fields, the rest is wooded. The fields have been only used for growing hay for at least 35 years, during which time the soil has not been tilled at all. I really want to do things differently now and pursue an operation like yours. What do you recommend specifically for converting (surely deficient) hayfields into good pastures for grazing hair sheep like this? Thank you so very much.
Get a soil test first to see what your starting point is.
Nice flock! No meds, hoof trimming or worming. All the right stuff. Beautiful👏🏼💚Do you cull the ewes that don't produce twins? Do they eat the brown leaves? Goats love the leaves😅😎
Our sheep can live on dry oak leaves in snow storms. We do not cull ewes that do not produce twins.
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher neither do i. same ewe will twin one year on me and have a single the next
Hi Greg I have about 12 acres of pasture about 5 is wood land. There is Johnson grass scattered over almost all the open ground in patches and I really don't like the thought of spraying poison on my land if possible not to. So in the fall when we have killing frost here in Indiana I have always heard Johnson grass has prussic acid It after frost. How can I not poison my flock while moving through my pasture? Thanks
I just discovered your channel and it's like finding a new world - fascinating! Seeing your beautiful guardian dogs, I'm wondering how you are able to harvest sheep without the dogs opposing you.
We don’t raise dogs that are aggressive towards humans. A dog that attacks a human is a huge liability for the farm. Don’t keep aggressive dogs, period.
We have a small acreage but not enough to support cows without a lot of supplemental feed.
Now I have to find out if I like to eat lamb and sheep. How long is is a sheep considered to be a lamb? But it looks like chickens with the addition of sheep may be my answer.
Is there much variation in the meat of the different types of hair sheep? We live in the North West. Six months cold and rain then six months no rain to speak of. Are there sheep that are more suited to this climate?
Greg, what do you do with the rams during the off season if you've only got 30-40 acres? How do you manage the small number of rams opposite of the flock of ewes without penning them? Love your videos and appreciate your content!!!
Lamborghini (a movable ram pen that they cannot escape from)
cool videos greg. just curious, with your ram program you keep your rams and not worried about inbreeding or do you ship and swap out your rams?
Linebreeding and banding all but the best males
Careful culling females
When do you begin marketing your ewe and ram lambs?
Wow, so you don't have to buy any extra food / "regular meds" (I would assume you'd use meds in special case scenarios, but that's about it)? All you have to do is give them a plot of land with some sheepdogs to protect them, and they just take care of themselves? That sounds pretty cool.
How big are your sheep paddocks? Thanks!
Can you make a playlist of all your videos, with latest first 😁 please?
Hey, Greg! Thanks for all the info on small ruminant fencing and grazing! How do you train your lambs to the electric fence? We had a great system going with out goats a few years back, but then the kids came and untrained the entire flock. Before we get back into small ruminants, I need a good solution for kid training.
Check out todays video for training sheep and goats to hot wire
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher Thanks! I guess the expectation is bringing the animals up into the corrals for birthing and retraining at that time? My concern is not being able to graze during birthing season if this is the solution.
Do you find it more effective to train (especially babies) with the minimum number of wires that will be used to separate paddocks, or the maximum number of wires used in perimeter fences? This is as far as making it harder for them to cross through through the fence during training, vs. needing them to still respect fewer wires between paddocks.
We train the lambs with 1 wire. They don’t leave their mom for very long. We have a 10” height wire that is 8000 volts. Post spacing with O’Brien stepins every 12 feet.
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher thank you!
I'm from Danville Virginia how far are you from the you from me and how much do you normally sell your young ews for
I t is good to see the sheep and dogs out in the back forty especially the one that mother nature detailed with the black trim ! I have watched this episode three times and started comments but I couldn't find something to write that I felt was worthwhile sharing. sometimes inspiration take a good night's sleep. Well this morning I have thought of something that I learned this year about the extreme fear of dogs that I once had if you had asked me I would tell you that it developed after my sister had been badly bitten.well she and I were talking about how I no longer freeze in fear or cross the road if I see someone in the distance walking their dog. When I spoke about her being bitten she looked a bit shocked then said it wasn't me it was you! I still have no recollection of the attack I wonder why I transferred it to her. I never thought to ask any questions about that time.i would not be a good investigative reporter for sure! The why, how, where and when are still a mystery all I now know is who was bitten. Oh this morning I looked up the lyrics to the song give me forty acres and I will turn this rig around...I don't remember ever hearing the whole story of the trip to bean town. I've been to Boston as a passenger and I can sympathize with the driver of the rig he certainly was a square peg trying to fill a job that requires someone who can turn on a dime . I look forward to seeing your next video😃🍀☘️🍀👍👍👍👍🐑🖖🖖🖖🖖🍀☘️🍀😘💞💕💞🙋🏼♀️
Hey Greg and Judy, we run sheep at our farm in TN and are looking to add cattle. Do I need to overseed prior to adding the cattle? Have fescue, some clover, and some paddocks have rye grass. Thanks for all that you do.
Sounds like you already have the right forage, just start grazing with a good rotation and full rest period.
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher You the man. Thank you for taking the time to respond.
Hi there gregg. Do sheep spread the clover seed the same way cows do?
No, they do not.
I have 7 ewes (7 lambs out of four of them --- and counting) plus a ram and a wether. My father feels like our 10 acres can't handle them. We *are* in a severe drought. At the moment we have the boys in one five acres, and the girls in the other. We're planning to start rotational grazing, but as I said my father believes that our property can't handle 9 adults and 10 lambs. I do have plans to either (a) keep the only ram lamb born, plus the three older ewes not related to him. or (b) keep my six ewe lambs and purchase an unrelated ram, and sell the rest. My niece just moved in with us, and wants us to do the rotational grazing, that she'll manage.
Go for it!!
Beautiful sheep Greg ! I have 20 acres . Currently have a bull and three heifers and am keeping a yearling heifer to breed next year - just plan on selling the calves . I want to get some Florida native hair sheep , would it be best to graze them separately or try to combine?
Graze them together as a flurd
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher sounds good ! I’m keeping the cows out the woods but can’t wait to let sheep get into the broad leaf plants
Will goats work just the same?
Missouri Forestry Professor Coggeshall's favorite Silvopasture tree for Sheep is the Swamp White Oak. It grows well in all Missouri soil types. It begins dropping acorns in seven years and bears mast consistently from year to year unlike other White Oak varieties. These acorns are preferred over other White Oak acorns by turkey and Whitetail deer as they have the least tannins of the low tannin white oak tree species. They grow faster than other White oak varieties. These trees grow 50 to 60 feet high and do not get as round at the trunk and have more branching. They bear good white oak lumber but a smaller amount and it will not be veneer quality.
The trees provide shade to pasture and livestock on hot sunny Summer days. The acorns are good forage to fatten lambs for market and condition Sheep for breeding season.
Wait am I gonna get foot rot or the sheep? I think I already got it
What is your monthly 'dog cost' feed/vet, average? Since dogs tend to do better with at least one other, how many sheep are necessary to make 'having sheep' a reasonable thing to do?
Awsome video Greg. So then curious to your last comment of buying 10 steers for 20 are 30 acers, do you think with as long as it takes to fill them out on grass could you make 10 work on that small of a farm? Thanks again
10 steers on 20 acres if they were rotated correctly would be fine.
So you wouldn’t recommend keeping sheep on a few acres?
Sheep would work fine as long as you keep rotating them. Need a minimum of 45 days before you come back and regraze that paddock. This eliminates the parasite cycle.
Interested in a couple of guard and Some Sheep next fall
Hello where you located at
What about hoof trimming? How often if at all do you trim?
Never ever have trimmed a hoof
More sheep videos! :-) Will any of those young use be for sale when you go through them in July? I’d like to come up with about five head.
They were all spoken for in January.
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher Do you know anyone with those same caliber of sheep that might have some for sale?
Get on next year's list?
How many dogs do you use? Seems like small lot with few sheep might make it tough to support enough dogs to protect them from coyotes, etc. is there a minimum number of dogs or do you go purely with one dog for each N sheep? If last, what is N?
1 dog can guard a 100 sheep if the paddock is not too large. The more hills and trees that the terrain has, this makes it tougher to protect the sheep from predators.
To get rid of foot rot there's a foot bath you run your sheep through and after a few trips through the bath they will be over it the waterfowl bring it in and it thrives in wet ground this is from years of experience
Hi Greg, do you give your sheep any annual injections?
No
Hey Greg, if I have ~1.5 acres at the house is it still worth breaking up into paddocks if I add sheep or is that too small to make a difference. Btw I’m on mostly Bermuda grass in central Texas.
Electric net fence makes it possible to graze very small paddocks and move daily. We watch the animal's condition to make sure no one is hungry. That is how we judge if the paddock size is big enough.
I knew a guy who finished two lambs on daily moves for his freezer. It worked for him, and I don’t think it can be done humanely any smaller.
I was told you should move them no later than when 60% has been eaten, 30% trampled, and 10% standing. Interested in what Mr.Judy thinks.
Our sheep graze the tops of the plants and we move them. This helps them eat forage that is not infected with parasites.
Got a question I live in rural southern WV I have two acres it's all not flat two of my house sets on some of it and a.few. buildings that takes up about half a acre total so the rest is flats and rolling rocky mountain side I am wanting to raise just enough to food only would a pair of sheep just to have a little or two for butchering to eat ?
Depends on how much grazeable area there is that has decent forage on it.
Are these sheep able to thrive down in Texas? It’s hot and humid
Yes
I have 2 st croix ewes and a katahdin ram. they have all been grain fed and wormed. when I have lambs and if I sell my ewes and ram and bottle raise the lambs, can they be raised to grass fed without worm meds?
You can try it but be ready to lose some of them. I would rather start with sheep that are raised without grain or worming. Nothing fun about having sheep die on your farm because they were pampered before you bought them.
No shearing? How does that work? Does a sheep naturally shed their coat each year?
Hair sheep naturally shed off in the spring. Wool sheep have to be sheared
How do you handle heartworms in the dogs do you apply ivermectin topically or what do you do for preventative?
How do any of you handle your livestock guardian dog heartworm prevention? I am hoping to get answers from some of the very experienced Greg Judy video watchers in addition to Greg Judy himself please
We use Sentinel. It does heart worms, hook worm, roundworm and some others. I think it is is supposed kill flea eggs too. It’s a chewable tablet but I crush it up and sprinkle it on top of their food. I mix some bacon grease with the food first so the tablet pieces stick to it to ensure they ingest the entire thing. Would be difficult to do this with dogs on an automated feed system but I feed mine every day so it’s not an issue.
preach
I want to raise 1927 Shetlands and California Variegated Mutant sheep for their fleeces. Would these require more food?
I don't know anything about those breeds.
Do you move the sheep twice a day?
No, we move them every 2 days
Do the dogs come into heat?
How do you manage their reproduction?
all of our dogs are fixed now
I want to start farming can I buy sheep from you
Any suggestions for Northern Arizona grazing?
Corriente cows crossed on a South Poll bull
For sheep? Something local that is adapted to your environment
What breed of sheep would you recommend for for meat sheep? We raise dairy sheep at the moment, but my husband wants to lease land and raise sheep for meat . We live in upstate NY in a very wet rainy area. Thank you so much for all your videos
If you want to drive to west mass I’ll sell you Katadhins that don’t need grain. I won’t tell you I don’t use wormers, because I’ll dose a sickly animal rather than let it waste, but none of my breeding stock has ever been wormed.
Edit: I also don’t do flock wide hoof trimming. Anyone who limps is fixed, finished, and packed same as anyone who needs a dose.
Dorper rams really add meat on your sheep!
Agreed on Katahdin or Dorper. Best kept sheep breed secret. No shearing, no lambing assistance, rare to have to trim hooves, and the best part is the lack of heavy lanolin soaked wool gives a lighter much better tasting meat. Shhhh!
@@drewbankert7794 in my experience dorpers don’t thrive in a 50 inch rainfall without deworming, and are prone to hoof issues. They’re from arid South Africa after all. I have some dorper influence in my flock, but have culled all the near pure dorpers. I do like their soft coat. Makes for a more valuable sheep skin. I’d rather cross to Icelandic
I have 20 acres in east Oklahoma I can't find sheep and don't see anyone running them.
Im from Oklahoma and there are tons of sheep here. Just have to join the social media groups to find them.
Hi Greg.. can i ask you what about rain? Dont they need shelter? Thx
No absolutely not.
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher same with goats? Im in the tropics.. 60F - 85F all year right at the equator.. we dont have a winter season ..average rainfall in my location is 15-16 inches.. id love to put sheep but i got mostly brush and very little grass right now..
@@eitel42 with those temperatures you do not need shelters
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher thank you Greg for answering... since we dont have a winter do you think i could increase the stocking rate a bit? It can get a little dry sometimes though
Starting from scratch with no land and no background in farming, how much would it cost to get started farming these days? Is it even possible without several hundred thousand dollars? I know you had that video where you explained how you got started by renting land and working a job at the same time, but now that the world is on fire and so on, do viewers like me have any choices other than to live vicariously by watching your videos?
I live in Ireland but originally from Georgia 🇬🇪. I have small land in my country. I’m looking to move back. Buy a tractor and start farming. Maybe 1 or 2 cows and that’ll be enough. You don’t need to buy huge lands. Even 1 or less than an acre would be okay to start off. Where are you from
Can't let the details stop you, go for it!
Look into Woofing.
I think he started not by renting or leasing land but by getting paid by farmers to do the rotational grazing for them, on the farmers land. I could be wrong. But many commenters on this channel have started with 5 acres and 2 cows. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
How do you keep the dogs from leaving the sheep
My understanding is that the guardian instinct is related to the pack social structure dogs inherited from wolves. They don’t want to leave their dumb helpless family alone to get into trouble. They love the sheep.
Our dogs are bonded onto the sheep flock. They are not happy unless they are with their sheep.
Does your lamb taste better than Costco Australian or NZ lamb?
It is great tasting meat. You can’t just eat one piece!!!
You can't compare fresh lamb meat with frozen one that's big difference
What are the higher maintenance sheep?
Any flock that you have to trim hooves, worm them, feed them grain and alfalfa hay to get a lamb crop. That is the definition of high maintenance sheep that will put you in the red every year.
Which breeds would be the lesser to maintain. Speaking on hair sheep
willis orchards sells low cost fruit/nut trees
Do you really need 4 dogs with only 100 sheep? Or could maybe 2 work?
2 dogs are fine
Phaaaat!!
Dexters!
Sheep are way more profitable than cows at any acreage from my understanding. Because the price per pound is so much more. That’s what am doing and hope to have a low maintenance flock like yours.
Remember cows and sheep together complement each other if you have enough land to graze both.
You definitely don't want mini donkeys. My neighbor has 4 🤣 1 is free range. He escapes everything!!! One day I was driving past there house. I was going about 20 mph. I heard a donkey. Looked right 🤣 didn't see nothing. Looked left.. there's a donkey up against my truck yelling at me 🤣
"Start out... 2 acres... 10 or 15 ewes." Can you say something about rams?
I would not put 15 ewes on 2 acres. Buy a ram when you need to breed your ewes.
i got five ewes and a ram overwintering on 5 acres while im working on making another 10 into silvo pasture and have another 5 resting. I am unfortunately feeding grain and hay because the pasture is poor and i am unrolling hay all over it to feed them but i probably need lime. I should get a soil test. With my sheep this year...two twinned and i didnt lose any so i have 7 lamb, two of which are ram lambs. I also keep a ram with the flock year around. last year I only had 3 out of 5 lamb survive, all males and sold them off. I separated the ramb lambs at 5 months iirc but leave my main ram in with the herd year around. same with my goat buck.
@@AnxiousCowboy thanks for the input.
how much are sheep going for?
Right now, they are selling for all time high prices.
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher maybe ill keep back some of this years ewe lambs to expand my flock a bit. almost a month old already in TN
“That’s your unfair advantage right there.” Classic Greg.
There is a lot of advice out there but not all good.
How are your sheep 100% parasite resistant if they aren't exposed to worms (therefore creating resistance)?
any animal that grazes is exposed to parasites. how their body reacts is the resistance.
He lets pastures rest between grazing so that he's not building up a parasite load in the grass and also he grazes them lightly in other words he only lets them lop off the top couple of inches and doesn't let them graze the grass shorter than 4 inches. most parasites are between the soil and they climb up about 4 inches high in the Grass at the most and so if you don't let them nibble the grass too short then they don't pick up those parasites.
@@botnizn so if they're not being exposed to the parasite load then how are they parasite resistant?
@@anthonycatania5613 even if the resistant ones bred on, their offspring aren't born with immunity. A new immune system has to be tested in order to be immune to parasites.
Lauren all animals have the ability to build up parasite resistance. The problems start when most people worm them every year. We took out the crutch of worming our flock 18 years ago. Our sheep still have some parasites but have built up immunity to where the parasites no longer kill them. You want the sheep to have some parasites, or they cannot build up resistance. The problem with worming them every month in the summer is that you have destroyed the natural ability of the sheep to resist them by killing all the parasites with the dewormer.
it has been a custom for my clan ... once any livestock step foot off the place, they can never come back. all breeding livestock come from a producer, never the sale barn.
Cows are the best. Even at tiny land you’ll be able to survive even from 2 cows.
With very small parcels of land, your 2 cows will overgraze your farm and cost you tons of money to feed them hay. Sheep are much easier to manage on small properties.
We raise 2 cows on 1 acre and yes we have to supplement feed nearly all year long. But that beef is still cheaper than the grocery store. Breaks down like this... calf - $300 / feed for 2 years - $1300 / butcher cost - $450 = total $2050 divided by 400lbs of beef back = $5.12 average per pound. Thats average for ground beef and steaks.
Really? No worming? How is that possible?
We let our St Croix sheep build up their natural parasite resistance 20 years ago and never wormed them.
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher How many died in absolute and relative numbers? And does this mean you have never since then introduced additional animals to the flock?
Use nature as your guide. There’s nobody in nature running around sticking wormer down the throat of deer. They are still thriving without it. We don’t introduce animals into our flock unless they are from our personal genetics
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher Thanks, Greg, because I am really interested in collecting as many empirical data points as I can before embarking on building a flock. Yes, deer populations thrive, but that does not mean individual deer don't die. Domesticated animals have entered into biologically commensal relationships with mankind. So I am curious how many of your sheep died so your overall flock could get to a state of sufficient parasitic resistance. And, a follow up question, are these sheep for meat or just milk and wool? How do you deal with the parasites which presumably exist in the sheep without being fatal to them? Thanks
🐊🦅🇵🇷❤
I still rather have cattle its what I know best I know some bout hogs but sheep or goats I know nothing
What is driving the lamb market prices this high.?? Hair sheep interest me as a retirement opportunity. Easy keepers; not big enough to kill ya 👍👍win win ….
Everything is going higher. When you have a federal reserve that prints trillions of dollars out of thin air you get rapid inflation.
Not such a small amount of acreage.
Just ask Klauss Schwab....