mysunwolf - four acres and some sheep

[mysunwolf]

They all look just wonderful and the new Ram seems to fit right in with the others....just Handsome. The cattle seem to be content and growing, too. If ya could get some lespedeza to grow there it would belp your sheep out with the parasites as it is a natural help with those parasites. It does sound as if the rotational grazing is working out for ya too. Hope the hoof problems get better soon, and some of the moisture will give ya a break.

Thank you @CntryBoy777! I love Zee, some would say he is not "masculine" enough but I will be using him on ewe lambs so a pin head is appreciated.

Lespedeza is used around here by the highway guys to stop erosion on hillsides. I'm worried about planting it on the property in case we ever sell, don't want the pastures to look like roadsides I may try feeding out the pellets though, I've found a company that sells them (even if they are $$$, yikes).

The pastures do look great, and it's really super that they rebound fast enough that you have to mow between rotations... IMHO that's a fair indicator that you need more animals!

Any chance you can leave one pasture fallow long enough to eliminate the worms? Then confine and deworm all the animals before putting them into that pasture. Then cycle through the rest/other pastures the same until the worms are gone?

ETA, your animals look great! Where's a pic of that gorgeous pyr that protects them?

Hahaha I definitely need more animals!! Part of the mowing is making sure that the weeds that nothing eats (thistle and horsenettle and burdock oh my) stay down and don't seed out and make more of themselves. But the other part is that otherwise everything gets way too tall (was taller than me at one point this year, and I am 5'5'').

That's a good idea about fallow pasture and I hadn't ever thought of it like that. I'd been thinking I'd have to sell out of sheep and graze cattle. But in reality I could just mow and feed hay... I think it would have to be 120 days to get rid of all the parasites And from what I hear, even then it's no guarantee. We used to take the ewes off the fields October through April, just because we needed that recovery time. Now that the grass is recovering so well I feel sad not using all the forage lol. Right now the fields get 90 days of rest from sheep, with cattle and mowing in between. I have begun to suspect that there might be something else at play that I'm not getting... like barber pole worms can lay dormant for 120+ days. Or I really just need new sheep Though if you could talk to all the neighboring sheep producers, they would tell you they have the same troubles. The only sheep that seem to survive here are hair sheep, and even they don't always do well.

You make a good point, Puff hasn't made an appearance in a while! Poor guy was so sad after I butchered all his chickens, he's been sulking for over a month. Once I get the laying hens out on the field with him I think he'll feel a little better.

 

[CntryBoy777]

I have noticed that there are a couple of people here selling lespedeza hay in a square bale for $5/ea, so ya may can find some there as well. I have seen their ads on local craigslist, it would be worth checking out.

 

[Baymule]

Zee is beautiful!! And yes, I am jealous of all that grass! I finally got a small patch in one of my pastures and was so proud of it. I was able to graze the sheep on it 4 days! If I can ever get grass established I'll be able to stop buying so much feed.

 

[Bruce]

Can a flock of meat chickens make inroads on the worm population in the field??

 

[mysunwolf]

Can a flock of meat chickens make inroads on the worm population in the field??

We used to run 400 birds a year on the property and didn't notice one lick of difference in parasite loads! The flock of 40 "wild" guineas that roams the neighborhood and roosts in my trees does more scratching of cow pies than all those chickens ever did. Right now we run a single batch of 100 meat chickens each year, and they definitely don't do much parasite wise. I think poultry don't physically consume enough grass to really ingest and kill the microscopic worms that live there. Unless I had maybe 400 birds on there at the same time--and then I'd need a larger property for sure

 

[mysunwolf]

Took some bad photos of Puff yesterday. He is so unattached to the sheep, so very attached to chickens. Still acts out in frustrating puppy bursts, but generally my chill guardian guy.

 

[mysunwolf]

So this time the facebook crowd got to see all the cute photos first...

These are piglets from the sow that I gave my neighbor. I can't remember what the boar was, but he was red. They are SO CUTE! And they like to lay in their feed while they eat it.

Big pigs have a date with the processor for the end of September, and so do all four male lambs. Culling a little early this year because I have a ton of family events in October and I think we'll need all the meat we can get!

I'm also currently incubating 60+ guinea eggs, and have 10+ keets hatched in the incubator, waiting to go out to the brooder (which is not set up yet). Since these are eggs from the community guineas, I'm hoping to repopulate the shared flock and increase our defense against ticks.

 

[Mike CHS]

With our tick population I think we need 50 or 60 of those.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Oh my those piggies are so Cute!! I'm thinking about adding a colony of guineas here....I just hope the coons, possums, hawks, and owls don't do too much damage. I know I'd have to replace them along the way, but just hope it isn't devastating.

 

[Baymule]

"Community guineas" sounds like a pretty good idea!

The piggies are adorable!