FarmerChick said:
yea they are grazers but I thought they preferred the weeds just like goats? oh well...don't know about sheep much. I know they will eat the grass to the ground right? Isn't that why the cattle barons hated the sheep herds in the west...called them the rats of grazing or something like that...LOL
Yea I could easily get 2 sheep and throw them in there...but I don't know if I want any more critters..>LOL....I am trying to kill off the ones I have---only kidding!!!!!!
It is funny how you are wanting to get more involved and enjoying the new process and such again, and me, I am wanting to downgrade again.....everyone can be at such a different level in their lives at any given time.
It
is funny! I bet the enthusiasm sometimes has you groaning inside...like, do they know what they are
in for?!
You have been very fortunate, FC, to have an operating farm already....many of us would give our left arm for the opportunity.
My mom wanted a farm when we moved back on the homestead, but dad was no farmer. We got pigs, chickens, milk cow..even had a horse at one time and my sis had goats. Dad didn't like to deal with any of that...he just wanted to hunt and "live off the land" ~whatever
that meant to him~I still wonder!
I've been waiting all my life for a way to have this farming thingy and I may never get there...but, by golly, I'm going to micro farm right here if I can! I kept waiting and hoping for a better place and one day, as I was driving along(seems to be a trend to get a message from God while driving!
) and God said, "Grow where you are planted." And I promptly answered, "Help me?!"
So...here I am, trying to do the best I can on my little slice of heaven.
Quail, I am getting Dorper/Katahdin crosses off a fellow, but I'm not real pleased with his herd conformation at all. Also not real into his whole feedlot operation he's got going...but its the breed I want and I can't find any others around here, so he's my only choice!
FC, sheep will eat grass to around 2 in. in length, which makes them a good companion grazer for cattle, as cattle don't eat the sward down well like a sheep. They also prefer different grass varieties. When the old west cowboys got their heads on straight, they realized the benefit of running them together! Also, they do not share many of the same parasites, so the cattle can ingest the larvae of sheep parasites with no infestation and vise versa. It stops the cycle, so they will often follow each other in a grass rotation for this very purpose. The parasites meet a dead end!
With grass farming, they let the animals graze intensely on a paddock and then take them to fresh graze the next day. Ideally, they won't see the original paddock again until that grass is a good 4-6 in. tall again~2-4 wks, depending on the time of year. This also gives parasite larvae time to die from solar exposure before they can be re-ingested.
The difference between continuous grazing and rotational? With continuous, the cattle and the sheep eat the "ice cream"~the good stuff and leave the not so tastey herbs and weeds. Pretty soon the good stuff is overgrazed and the less preferable and less nutritious varieties are more prevalent.
With intensive grazing, the cattle and/or sheep are in a smaller area with more animals. This makes them compete for food more vigorously, making them eat more as they graze(pack on the pounds) and become less selective about the grass, in their attempts to get food before the next cow/sheep.
The pasture is not left with really short grass interspersed with clumps of woody stems and weeds, like most pastures around here. The pasture is mowed cleanly, like a good hay field. Then its allowed to "rest", recover and the tastier and more nutritious grasses have an equal or even a better footing when they regrow.
