Bee~ Journal of then...

[Beekissed]

We do, free! Your rants seem to have merit and are well developed, in my opinion. Worth a nod, for sure!

Yep, thats why I'm getting two sheep instead of one. That's why I have 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 33 chickens! A bottle calf would just have to tough it out with the sheep, as I don't have room for two cows here!

Having done without a companion for so long, I'm reluctant to force my animals to suffer the same level of loneliness if I can help it at all. As I am keeping the sheep for a good long while and the bottle calf will be sold when large enough, he won't have to suffer loneliness for long!

 

[freemotion]

I doubt he will be lonely with the sheep. They are both herd animals, grazers, and ruminants.

I need to get another dog, though. I bring my pooch with me to work and on errands a lot, but he is devastated when he is left behind. He thinks the cats are smelly. One makes overtures of friendship and has been soundly rejected for over 7 years.

Someone just offered me their dog, which is a 3 year-old female the same size as my male. The couple works, she doesn't like the dog and he doesn't have time for it and thinks it pees in the house to get back at him! Sheesh, poor little girl. She must be so sad and lonely.

 

[kstaven]

I normally stay out of threads concerning animal feeding because they have a habit of going to I'm right and you're wrong. But in this case I just can't resist jumping in with my two cents (about $5.00 with inflation factored in).

We run dairy animals here and the temps can get very cold. I can say from our experience that good forage and good winter hay works without the graining and corn many commonly use. Our animals come through the winter in perfect condition and winter milk production never suffers.

It goes beyond what you feed in general, and beyond planting the right forage. If the soil is nutrient deficient you can follow the Salatin type model and have animals that will not thrive. So while I tend to agree that pasture models can work, I also know that it all begins with the soil you are pasturing on. We have spent years building the pastures to the point where our animals thrive and will no doubt have to monitor and refine into the future.

 

[freemotion]

Ummmm.....this is actually a "journal" thread, so the OP gets to opinionate, if I'm not mistaken!

 

[Farmfresh]

I know keep them separate due to the sheep not being able to have some of the cattle feed. I can't remember what's in it but, it seems to me it's something in the minerals?

A lot of commercial beef feed contains urea. According to Wikipedia, "Urea was first discovered in urine in 1773 by the French chemist Jean Rouelle. International Nonproprietary Name (rINN) carbamide" It is added to cattle feeds to supply nitrogen. Cattle can use the urea to supply protein for their bodies through rumination. Basically it is cheaper to add urea to a feed than it is to add other more natural protein sources.

Urea in feed will kill horses and several other animals. It is just another way animals are commercially produced cheaper rather than better. I have an old ag textbook that encourages farmers to use urea and antibiotics. Both of these things make a animal grow faster. But I don't want to eat it!

 

[lorihadams]

This is great!

I definitely need to read up on Salatin....hmmmm.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

I know keep them separate due to the sheep not being able to have some of the cattle feed. I can't remember what's in it but, it seems to me it's something in the minerals?

A lot of commercial beef feed contains urea. According to Wikipedia, "Urea was first discovered in urine in 1773 by the French chemist Jean Rouelle. International Nonproprietary Name (rINN) carbamide" It is added to cattle feeds to supply nitrogen. Cattle can use the urea to supply protein for their bodies through rumination. Basically it is cheaper to add urea to a feed than it is to add other more natural protein sources.

Urea in feed will kill horses and several other animals. It is just another way animals are commercially produced cheaper rather than better. I have an old ag textbook that encourages farmers to use urea and antibiotics. Both of these things make a animal grow faster. But I don't want to eat it!

You're right about the urea but, it seems to me it was something else. If I could only remember.

You also have to watch the iron and copper with sheep. Which is also a good point with mixing with goats as their feed may contain copper.

But, if you have a feed mill near you, you could have your feed mixed with this in mind.

 

[Beekissed]

It goes beyond what you feed in general, and beyond planting the right forage. If the soil is nutrient deficient you can follow the Salatin type model and have animals that will not thrive. So while I tend to agree that pasture models can work, I also know that it all begins with the soil you are pasturing on. We have spent years building the pastures to the point where our animals thrive and will no doubt have to monitor and refine into the future.

I agree! This is why Salatin stresses thinking about your farm in terms of generations. What you do now is building your farm for your kids and their kids. If your farm grows a certain type of grass well, then overseeding with grasses that do not normally grow in your soil will yield you nothing but money spent on grass seed and years of commercial fortification of your soil. He states, if you want to find what grasses will thrive in your area, look in the ditch beside the road. That's the grass you want to focus on.

Any soil can be improved with time and effort. That's why grass farming is so ecologically beneficial, because one is always putting nutrients back into the soil and not taking it away. Grass is always processing nutrients back into the soil with dead roots and leaves and some grasses are nitrogen fixers, like the legumes. Even the cattle walking on a grass clump in a twisting motion slices up the dead plant material and drives it into the moist soil, where the active microbes are waiting for lunch!

I like how he uses the carbonaceous materials and pigs to compost and aerate his manure pack even more, until his winter's manure is sweet smelling and fine textured. It is ready for immediate application and implementation by the soil at the end of winter.

 

[Beekissed]

Sheep cannot tolerate the copper amounts found in cattle supplements and can get toxic. I won't be using traditional supplements, as I will be offering brown kelp and coarse salt free choice.

From everything I've read, the kelp has all the essential minerals and they can be more readily metabolized by the body than can commercial synthetic mixes. This fact was discovered on coastal sheep farms, when sheep ate the kelp they were found to be in better health and to gain weight better, on the same feed, as other sheep on nearby farms.

The local feed stores do not carry it but one is willing to get it in for me. As sheep only need about a tsp. per day, if that, it shoudn't be too costly for me to offer it. Some farmers just mix it in their feed but I will be feeding grass, so it will have to be free choice. I like this option better, as the sheep can regulate their own needs without wasting it on flushing the excess minerals out of the body.

 

[Beekissed]

I was pleased that a member actually used my ear wax treatment...that was a leap of faith to be sure! I think that is what most SS is now days~an eagerness to embrace new ideas or even time-honored old ideas to get to our goal of a self-sustaining life.

Shift of ideas:

Now, I'm finding I will have a potential problem, but I might have a solution, I don't know.

If I get my bottle feeder lambs and my middle son ships out as planned, I will have no one to feed them how they should be fed, as I will be at work and Jon in school. I'm thinking of approaching a neighbor girl and hiring her to feed them for me while I'm away. This girl has no job, that I know of, and is still at home after graduating school...so I think she may be available.

What would you pay someone to do this type of thing? Ballpark estimate?