Simply Sheep

[CrealCritter]

There are 11 sheep in there(4 ewes, 7 lambs), all Katahdin or Kat/Dorp cross, I couldn't even begin to tell you how large that area is as it's a temp paddock...I just make them up on the fly. I'm doing MIG(managed intensive grazing) with the use of a high tensile perimeter fence and polybraid single strand on push in stakes to move them through the paddocks every 1-4 days(depending how big I want to make each temp paddock). No shelter but trees and brush. The dogs stay with the sheep all the time. Our fence charger pulses, Cyclops brand.

MIG style farming is like mob grazing wherein you bunch the livestock onto smaller paddocks so they poop and pee a lot in a concentrated area, then you move them frequently. You can see vids on YT about MIG, lots of farmers and ranchers doing it now...my fave to watch is Greg Judy. The concept for it all is explained well in talks/vids from Allan Savory and can be found on YT also.

It makes for healthier, better yielding soils and healthier, better yielding livestock and it's also very economical compared to other systems.

Just so you know "MIG (Metal Inert Gas)" is a type of welding to me. But I think I get it... You just move them every so often onto fresh pasture. Kind of like a huge chicken tractor concept. It sounds like a lot of work but if you have poor soil it's like free fertilizer plus fresh food for the animals.

i couldn't help but notice how nice and tight your electric wire strands are. That's why I asked how big the space was. It's hard if not impossible to get wire that tight by using only push in stakes and without some solid corners like a wood or metal t-posts.

i had pulsing electric fence charger around my 50 x 100 garden with T-posts corners. It was constant repair due to deer. But after I put a constant charger on the wires, my problems with deer went away. But of course my wife's baby bear had to pee on it. Poor guy jumped 4' into air yelping. I guess your dogs learned the same lesson... Don't Pee On The Electric Fence.

nice looking arrangement 👍 i'm digging on that water/feed cart also.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Beekissed]

You just move them every so often onto fresh pasture. Kind of like a huge chicken tractor concept. It sounds like a lot of work but if you have poor soil it's like free fertilizer plus fresh food for the animals.

It sounds like a lot of work but it only takes minutes for each paddock move if you get the system down. The benefits of it outweigh the trouble it takes....if you look at pics of MIG farms and those that just rotate stationary paddocks or open graze it's startling to see the difference. After about 3 yrs of this kind of system, I'll likely not have to buy winter hay any longer but can just use stock piled graze(pasture left to cure on the stem) to feed the flock. That's the whole reason I chose this type of farming, as it's more sustainable than the typical farming we all know. Having a system that needs little to no input from outside resources is my goal. For a few minutes a day or every other day....or 4 days, depending on the paddock size I choose...it's well worth it. We also got a low impedence solar charger as a back up for the fence when power is out, so even more sustainable.

CC, we used to keep out deer with a pulsing charger, even when we lived off grid. Had one wired to a battery. Just placed a single strand of wire at knee height and never had a deer in the garden in the 30 odd years we used that method, even with herds of 15 or more grazing around the garden each evening.

This high tensile is some bad mama jamma fence....we've only got 3 strands at 10, 21, 32 in. using Timeless fence posts(by far the easiest fence posts I've ever had to put in or use) spaced at 20 to 25 ft and it's a nice looking, tight fence. These fence posts are so flexible that you can roll a bale over them, a tree can fall on the fence, and even drive an ATV over them and they just spring right back up. Made of recycled vinyl windows with predrilled holes at regular spacing, they are driven in with a Tpost driver. Easy peesy lemon squeezy!

 

[CrealCritter]

It sounds like a lot of work but it only takes minutes for each paddock move if you get the system down. The benefits of it outweigh the trouble it takes....if you look at pics of MIG farms and those that just rotate stationary paddocks or open graze it's startling to see the difference. After about 3 yrs of this kind of system, I'll likely not have to buy winter hay any longer but can just use stock piled graze(pasture left to cure on the stem) to feed the flock. That's the whole reason I chose this type of farming, as it's more sustainable than the typical farming we all know. Having a system that needs little to no input from outside resources is my goal. For a few minutes a day or every other day....or 4 days, depending on the paddock size I choose...it's well worth it. We also got a low impedence solar charger as a back up for the fence when power is out, so even more sustainable.

CC, we used to keep out deer with a pulsing charger, even when we lived off grid. Had one wired to a battery. Just placed a single strand of wire at knee height and never had a deer in the garden in the 30 odd years we used that method, even with herds of 15 or more grazing around the garden each evening.

This high tensile is some bad mama jamma fence....we've only got 3 strands at 10, 21, 32 in. using Timeless fence posts(by far the easiest fence posts I've ever had to put in or use) spaced at 20 to 25 ft and it's a nice looking, tight fence. These fence posts are so flexible that you can roll a bale over them, a tree can fall on the fence, and even drive an ATV over them and they just spring right back up. Made of recycled vinyl windows with predrilled holes at regular spacing, they are driven in with a Tpost driver. Easy peesy lemon squeezy!

You mean these? https://timelessfencesystem.com/

Is that what's shown in your pictures? They look like your standard run of the mill spike posts that you can get at any farm store.

 

[Beekissed]

You mean these? https://timelessfencesystem.com/

Is that what's shown in your pictures? They look like your standard run of the mill spike posts that you can get at any farm store.

Yes, those are it and no, they aren't run of the mill at any farm store....I have three farm stores around here and all you can find is push in stakes, metal T posts or wooden posts.

 

[Beekissed]

Happy to report the regenerative farming is on track. The select timbering of the place opened up large areas to sunlight, where tree sprouts have jumped up in response the sun, as well as some mulitflora rose~which is usually a BAD thing to most farmer~but something we see as a bonus. These areas are distinctly lacking in any grass, so the nutrition that is available through these tree sprouts and nuisance briers will fill the gap nicely.

We've even got tree sprouts in areas that have always been open to sun but not quite as much...one whole flat here down in front of the house has regularly spaced tree sprouts coming up. The grass quality there is very poor, mostly moss, so these sprouts are a welcome sight there as well. We can't wait to graze these areas. Interspersed in these very poor soils/grass paddock spaces are a few areas that have some clover that is coming up thicker, more wide spread and with more varieties than ever before, so they tend to move from areas of high legumes to areas of tree fodder and shrubbery and sometimes both in the same area(ideal).

Since logging I can also report more bird life....I had read that this would happen but have still been amazed at the sheer number of birds in evidence this year. Not sure why cutting trees causes more birds to thrive, but it certainly seems to be the case.

Right now my flock are in a paddock of tree tops left by logging and all the small brush that has grown up since the area was opened up. It's like watching kids in a candy store and the candy is free....they have shade for grazing in these areas, so they can graze all day as opposed to grazing more in the morning and evenings like they do in the more open paddocks. Needless to say, the lambs are fat as ticks and the ewes~all but one old ewe nursing twins~are in great condition as well, though nursing lambs still.

I had studied up on this regenerative farming quite a bit before actually moving to implement it and am still amazed to see it happening just like they described. One thing is for certain...sheep eating food that is a foot or higher off the ground are not feeding on their own parasites, so that's another huge win.

 

[flowerbug]

Happy to report the regenerative farming is on track. The select timbering of the place opened up large areas to sunlight, where tree sprouts have jumped up in response the sun, as well as some mulitflora rose~which is usually a BAD thing to most farmer~but something we see as a bonus. These areas are distinctly lacking in any grass, so the nutrition that is available through these tree sprouts and nuisance briers will fill the gap nicely.

We've even got tree sprouts in areas that have always been open to sun but not quite as much...one whole flat here down in front of the house has regularly spaced tree sprouts coming up. The grass quality there is very poor, mostly moss, so these sprouts are a welcome sight there as well. We can't wait to graze these areas. Interspersed in these very poor soils/grass paddock spaces are a few areas that have some clover that is coming up thicker, more wide spread and with more varieties than ever before, so they tend to move from areas of high legumes to areas of tree fodder and shrubbery and sometimes both in the same area(ideal).

Since logging I can also report more bird life....I had read that this would happen but have still been amazed at the sheer number of birds in evidence this year. Not sure why cutting trees causes more birds to thrive, but it certainly seems to be the case.

Right now my flock are in a paddock of tree tops left by logging and all the small brush that has grown up since the area was opened up. It's like watching kids in a candy store and the candy is free....they have shade for grazing in these areas, so they can graze all day as opposed to grazing more in the morning and evenings like they do in the more open paddocks. Needless to say, the lambs are fat as ticks and the ewes~all but one old ewe nursing twins~are in great condition as well, though nursing lambs still.

I had studied up on this regenerative farming quite a bit before actually moving to implement it and am still amazed to see it happening just like they described. One thing is for certain...sheep eating food that is a foot or higher off the ground are not feeding on their own parasites, so that's another huge win.

yes to all of this! the opening up of the tree canopy (i'm not sure if the woodlands were primarily one type of tree or not) creates more edges and change also can open up niches for more diversity. the other aspect is energy flows. before they were mostly from the sun hitting the tops of the trees and the trees were the mediators and protectors. the breeze was up there too more than down lower.

erm, so, um, now you have a disturbed system that will be trying to head back towards climax forest cover for your area... the ground plants and lower growing shrubs will be the first ones trying to soak up all that energy. sheepies, chick'ns, etc. will be the ones trying to take advantage, but also bugs of various sorts will try to get going. there's always a lot happening.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I'm guessing the sheep will most likely prune all of that shrubby stuff that is looking to take over, eventually converting it to a balance of selected trees for dappled shade with an understory of good grazing. Bee, what is the term for this? Silviculture???? I looked that up on google, but the term is too broad for the concept regarding beneficial grazing for herd animals.

 

[baymule]

We cleared an area on the property line that goes from the house to the sheep barn. It was regrowth trees (like 5 or 6 growing out of a long ago rotted stump) and green briars-LOTS of green briars. The sheep ate a lot of the regrowth, but not enough to kill it back. We chopped off the stems with machetes and machete chopped the green briars that attempted to grow back.

there is a lot of regrowth in the horse pasture behind the horse bars where we had it forestry mulched last summer. I have grazed the sheep in there, but now it is so dry that their sharp hooves would dig up the bahia grass that is coming up and struggling to survive. if we get a good rain, I'll run them back in there. I see us hacking away with machetes next winter. LOL

 

[Beekissed]

I'm guessing the sheep will most likely prune all of that shrubby stuff that is looking to take over, eventually converting it to a balance of selected trees for dappled shade with an understory of good grazing. Bee, what is the term for this? Silviculture???? I looked that up on google, but the term is too broad for the concept regarding beneficial grazing for herd animals.

Silvopasture...I think it's not a term that's well known except with regenerative agriculture.

Silvopasture

www.fs.usda.gov

 

[Lazy Gardener]

TY! That's the word I was looking for. Meaning, it's grass land with selected trees growing... Can you tell some of the "stacked" benefits of this method, instead of just pasture. My thought process is: Sunlight = energy. So... full sun = faster grass growth. But... tree cover and resulting shade may help with water retention?