Beginner's Guide To Rotational Grazing
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- čas přidán 25. 06. 2024
- Ever heard the term "Rotational Grazing" and wondered what it meant, or what the big deal was? I'll explain all the basics, including how and why we do it. I'll go over all the main principles behind it, and how to get the maximum benefit from all your labor. I'll also cover the equipment needed, some of the different styles of grazing you can do, and we will show you step-by-step how we rotate our sheep and goats from pasture to pasture.
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Came for the goats and stayed for the catahoulas! What a fun farm, and thank you for sharing in a very clear and detailed way
Aww, thanks so much! I'm glad you are enjoying our videos!
Rotational grazing isn't about keeping the animals from destroying pasture but is used to improve the pasture. They're manure, grazing, etc are benefits if controlled in that manner. That is what Salatin is all about, not necessarily about keeping them from destroying pasture, but about improving the land. Same goes for chickens. (Well, you did mention that it helps the grass to grow better.)
This is intended as a very basic introduction to the concept, and I do mention a few times how you will get more forage out of your pastures using this method. I focused more on the animal health benefits, but yes of course you are improving the pasture as well, or more accurately the health of the soil ecosystem so that it can support stronger vegetative growth.
Such a fabulous communicator! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience.
Thank you so much!
"Wow, it's truly amazing to see the wealth of information that farmer fellows are generously sharing through their experiences. I find immense joy in learning from them. The idea of uniting without borders on a common platform to support farmers worldwide resonates deeply with me. That's why my channel is named 'Farmers Without Borders.' Let's come together and work collaboratively to uplift our fellow farmers, irrespective of boundaries. Together, we can empower underprivileged farmers with the knowledge they need to advance."
What a great message, and I whole heartedly agree. The free sharing of knowledge is one of the best parts of CZcams!
@@YouCanFarm thanks
Excellent overview
And have a nice time
Thank you!
I really enjoyed your video. We have been raising sheep, goat and pigs for the last 3 years. I’m always interested in the ways and techniques other farmers are using. Not the best at moving them every three days but moving them at least once a week (full time jobs suck haha!) getting ready to create some silvo pasture this year to give goaties a little more space to forage!
That's great that you are moving them at all!
Bear in mind most sheep parasites in poop hatch after 4-5 days of being pooped out. If you move them every
Great overview and demonstration! I wish this video existed three years ago. I loved seeing that you have been successful with that length of grounding rod. I’m going to give that a try.
Thank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Hello Holly how are you doing today
As always a great explanation! thank you. I didn't know about the 3 different sizes of grazing plots and animal densities, for some reason I thought the "mob" one was the best but of course you know better, I forgot about the parasites.
Thanks! Each style of grazing has its own advantages, and each may be the best for different situations.
Great thorough video! Thank you so much!
You are so welcome!
Very good Mam I like and love goat I am from Peshawar Pakistan
Hello!
Julie..your videos are very motivating
Thank you!
And I love the goaties too 😊
Me too, they are hilarious!
Hello Tammy how are you doing today
Congratulations on the subscriber growth of your channel!
Thank you so much!
Hello from South Africa 🇿🇦 Thank you for lovely videos. Very helpful and encouraging.
Hello and thank you for watching!
EXCELLENT COMMENTARY INDEED!!! U GUYS ARE CHAMPIONS!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Thank you so much!
Very good introductory video. Thanks
Thanks, glad you liked it!
I am a retired from Pakistan Air Force as Warrant Officer I want to start this business as professional because I love goats very much and by the way I have learnt good information from your all video
I'm so glad you found them helpful!
Great video. Top notch! Do you mind me asking how many acres you're rotating them on?
Very well explained! 😊
Thank you!
New suscriber! Thanks for all the information!
Thanks for subscribing!
Thanks!
You bet!
it takes 1 to 2 years experiences for this great compact explanation of rotation or regenerative ag
Yes, this is meant to be a very basic starting guide. There is a lot more to it, and I still have plenty to learn!
Dog 🐶 has a nice water bowl - and drinks out of a dirt hole 😆
Yep!
Thanks Mam take care of your goats ( the girls)
Thank you, I will
This is a really valuable video! Thank you! Wondering if you could do a video identifying different types of forage. I have all types of vegetation but I’m not sure what it is but the sheep eat it all nonetheless
Great suggestion! I'll have to do some research but I'll work on that.
Wow you are remarkable remarkable
Thank you so much!
Thank you for this video! Did y’all have to train the goats to the electric netting, or is that just for strands of poly wire?
You're welcome! Yes, we had to train them to the electric netting.
Great vid. Thank you. What state are you in, if you dont mind me asking?
Thanks! We are in North Carolina.
How do you know what animals need to follow another animal?
We have goats, horses, kune kune pigs, rabbits, chickens.
How big should each pen be and how often do we move them ? How many days do all animals need to be off the first pen they started on?
Without surveying your pastures and without knowing all the details of your livestock (how many, weight, age, breeding status, etc.) that is impossible for me to answer. How big an area and how often they are moved is determined by how much food is available, the quality of the food and what the nutritional needs are of the animals. In general, its a good idea to move them at least every 3 days, and not return to the same spot for a minimum of 30 days.
@YouCanFarm two draft horses
8 Nigerian dwarf goats
2 kune kune pigs
25 chickens
20 silverfox Rabbits
This makes me want to buy a farm property and start doing this!
That's great!
DO IT!!!
I was going to ask how many nets you used but you answered it later in the video. ,y other question is how high are your nets? And do you have different height nets for the goats and sheep? Also what size solar charger are you using and what is the Joule rating of your charger? Thanks
The nets we use are either 42" or 48" high. We use either height for both sheep and goats, they all respect both fences. I've found most animals will slip under if they want to get out, so the height is not super important. We use Premier1 Supplies solar chargers, the old style in the metal briefcase, which I don't think they make anymore. We use mainly the 1 Joule chargers, but also have one that is 2 Joule that we use to charge large areas where we need to use extra nets.
What is that fence called? Very interested in picking myself up one. If you have a personal link to an Amazon affiliate link that I can use to make a purchase?
We use Premier1 Supplies for our fencing supplies. I don't have an affiliate link, but thank you for asking!
Where do you get your wire
Premier1 Supplies
how to you sell the sheep, do you sell meat? Do you raise full bred sheep?
Mainly we sell the meat by the retail cut at our local farmers markets, although we do sell a few lambs for breeding stock. Our herd is not purebred. They are mostly Katadhin, but we have some other genetics (Dorper, St.Croix) mixed in.
Hi Julie, I have about 9 acres of wooded land with plenty of brushes in the northeast. I'm thinking about starting with about five goats and getting enough electric netting to move them once a week in half an acre plots. I do not have any grass but I do have a lot of thick brush. My question to you is, if you were in my position what would you do? I do not want any more than 15 goats at a time, tops 20. I would sell or slaughter 10 to 15 a year, thus keeping my inventory low. The outer perimeters will have permanent fencing thus keeping predators as well as white tail deer out. I can walk them in the morning for about 2 hours around my neighborhood and can get cut forage from lots of places after I'm done work. Probably will take only ten minutes to get different foliage to give them even more diverse food. I'd appreciate your input on this. Thx in advance. One more question please. On average, how many hours a day do you think you spend on them. Thx again.
That sounds like a good plan! Goats do well in wooded area, and with that many you should have plenty of forage to go around. I spend about an hour each day milking my goats, and then about another hour moving them.
Thx for taking the time to answer my many many questions. 🙂
How long do you keep them in one area in the winter, or do you still rotate them as often as in the spring and summer months. (Every three days). In other words between November or December to April, what's you daily or monthly routine like. Thx in advance.
@@niiaryeeankrah9830 While we move them on pasture every day from March - December, the other 3 months of the year we keep them in one spot, unless we have unusual weather and the grass starts growing. It's a sacrifice area in our main pasture with a lean-to barn for shelter, and we spread wood chips and wasted hay regularly to cover the wet or dirty areas. They get a round bale of hay in the barn so they always have food, and we supplement them with brewers grain and alfalfa pellets as needed.
Too bad you can't put electric fence and collars on your sheap like can be used with dogs. We had a wireless electric fence for the dogs. All you have to do is move the base station to change the invisible fence boundary from one area to another..... Really cool and easy system. Not having to bury wires is super easy...
I'm not sure that would work with sheep, I think they need a visual barrier. They'd probably feel the shock and take off running!
Aren't there predators? or does the electric fence prevent from them?
Good question! We don't have many significant predators that would be able to injure a sheep, except coyotes but they are very rare. The electric fence does prevent any potential predators from getting to them.
@@YouCanFarm What about wild hogs. Are they a big problem in your area as they are in SC? Hogs aren't exactly predators but do destroy the land by routing and eat anything and everything they can... It causes SC farmers big problems with crop loss and land destruction that can't be used by farm animals for some time....
Hogs can eat small baby animals. They are jerks and need to be eliminated
Do you have same for sale
We have one ram lamb for sale.
Got my 50 head of sheep broke to a single poly wire
That's awesome, well done!
I can’t wait to own land so I can start raising my own meat 🥩
I hope you get there soon!
@@YouCanFarm thanks 🙏
If you live in a rural area your best bet is to lease land from landowners with idle grassland. You can earn far more money than owning land (and paying a mortgage!). Greg Judy from Green Pastures Farms has fantastic books on just how to grow a ranching business without owning a square foot of land yourself.
@@seandoherty4236 I’ve considered this idea before and it’s definitely still a possibility. I currently live in the city, but I’m hoping to buy land in the country to build a house on. I don’t want to go with a mortgage, I’d rather build everything up from scratch and not get stuck paying off a debt. It will be a lot of hard work to get there, and it means that starting off will be a very rough go at first. I will probably start small, growing my vegetable and raising my some meat on my homestead, but if I don’t have enough space to raise all of my meat I will consider leasing land to raise it for my family, and perhaps some other families that may wish to share the costs.