March 2022. My dreams of having a small herd of sheep have since been dashed but this is how we were managing them at the time. I might do it differently if given another opportunity.
Any chance of an update? I recall you mentioned you ran into some problems. In tropical zones I can see a lot of potential in the "cut and carry" method of raising ruminants (possibly coupled with limited times of supervised outdoor grazing). You have to plant enough fodder banks close to the animal shelter, and invest in slatted floors to make manure capture easier, plus have sufficient labor to cut and carry the feed everyday though.
Yeah my biggest limitation right now is labour. I don't want to be a boss of someone unless I can pay them enough to "give a shit" about our place and what I'm trying to achieve here (which was heavily inspired by you). I would like to pay them a wage that they decide upon, we agree on how much work they should do for that amount. I don't want be yet another landowner here that profits through the use of poorly paid labour and then complains about the workers doing such a poor job. So cut and carry is sort of out of the question at the moment, as I still need to make enough time for my afternoon naps, etc.
So only one of the original sheep, Edna, is left, and she seems pretty bulletproof (a lot I imagine comes down to good breeding which often involves more $$$ than I'm prepared to risk now.) Her and the cow, Sunflower, are a happy couple and are free grazing all over the property. Obviously self-medicating on plants to keep parasitic worms in check, and all the poop is being scratched up by free roaming chickens. So small biting fly problems on her, but no fly problems for us. The local that sold me the cow last year came to see her a few weeks ago and he was gobsmacked at how big and healthy she looked. All the other local cows are skin and bone because there's no grass at this time of year (still hoping in vain one day for a local to ask me why, but who's going to listen to a foreigner?).
So the free-roaming is working great, they have damaged a few young trees, the cow loves jackfruit and has nibbled a few other young trees. I can fence off new trees; fence the ruminants "out" instead of "in" which saves me so much time. So it's going good, but I would like to experiment with other animals and I'll have to one day work out the economics of doing that with a worker. Selling to market here really is shit, farmers get such a poor deal.
Hope you don't mind I gave you a review though I've yet to read it!
I think cut and carry from protected fodder banks during droughts is the best compromise (since often you have spare time during dry seasons anyway). Ideally species that can also be direct grazed, but leave upper branches in reserve for times when feed runs short. Definitely agree about keeping animals out rather than in. Fencing will be in short supply again in the future, so we need to start experimenting with alternative approaches. I just spent an hour cutting back a hedge to supplement the goats.
Being reluctant to hire someone makes sense. I feel much the same way. Maybe one day when I am aging out, but still have some long term projects to finish off, I might bring someone young in to help out.
I suspect your last sheep might have managed to outlive the others if there is some limiting micronutrient in the available feed. Quality matters more than quantity when it comes to health. Mixing species also helps reduce worm burdens since cows and goats generally don't cross infect each other (though chooks help as well). So many issues can be solved with diversity, but you can't breed a single goat, so the older patterns where everyone had a few of each kind of animal enabled the scale needed to maintain genetics.
Thanks so much for the review! Only a couple more to go and I can try that other promotion strategy.
Hedging is a fantastic idea. In the scything groups I’m in there’s often some posts about the old arts of hedge laying. And it plays an import ecological function of providing some habitat for wild animals. I have started some native fodder trees (flemingia and indigofera) and they self propagate a bit. One good idea I saw was to plant 31 of each and every day you cut from a different tree.
I think recognizing the ecological limits to your property and understanding it’s carrying capacity is so important. Since we’re on a smaller property 2.5Ha it’s easier to see the effects of having too many animals.
I can give you another review from my wife’s account if you write it for me! 😀
Any chance of an update? I recall you mentioned you ran into some problems. In tropical zones I can see a lot of potential in the "cut and carry" method of raising ruminants (possibly coupled with limited times of supervised outdoor grazing). You have to plant enough fodder banks close to the animal shelter, and invest in slatted floors to make manure capture easier, plus have sufficient labor to cut and carry the feed everyday though.
Yeah my biggest limitation right now is labour. I don't want to be a boss of someone unless I can pay them enough to "give a shit" about our place and what I'm trying to achieve here (which was heavily inspired by you). I would like to pay them a wage that they decide upon, we agree on how much work they should do for that amount. I don't want be yet another landowner here that profits through the use of poorly paid labour and then complains about the workers doing such a poor job. So cut and carry is sort of out of the question at the moment, as I still need to make enough time for my afternoon naps, etc.
So only one of the original sheep, Edna, is left, and she seems pretty bulletproof (a lot I imagine comes down to good breeding which often involves more $$$ than I'm prepared to risk now.) Her and the cow, Sunflower, are a happy couple and are free grazing all over the property. Obviously self-medicating on plants to keep parasitic worms in check, and all the poop is being scratched up by free roaming chickens. So small biting fly problems on her, but no fly problems for us. The local that sold me the cow last year came to see her a few weeks ago and he was gobsmacked at how big and healthy she looked. All the other local cows are skin and bone because there's no grass at this time of year (still hoping in vain one day for a local to ask me why, but who's going to listen to a foreigner?).
So the free-roaming is working great, they have damaged a few young trees, the cow loves jackfruit and has nibbled a few other young trees. I can fence off new trees; fence the ruminants "out" instead of "in" which saves me so much time. So it's going good, but I would like to experiment with other animals and I'll have to one day work out the economics of doing that with a worker. Selling to market here really is shit, farmers get such a poor deal.
Hope you don't mind I gave you a review though I've yet to read it!
I think cut and carry from protected fodder banks during droughts is the best compromise (since often you have spare time during dry seasons anyway). Ideally species that can also be direct grazed, but leave upper branches in reserve for times when feed runs short. Definitely agree about keeping animals out rather than in. Fencing will be in short supply again in the future, so we need to start experimenting with alternative approaches. I just spent an hour cutting back a hedge to supplement the goats.
Being reluctant to hire someone makes sense. I feel much the same way. Maybe one day when I am aging out, but still have some long term projects to finish off, I might bring someone young in to help out.
I suspect your last sheep might have managed to outlive the others if there is some limiting micronutrient in the available feed. Quality matters more than quantity when it comes to health. Mixing species also helps reduce worm burdens since cows and goats generally don't cross infect each other (though chooks help as well). So many issues can be solved with diversity, but you can't breed a single goat, so the older patterns where everyone had a few of each kind of animal enabled the scale needed to maintain genetics.
Thanks so much for the review! Only a couple more to go and I can try that other promotion strategy.
Hedging is a fantastic idea. In the scything groups I’m in there’s often some posts about the old arts of hedge laying. And it plays an import ecological function of providing some habitat for wild animals. I have started some native fodder trees (flemingia and indigofera) and they self propagate a bit. One good idea I saw was to plant 31 of each and every day you cut from a different tree.
I think recognizing the ecological limits to your property and understanding it’s carrying capacity is so important. Since we’re on a smaller property 2.5Ha it’s easier to see the effects of having too many animals.
I can give you another review from my wife’s account if you write it for me! 😀