I love seeing people farming the way that is right for them and not just following what people in other situations are doing. Our flock had not been dewormed for years when we got them. After a year of rotational grazing and many discussions with our vet we started deworming and noticed an improvement in our small flock.
Love hearing this! (sorry about the worms, but you know what I mean😄) I am realizing more and more that there are so many variables in this game. Take good advice, but stay focused on YOUR COURSE and what is going to fit all of your dynamics. -the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
I’m in school to be a clinical herbalist and dr Naturopathy. One of my things I’m working on is herb use in my Cattle health. Another thing we are planing to do is use our chickens to follow our herd in glazing. So they will keep down any parasites. So after the cows goats and sheep leave and area in comes the chickens to do their job.
Regenerative farming has various levels and constant improvement. If you are conventionally worming your flock, I'd keep them off pasture for a while. Dewormer products will pass through the sheep into their manure and kill any dung beetles in your pasture. Those dung beetles are critical for regenerative farming principles. As you said, a breed or stock with genetics with parasite resistance from the start is critical to the success of regenerative sheep farming.
Rotational grazing is going to take you a long way. We had goats for 8 years and dewormed. We moved to a larger property and started grazing rotationally. We've been here for over 7 years and have not dewormed once. The last time I thought a doe looked a little skinny I took a sample to the vet and he couldn't find even one egg or worm!
This is my hope!! I thrilled with what I've seen just months into the game and am hoping for continued improvement. Thanks for commenting! -the Shepherdess
This a a great video. As many have stated, local environmental conditions, in conjunction with local demands for animal products, as well as the individual farmer's requirements for income; will always trump any generalized system of raising/managing livestock intended for human consumption. That being said, it is important to remember that the genesis for Greg Judy's sheep flock came DIRECTLY from an older farmer who had spent well over a decade taking already parasite resistant St. Croix sheep, and doing exactly as Greg Judy advocates in his videos. Mr. Judy then took the starter sheep that he purchased from that man, and, over time, developed, and refined, his own unique methodology for sheep management. As he has stated in many of his talks, and videos, NOT having to worm, trim hooves, trim horns, feed grain, house the animals, feed hay in a confinement paddock/shed/barn during winter weather, or be present when the mother is giving birth; TRUMPS all other considerations. The entirety of his management system is based on those considerations. Thus, his inputs are incredibly low, compared to conventional methods of raising sheep & cattle. He is also a ruthless culler of any animal that does not meet his quite high standards. As a result, his herd of cattle, and his flock of sheep, are quite profitable. Seed stock is a primary source of income. There is plenty of room in animal agriculture for many ways of doing business. Best wishes to the Shepardess!!!
I am amazed as I see the progression of the flock. I watch these videos and see The hand of The Lord in our decisions. Keep moving forward. Can’t wait for the lambs to come!!! 🐑
First of all, kudos for having the fortitude to venture into farming/ranching. It takes an extraordinary young woman to do what you're doing. You have my respect for that and I wish you all the best. I just subbed. A correction that needs to be made to be fair to Greg. He doesn't just let parasites kill weak sheep. Greg will cull any sheep that show signs that are not resistant enough. He manages for resistance through culling not by neglect...big difference. You're doing something similar by using FAMACHA and not worming sheep that don't need it. The difference is you're likely still breeding the ones that need wormed and by continuing that practice you'll be forever breeding a resistant flock because you're breeding the ones that are parasite susceptible. (I'm assuming you're continuing to breed the one's that need wormed here, I could be wrong as it's not 100% clear in the vid) Another correction is that Greg doesn't necessarily move his flock daily. He moves every couple of days. Most of the parasitic worms can cycle in as little as 3 days so more than that and you're building a parasite load. This doesn't always hold true in adverse conditions not conducive to parasites, like cold weather...less of a norm there in TX than here in MO and KS. Parasite resistance builds over time with maturity in the sheep as well. Personally I think it'd be fair to the animals to worm them their first year if necessary and give them a chance to build their resistance. If they're still needing wormed by their second year they need to be culled and not bred (retained in the flock). The goal to obtain parasite resistant flocks is to breed the most resistant ewes to the most resistant rams, otherwise you're not gaining very efficiently.
Our LGD has been tremendously helpful in lowering our parasite load surprisingly enough. She keeps all the deer and other critters off the property which has helped lower incoming problems. After about 2 years of constant battles with worm load we're finally getting on top. We use famacha, and are down to worming only once or twice per year now. Closer to once. Boer goats central Texas.
@lovebug4488 look up the "FAMACHA" scale. That's the best way to know for certain when to worm. If you can, order one of the glossy photo scales. They're the only way to know for sure about the color of the eyes due to printer and display variations in screens. After a few years you'll know by sight. We use Dervet Ivermectin, injection for cattle, and swine. 1cc per 50lb. Given orally via a syringe with no needle. (As recommended by our vet) Safeguard is 1000% useless in our area. Found that out the hard way by losing our number 1 buck.
I do rotational with cattle, but it's takes a lot of land. I'm getting tired of it so I am considering collapsing it down in size, this whole operation, and doing sheep. I penciled out and realized exactly what you did- I can make so much more on sheep and the efficiencies for me here will scale better with my existing facilities and I can give up some land ( extra work and land taxes gone). Only thing I have to do is put up weaved wire fence and get a LGD at some point. I only have three sheep right now but they seem to trial well through my existing cattle handling stuff, I'll just have to make a couple adaptions for lambs.
Could you rent some of the land out to a neighbor? Or hire someone to handle some of the cows? I dunno if I misunderstood or something but "I'm sick of having so much land" is kind of what it sounded lile you were implying. Surely that's impossible! 🤔😋
I'm going to say it for the 100th time, how can you give this young farmer 4 thumbs down, don't get it. Must be those funny people from people eating tasty animals!! I'm sorry they pronounce it p.e.t.a. please keep up the great work!! Thank you for keeping it real!!
Whether you agree with someone’s individual processes there is value in seeing how different farmer’s handle their particular issues in their particular location. Some people will give a thumbs down (even though we are no longer able to see it) if they hear one thing that is different than how they would do it. While I did give thumbs up I cringed when she said she used chemical dewormer (instead of natural). It could have been that or any other way she worded something. Those of us watching these videos need to realize that there are multiple ways to raise different animals and there isn’t only one way to do everything but there is immense value in seeing how different farmers handle different situations based on their region, climate, resources available, property size, flock/herd size, time constraints and on and on. I love watching multiple methods for all farm related activities and then you can use this best practice for this thing and another for a different area etc. no absolutes in farming.
@@janedoe3095 I believe that you are correct. Their seems to be alot of Karen types in this world. I tried telling a woman at work about a Greg Judy video I seen thinking it would change the topic and get her to be less cranky for abit. She found fault with almost EVERYTHING he did. Then I've ran across alot of them types online when it comes to animal welfare. If everything ain't done exactly the way they think it should be then "your a horrible person and its a good thing you don't live near me or I'd report you" types. I wish I was talking about actual abuse but nope, I'm not. It was as simple as trying to explain that not all dogs for example big LGD's or sled dogs have the same needs as a Chihuahua.
I came across your channel here about a week ago and I am really enjoying your content. And don't be ashamed to use that wormer when needed. It looks like you are doing a good job managing your sheep. I really like the dorper sheep and had some mixed with my goats at one time but decided to go with all goats. As for doing things the Greg Judy way, it works for Greg really well, but like you said he had to cull and takes loses to get his sheep where they are, and they are totally different sheep from the dorper too. Another thing other than just having had that time for selection of his sheep is he has the advantage of running at a much larger scale for what he can rotate on. Running on small property as you are can sure get it done but at the same time its harder to have longer rest time for the ground. Keep it up. I like what you are doing.
WOW. Thank you, my wife are teachers, empty nester and looking to diversify and heavily supplement our one day retirement. Your information is exciting and helpful. We'll be praying for you and continue following you. Our plans are for being stewards of land either in the Kerrville -Fredericksburg area or somewhere between Minerwells and Gainesville. thanks
Sheep in shades, a snowman and a rainbow!!! Great little fun visuals splashed throughout the content. Great job. And indeed sheep need a shepherd(ess).
Greg Judy runs his flocks on 100s of acres with daily relocation of the flock. So it makes sense that there would be differences in parasite management on a small pasture/farm.
Great video. Appreciate you showing that Greg Judy, while is great for some, isn't the end all be all. That you have to farm for you, your location, your breed, and what it is you want to achieve. Awesome!
He tends to speak in absolutes. I think it's pretty off putting. I respect his practices, but there are things he's said are good ways to go broke that pencil out just fine on my farm.
YES and yes. At the onset of my journey I was pretty overwhelmed b/c some of these iconicized management strategies don't work so well on my farm... at least not yet. I really hope this video helps new farmers understand that it's essential to be flexible and attack the end goal from different angles. Thanks for your comment! -the Shepherdess
@@swamp-yankee yeah, same here. I believe that Greg Judy's management works really well for him, but I have had to come to peace with the fact that some of it doesn't work for me... yet!
@@theShepherdess Seems to me that while the Basic Principles of Greg Judy's system works, their has to be room for adaptation depending on the needs, scale, resources and other variables of each farmer. Seems to me like you are already adopting some of the basics while adapting them to your needs and resources. I see no need for anybody to bash a farmer no matter who your a fan of. I'm glad more people are trying to farm. And doubly glad that more people are trying to farm the Regenerative way as best they can. Now that don't mean it's wrong to humbly offer suggestion/ideas, like for example culling those that need dewormer the most. Something you probably already plan. But I don't see where I would have the Right to demand you do so. To me their is a difference between a humble suggestion/idea then a demand. I have offered my 2 cents before with the admission that I have no expertise on the topic so I may be wrong. I figure when I do so it's up to that person to decide if they like my idea or not. However I have seen things in the comment section of video's that I thought was rude and out of line.For example demands to do things a certain way and crazy accusations. I seen a rude crazy accusation of the "you don't know what your talking about,this wont work on a large scale" type on an old video of a lecture given by Tony Lovell of the Savory Institute.My hope is that you keep doing what your doing,make whatever improvements you can when you can and document them online in a clean,wholesome and Godly manner for us to watch. And hopefully make a good living doing so.
Excellent job! I love how you turned the folcks health around! GreaT show from a more conventional way raising to a more rotational grazing method of raising sheep!!!
Young lady you are truly a inspiration!! I love your approach on your given activity. Do you sell your sheep commercially or privately? Please keep up your good work you definitely are and will be blessed!!
Melvin, can't tell you what your encouragement means to me! Thanks very much! I plan to sell breeding stock once I build my flock to the size I want. I plan to make a video about how I plan to get my flock to market. -the Shepherdess
Glad you made this video, I am from Kentucky and the climate and rain we get each year create a huge problem with parasites and we struggle with parasites becoming resistant to the normal chemicals. The University of Kentucky has an amazing sheep herd and program and they have been using copper sulfate. Seems successful here. Might be worth a try if you run into resistance problems. If you’d like I’ll send you the dosages and instructions.
Hi Morgan! You are the 2nd person this week who has talked about copper sulphate. Please do send dosage instructions: shepherdess (at) HarmonyFarms (dot) blog
I really like the scripture you used at the end of your video. Sure adds context to what Jesus said about being the good shepherd and we are his sheep. I really enjoy your channel!
Thanks, Rick! I haven't read it yet, but many people have told me I should. I may do it soon :). God Bless you for uplifting me (and my channel) with your encouragement! -the Shepherdess
Did you see you kind of had a faceless cameo on this vid?? Haha! I just realized you have been along since the very beginning of my journey... even that day at Karl E's! Your support means a lot!
@@theShepherdess I did not see the cameo. I am a movie star 🌟 And yes, I have been with you since the beginning and plan on staying with you on your journey. It gives me great joy to watch you grow and learn. I think you are providing knowledgeable information and look forward to watching your next VLOG. I learn something every time you post.
Dear Shepherdess m quite impressed by your way of working ...in fact m a regular follower of yours n i am soon gona to start the sheep farm insha allaha ...We have the same climatic conditions as yours ....
The Grass fed Homestead has a recipe for natural wormer with molasses and garlic powder if your interested. He also said it's good to give them DE. Love seeing you and your sheep 😊!
@@briananders7358 Correct, Brian. I have some concerns about that video because my parents implemented a similar strategy in their first year and lost 30-40% of the flock. I really hope the info in that video works for most people... but it caused some significant pain for us. -the Shepherdess
Hi Rebekah! Yes, I have seen that video. My parents actually tried a similar strategy in their first year of owning the flock and lost a lot of animals (maybe 30-40% of the sheep they bought initially). From what I have researched, the natural dewormers are successful in arid regions, but not so much when your working elsewhere. I know of a sheep rancher in California that has wormed with nothing but Garlic Barrier for 2 yrs, the precipitation there is really low. I hope this helps! Thanks so much for your support! -the Shepherdess
Good to know, we are planning to get into sheep farming soon and we also live in a very hot and humid area so I'm doing my research on different worming methods.
@@HomemakingwithRebekah yes, we definitely didn’t expect the worms issue. It made the first few years of sheep farming really heartbreaking. Hopefully I can share what we learned and help people get further faster. 🐑🌱👍🏻
Hmm, that makes me wonder if there's a way to treat the ground 🤔 Maybe a nematode spray or something to treat the ground for parisites. I'll have to do some research 👍 Edit: 10 minutes into reading, information I've found so far re-enforces what you're stated along with mowing to expose the parisites to UV and using larvacide. There's also a few papers on using high nitrogen fertilizers under damp conditions to neutralize larva but I believe that was barber pole worm. I'll keep looking.
FAMACHA THE best method to check your mob daily if possible. plus the way you then do deworming as and when and where needed, ensures your mob does not become resistant to meds. Love following your journey.
Your flock looks great! Keep up the good work, Greg talks about raising St. Croix as a specific breed that's really parasite resistant, have you thought about getting a couple of St Croix or royal whites to introduce to your flock to make them more parasite resistant?
Thanks Adam! I have, however I’m order to be successful as a commercial/meat producer I need the carcass yield the dorper provides. Plus, purebred Dorper stock is bringing too dollar at the moment, so they are worth the extra effort in parasite management. 👍🏻
Thanks for sharing, blessings to you. Down under in NZ I farm a small block lifestyle block with Suffolk sheep, God is also blessings us with good flock health with only One sheep death (accidental) in five years. God is awesome.
Do you do worm egg counts over there? When We had our farm here we managed intestinal worms by doing fecal egg counts. We get kits form local land office, collect fresh poo samples drop them off and they email results in a couple of days. It’s on a scale lower counts we don’t treat ( drench ) moderate maybe monitor hi drench. Do it this way we found it helped with drench resistance of worms by not using when not necessary. If you get your rotation going well you’re not treating very often. Was a small cost to test but we considered it worthwhile. 😊 commented before I seen the eye test you do, if that’s working it’s a great idea.
We do the famacha, but I've been considering doing a fecal once a year just to monitor how they improve. Wish I would have started last year when the flock was really bad. Would be neat to have those numbers now! -the Shepherdess
That's the correct way under a certain % you don't deworm otherwise the parasite's becomes resistant to the treatment and your sheep's parasite resilience becomes weak
I am not a farmer but I have seen on YT that when you rotate your sheep to new pasture, if you then free range chickens on the spot where the sheep were you can then get the chickens to eat the bugs and worms left by the sheep. This would also mean that you would have a second crop on the same bit of land and I bet that they would be very tasty. Just rotate the chickens each time you move the sheep. The chickens would also fertilise the land for you so that you will get better grass for the sheep, let nature do the work for you. Just a thought.
Chickens aren't capable of intentionally ingesting sheep parasites, they (the parasites) are too small. Rotating chickens is normally used to keep down the fly load in pastures, normally more to do with cattle manure. Chickens will supply a good bit of nitrogen to the grass.
@@Digger927 Hi, thank you for educating me. This is what YT is about ,LEARNING something new everyday. As I said at the start I am not a farmer, so I didn't know that they would not digest those bugs but I had learned about the fertiliser for the grass. its a shame that they could not do a double whammy of a job in this instance. Thank you once again for imparting me with your knowledge, its truly amazing what we can learn on this channel.
You are actually right @footplate 0. Brent made the correct point that the chickens don't eat the worms... however the work that the chickens do in scraping apart the manure exposed the worm eggs to UV (sunlight) which will kill them if conditions are right. For spring we are actually going to be putting 30-40 chickens into rotation with our sheep and cows. I'll be interested to track how it helps! -the Shepherdess
I farm geese (pigs with feathers), ducks, and chickens. Adding some Dexters and some Pygmy Goats to eat. Really harsh winters up here in Central Upstate N.Y.
I wish my son had done one ounce of research before dumping so many sheep on my little place. 😢. He just doesn’t get it but I’m sending him your videos in the off chance he does get it. I feel bad for these critters. I have 4 acres fenced and told him last year it would support 4 to 5 sheep pretty easy. He dumped 14 on me. Now their lambing and it’s just a stupid count. I don’t know what the hell to do. Vent over, I’ll continue to send him your videos.
From what I gather from Greg Judy, his breed is parasite resistant. Plus he moves them a lot I would look into a video Justin Rhodes did 3 years back, a 15 year old from Florida was raising goats, and she used copper in their water to combat parasites. Her goats had none
Resistant? show me a animal that does not get infected !! Resilient yes...Moving animals from pasture to pasture is a old age practice to combat pests .Copper is only used for '' liver snail '' (directly translated from afrikaans) where animals got infected by drinking standing water like ponds or swamps in tropical areas
Hi shepherd's im from Australia running dorpers 800mm rainfall please look up lanessa farms i now use copersulphate for worming it works its cheap and now worm resistance
Hi, please can you do a video on how do you teach to obey your calls, it's really awesome to watch them come to you instead of herding them from behind. Thank you in advance. Love your content.
To me....Regenerative Farming is more about the health of the land. Healthy land feeds to stock and the stock feeds you. So yes...you should adapt your process to maximize the health of all.
With you having 23 acres how many sheep do you have on your rotation grassing. How big are your grazing areas? We have just over 10 acres and I wanted to do 10 to 15 ewes breed and sell lambs at market age. Thank you for sharing. Till next time God Bless.
I am a Judite and really appreciate the fact you are worming. Wad really wondering how in Louisiana you could get around it. When my friends come to Louisiana their continental comment on all the BUGS.
The cull method isn't letting them suffer, it's getting them out of the flock. Competing the circle of life and harvesting them for compost, or treating them then selling them. Greg and I aren't raising a premium breed like you, Also, our flock is more of a complimentary enterprise that provides some revenue, but most importantly, performs a service to the land that improves it. I will NOT let an animal suffer, even if it means throwing every chemical or drug in the book at them. They have to be sold on the commodity market afterwards. I'd rather see you continue your current practice if you develop a solid local loyal customer. LOCAL trumps any certification. If that breed requires a "cheat" of sorts, but is something that benefits and nourishes a community, I say go for it. You're doing something to minimize less than ideal practices, and I have a feeling your lamb chops are probably noticeably better than mine or Greg's, the same way a true Japanese Wagyu A-5 steak has a premium value over my Choice Plus Dexter beef, it's a product that has it's place in the market. So does your product, as long as you can find and create the demand for it. Which I'd think you could, you have a story. Everybody loves a story.
❤️ Love your content so much. Very appreciative of your real world approach! Have been trying to make some decisions about which livestock I want to run on a new farm myself. Zeroed in on meat sheep and was thinking royal whites or dorpers. Like you, I am also in a humid hot summer environment. (NC) I am very concerned about the parasite situation too. These are old cattle pastures. I have been an organic gardener from way back. Very organic farming minded now but not sure how realistically achievable that is with sheep. I’m with you, letting animals die because I have the wrong breed in the wrong environment and am not willing to medicate under any circumstance is not my thing. Do you have thoughts on what your ideal breed choices would be now with parasite resistance as a leading concern? If so… Would you introduce those breeds in as a cross or start rolling over to another breed or possibly even run more than one herd to test it all out? Love to hear your thoughts! Ricki
Good questions! I am opting toward the adaptation route. We are 4gens into the dorper in our climate and already seeing a bit of resistance build up. I am going to stay pure dorper and simply cull the ewes that don’t do well. The St. Croix is reportedly the most parasite resistant. However the carcass is very small. So small that I wouldn’t be able to meet my market-weight goals (spoke with two market farmers who switched to dorper from st Croix). All that said, it would be interesting to see what a dorper-st. Croix cross would yield!
@@theShepherdess that is very interesting! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights on that. That makes me think it might be worth the effort to go ahead and work through with the dorpers for all of the positive traits. :)
Personally I'll deworm a sheep, but I won't breed a weak sheep that needed deworming. Or keep it's offspring. I'm in a 50 inch rainfall region. Many people loose sheep to worms, but I haven't lost any of my Katahdins, or wormed any. I've had some white Dorper crosses and they seem to fall out of the flock. I love the pelts off them though. Maybe you could upgrade your ewes to a Saint Croix ram. That's where Katahdins get their parasite resistance.
I have heard that Katahdins are really good at resisting worms on their own. That's good info on the St. Croix possessing the resistance. I talked to a veteran sheep farmer on the phone the other day. She favored Katahdin's for the same reason, but complained that their carcass was much more meager than a Dorper's beefy frame. Any thoughts on this since you've run both? -the Shepeherdess
@@theShepherdess I have no issues with the yield from my Katahdins. Last group all hung around 50-55lbs, and I don't need them bigger. Theyre working well for me how they are. The white dorper crosses I've had were from a weak line I think. They were blockier, but got wormy and skinny. I'd rather have a medium sized grass fat sheep than a skinny medium large one. I do like dorper hides better. Their coat is softer. The Katahdins are a new breed made by crossing Saint Croix with other hair and wool breeds. St Croix is where they get the parasite resistance from. Probably because they continuously grazed on a small island without predation for generations. Breeding to Saint Croix rams for a few generations would be a good way to bring in that trait quickly. I recommend checking out Richard Perkins' "mob breeding" interview. I found it interesting and helpful. It inspired me to close my flock.
I'm not sure you should cull for parasite resistance after only one year. It's not all about natural selection, individual life forms also have the capacity to adapt to different conditions. If there's structural damage to the animal, then yeah, culling is the only solution, but the immune system (and perhaps even the digestive system) are more flexible and adaptive. So consider giving their bodies a chance to learn to handle some of the specific diseases in your area. If that doesn't happen after 2-3 years, then, obviously, you have to select for fit specimens. But consider giving them a bit of time.
As the year has played out, I’d have to agree with you. I did not make any parasite-related culls this year as every sheep responded very well to the grazing management. Also, with each new generation born on the farm I’m noticing a higher level of resistance. Very encouraging to see adaptability in action! -the Shepherdess
I always thought about this pans we all know there will never be a study by any University or manufacturer only if it is independently funded. When we or animals ingest food,liquid the linings in our stomach absorb it and push input into our blood stream and through out the entire body so when we give a dewormer ( which cannot be made to specifically stay in the stomach) how much of it stays in the muscles, liver, and other organs? Are we not tainting the meat in who knows how many PPM. His thinking as a result of having cancer and understanding how cancers grow has made me never to CHEMICALLY give my sheep, donkeys and chicken any deworming or virus injections but to find a natural way to help just as I have healed myself from cancer with out surgery or chemo therapy and by only using good nutrition.
I use ACV during extreme summer heat (for electrolytes). 👍🏻 We attempted to use them for parasite management early on, but that did not go well. Thanks so much! -the Shepherdess
How have you come up with a plan to get away from worming more? With the drought, maybe you just haven't been able to give it the attention you'd prefer? We're considering getting a few here on about 15 acres in central TX, as I've shared before. It's just so brittle here still though, with maybe 50% coverage (might be less).
Hi Joel, A viewer sent me the following details: “The bubbler runs off my 12 volt battery and I use my solar panels to keep it charged up. Keep water moving and keep it from freezing.” Those are all the details I have, but maybe someone here on YT has made a video on it. Thanks for watching! -the Shepherdess
I’ll be honest, after watching Greg Judy I feel like such a failure. There’s this sense that his way is the only way and if you trim hooves, deworm, or heavens forbid one of your flock gets hoof rot then you are a horrible shepherd. To be honest I’m only a year into my shepherd journey so a lot of this stuff I’m learning on the fly and there’s Greg Judy mistakes that I’ve already made that I can’t go back on. Thanks for putting out the video, I’m praying for wisdom from the good shepherd and learning bit by bit
Very interesting and in the same boat. We run some goats right now. I'd love to get into sheep in the future(one of the reasons I'm following). We live in the south east, it's not sure if it's a rain forest or a swamp but it's hot and wet. Currently using fecals and famacha in conjunction with herbal wormer and pasture rotation. But I expect to use traditional wormers going into this year as needed.
Yep, from all the regenerative farmers I have talked to in my county, chemical dewormers are still part of their management. It seems to be an issue in these parts. I hope to see a continued decrease with intensive rotational grazing, but gotta keep on top of it regardless. thanks so much for commenting! -the Shepherdess
@@theShepherdess I would strongly advice you to take the time and have a look at this series its for cattle but applies for sheep and goats too its very informative and I'm 100% sure you will learn a lot and benefit from it although I not 100% agreeing with Johann Zietsmann on disregarding the bonsmara breed yes there are poor examples out there but there is a place and market for high mass gain/ grow rate in the specific category but I'm not going into detail here explaining my disagreement...but have a look at the series its excellent. Here are 2 links but check the rest also ruclips.net/video/9kRjDUbD_qc/видео.html ruclips.net/video/lUm6ihjT-VY/видео.html
I don't know... what do they mean by parasite resistant? Not such a thing! Parasite resilience yes... resilience is measured by how badly the animal is infected before it affects the animal's condition , dorpers should have a good resilience except if it differs from the one's here in SA. How do you know if it has worms? When a animal is badly infected it will have dairee
Unless you have an enormous farm, you have to worm, but it is important to rotate wormers to avoid worm resistance. The pre chemical method of farming in the UK was the traditional mixed farm. Greg Judy talked about his callous attitude to just let his sheep die if they lacked worm resistance. He could have segregated the wormy sheep, dosed them, fed them and shipped them. His management of the sheep is minimal. What he has are sheep producing fatty sheep with poor conformation. He said the Dorpers all died on him. Your sheep have a good life, I don’t think the other extreme of intensive farming is right for sheep either. Keep up the good work.
I should have mentioned the downland shepherd in the old days lived with the flock. Folded them at night and moved the sheep and the fold daily. Our downs in the UK are rolling chalk hills.
Thank you for sharing this! What kind of rotation would you suggest (every other month?)? We sometimes use Ivermectin, but don't have a routine for switching them out regularly. Thanks very much! -the Shepherdess
@@theShepherdess coming from Wales, it would be hard to advise on your worm challenge. We always have a challenge for young spring lambs with a nasty worm called nematodirus. It is a killer but the benedizamole white wormers which are cheap work on this worm. It survives over winter and a sharp cold spell hatches the larvae. We try not to worm the ewes but, come mid summer the strongyle worms are an issue for ewes and lambs. Our vets advise worm counts, but on my farm the challenges are always the same.so the three main wormers are Ivermectin, levamisole, and benedizamole. We now have two new very expensive wormers to tackle resistance.Due to climate change bringing plenty of wet weather, we now have a serious liver fluke problem and they too are becoming resistant. It has become a world wide problem. Perhaps with Texas weather, if you are in a dry area, a lot of the worm eggs will perish. Anyway I do advise alternating wormers, and if your vet is good with sheep ,he may be able to advise.
@@wendyrowland7787 thanks, Wendy for all of this info! I really appreciate the time you have taken to share. It is helping me to strategize. 👍🏻 -the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
@@wendyrowland7787 Don't these dewormer chemicals affect the microbiome of the soil when the animals excrete them? Do you move your flock every couple of days or so? Wouldn't that be easier and more effective than trying to give them dewormers?
I enjoy your videos but I wish people like you who I am learning from would stick to the subject instead of all the back stories. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to be mean in any way. I am trying to learn from videos like yours but sometimes it gets annoying and boring when all the back stories are told over and over again and not sticking to the subject. Thank you
It's deworming, yes? I'm being bothered by you saying "We're doing a worming today." unless I'm not hearing your accent correctly! (Or you are giving them worms for some reason. DRAMA!!) >:-)
lol. Bad habit on my part... I think you are right and it is DEworming. No way I'm dropping worms in the feed bucket just for YT drama... Haha! -the Shepherdess
In this part of the world that's what we say when we're going to deworm our livestock. 99% of the people know that, it's just a local way of saying it. Like she said nobody would intentionally give their livestock worms!
I love seeing people farming the way that is right for them and not just following what people in other situations are doing. Our flock had not been dewormed for years when we got them. After a year of rotational grazing and many discussions with our vet we started deworming and noticed an improvement in our small flock.
Love hearing this! (sorry about the worms, but you know what I mean😄) I am realizing more and more that there are so many variables in this game. Take good advice, but stay focused on YOUR COURSE and what is going to fit all of your dynamics.
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
I’m in school to be a clinical herbalist and dr Naturopathy.
One of my things I’m working on is herb use in my Cattle health. Another thing we are planing to do is use our chickens to follow our herd in glazing. So they will keep down any parasites. So after the cows goats and sheep leave and area in comes the chickens to do their job.
That's really cool. It's been 2 years, how are your studies going?
Regenerative farming has various levels and constant improvement. If you are conventionally worming your flock, I'd keep them off pasture for a while. Dewormer products will pass through the sheep into their manure and kill any dung beetles in your pasture. Those dung beetles are critical for regenerative farming principles. As you said, a breed or stock with genetics with parasite resistance from the start is critical to the success of regenerative sheep farming.
Rotational grazing is going to take you a long way. We had goats for 8 years and dewormed. We moved to a larger property and started grazing rotationally. We've been here for over 7 years and have not dewormed once. The last time I thought a doe looked a little skinny I took a sample to the vet and he couldn't find even one egg or worm!
This is my hope!! I thrilled with what I've seen just months into the game and am hoping for continued improvement.
Thanks for commenting!
-the Shepherdess
I deworm using garlic powder plus rotational grazing.
This a a great video. As many have stated, local environmental conditions, in conjunction with local demands for animal products, as well as the individual farmer's requirements for income; will always trump any generalized system of raising/managing livestock intended for human consumption.
That being said, it is important to remember that the genesis for Greg Judy's sheep flock came DIRECTLY from an older farmer who had spent well over a decade taking already parasite resistant St. Croix sheep, and doing exactly as Greg Judy advocates in his videos. Mr. Judy then took the starter sheep that he purchased from that man, and, over time, developed, and refined, his own unique methodology for sheep management.
As he has stated in many of his talks, and videos, NOT having to worm, trim hooves, trim horns, feed grain, house the animals, feed hay in a confinement paddock/shed/barn during winter weather, or be present when the mother is giving birth; TRUMPS all other considerations.
The entirety of his management system is based on those considerations. Thus, his inputs are incredibly low, compared to conventional methods of raising sheep & cattle. He is also a ruthless culler of any animal that does not meet his quite high standards. As a result, his herd of cattle, and his flock of sheep, are quite profitable. Seed stock is a primary source of income.
There is plenty of room in animal agriculture for many ways of doing business.
Best wishes to the Shepardess!!!
I am amazed as I see the progression of the flock. I watch these videos and see The hand of The Lord in our decisions. Keep moving forward. Can’t wait for the lambs to come!!! 🐑
AMEN!!
First of all, kudos for having the fortitude to venture into farming/ranching. It takes an extraordinary young woman to do what you're doing. You have my respect for that and I wish you all the best. I just subbed.
A correction that needs to be made to be fair to Greg. He doesn't just let parasites kill weak sheep. Greg will cull any sheep that show signs that are not resistant enough. He manages for resistance through culling not by neglect...big difference. You're doing something similar by using FAMACHA and not worming sheep that don't need it. The difference is you're likely still breeding the ones that need wormed and by continuing that practice you'll be forever breeding a resistant flock because you're breeding the ones that are parasite susceptible. (I'm assuming you're continuing to breed the one's that need wormed here, I could be wrong as it's not 100% clear in the vid)
Another correction is that Greg doesn't necessarily move his flock daily. He moves every couple of days. Most of the parasitic worms can cycle in as little as 3 days so more than that and you're building a parasite load. This doesn't always hold true in adverse conditions not conducive to parasites, like cold weather...less of a norm there in TX than here in MO and KS.
Parasite resistance builds over time with maturity in the sheep as well. Personally I think it'd be fair to the animals to worm them their first year if necessary and give them a chance to build their resistance. If they're still needing wormed by their second year they need to be culled and not bred (retained in the flock). The goal to obtain parasite resistant flocks is to breed the most resistant ewes to the most resistant rams, otherwise you're not gaining very efficiently.
Thanks for the comment! I really appreciate you joining the journey here and bringing your insights :).
-the Shepherdess
Great comment. By the way if you watch her earlier videos she already explained the every 2 days rotation system. It's what she uses.
Our LGD has been tremendously helpful in lowering our parasite load surprisingly enough. She keeps all the deer and other critters off the property which has helped lower incoming problems. After about 2 years of constant battles with worm load we're finally getting on top. We use famacha, and are down to worming only once or twice per year now. Closer to once.
Boer goats central Texas.
Love this testimonial! Thank you!
Hi! In East Texas. What dewormers are you using and when? Have boer goats, too. Trying to get a handle on their health...
@lovebug4488 look up the "FAMACHA" scale. That's the best way to know for certain when to worm. If you can, order one of the glossy photo scales. They're the only way to know for sure about the color of the eyes due to printer and display variations in screens. After a few years you'll know by sight.
We use Dervet Ivermectin, injection for cattle, and swine. 1cc per 50lb. Given orally via a syringe with no needle. (As recommended by our vet)
Safeguard is 1000% useless in our area. Found that out the hard way by losing our number 1 buck.
I do rotational with cattle, but it's takes a lot of land. I'm getting tired of it so I am considering collapsing it down in size, this whole operation, and doing sheep. I penciled out and realized exactly what you did- I can make so much more on sheep and the efficiencies for me here will scale better with my existing facilities and I can give up some land ( extra work and land taxes gone). Only thing I have to do is put up weaved wire fence and get a LGD at some point. I only have three sheep right now but they seem to trial well through my existing cattle handling stuff, I'll just have to make a couple adaptions for lambs.
Could you rent some of the land out to a neighbor? Or hire someone to handle some of the cows? I dunno if I misunderstood or something but "I'm sick of having so much land" is kind of what it sounded lile you were implying. Surely that's impossible! 🤔😋
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and your faith in our Lord and His Word .
You are welcome, Randy! Thank you for watching.
I'm going to say it for the 100th time, how can you give this young farmer 4 thumbs down, don't get it. Must be those funny people from people eating tasty animals!! I'm sorry they pronounce it p.e.t.a. please keep up the great work!! Thank you for keeping it real!!
Your support means A LOT, Darien! Thank you very much.
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
Whether you agree with someone’s individual processes there is value in seeing how different farmer’s handle their particular issues in their particular location.
Some people will give a thumbs down (even though we are no longer able to see it) if they hear one thing that is different than how they would do it. While I did give thumbs up I cringed when she said she used chemical dewormer (instead of natural). It could have been that or any other way she worded something.
Those of us watching these videos need to realize that there are multiple ways to raise different animals and there isn’t only one way to do everything but there is immense value in seeing how different farmers handle different situations based on their region, climate, resources available, property size, flock/herd size, time constraints and on and on.
I love watching multiple methods for all farm related activities and then you can use this best practice for this thing and another for a different area etc. no absolutes in farming.
@@janedoe3095 I believe that you are correct. Their seems to be alot of Karen types in this world. I tried telling a woman at work about a Greg Judy video I seen thinking it would change the topic and get her to be less cranky for abit. She found fault with almost EVERYTHING he did. Then I've ran across alot of them types online when it comes to animal welfare. If everything ain't done exactly the way they think it should be then "your a horrible person and its a good thing you don't live near me or I'd report you" types. I wish I was talking about actual abuse but nope, I'm not. It was as simple as trying to explain that not all dogs for example big LGD's or sled dogs have the same needs as a Chihuahua.
I came across your channel here about a week ago and I am really enjoying your content. And don't be ashamed to use that wormer when needed. It looks like you are doing a good job managing your sheep. I really like the dorper sheep and had some mixed with my goats at one time but decided to go with all goats. As for doing things the Greg Judy way, it works for Greg really well, but like you said he had to cull and takes loses to get his sheep where they are, and they are totally different sheep from the dorper too. Another thing other than just having had that time for selection of his sheep is he has the advantage of running at a much larger scale for what he can rotate on. Running on small property as you are can sure get it done but at the same time its harder to have longer rest time for the ground. Keep it up. I like what you are doing.
This is really encouraging to me! Thank you for taking the time to leave and for supporting my channel.
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
WOW. Thank you, my wife are teachers, empty nester and looking to diversify and heavily supplement our one day retirement. Your information is exciting and helpful. We'll be praying for you and continue following you. Our plans are for being stewards of land either in the Kerrville -Fredericksburg area or somewhere between Minerwells and Gainesville. thanks
Thank you so much, Don!
Greetings from the LooseNatural farm in Andalusia Spain where we currently look into buying our own animals
I have enjoyed you program so much till it has gotten me purchasing 17 new ewe lambs to start my dairy herd. Thanks alot
Sheep in shades, a snowman and a rainbow!!! Great little fun visuals splashed throughout the content. Great job. And indeed sheep need a shepherd(ess).
Greg Judy runs his flocks on 100s of acres with daily relocation of the flock. So it makes sense that there would be differences in parasite management on a small pasture/farm.
Great video. Appreciate you showing that Greg Judy, while is great for some, isn't the end all be all. That you have to farm for you, your location, your breed, and what it is you want to achieve. Awesome!
He tends to speak in absolutes. I think it's pretty off putting. I respect his practices, but there are things he's said are good ways to go broke that pencil out just fine on my farm.
YES and yes. At the onset of my journey I was pretty overwhelmed b/c some of these iconicized management strategies don't work so well on my farm... at least not yet. I really hope this video helps new farmers understand that it's essential to be flexible and attack the end goal from different angles.
Thanks for your comment!
-the Shepherdess
@@swamp-yankee yeah, same here. I believe that Greg Judy's management works really well for him, but I have had to come to peace with the fact that some of it doesn't work for me... yet!
@@theShepherdess Seems to me that while the Basic Principles of Greg Judy's system works, their has to be room for adaptation depending on the needs, scale, resources and other variables of each farmer. Seems to me like you are already adopting some of the basics while adapting them to your needs and resources. I see no need for anybody to bash a farmer no matter who your a fan of. I'm glad more people are trying to farm. And doubly glad that more people are trying to farm the Regenerative way as best they can. Now that don't mean it's wrong to humbly offer suggestion/ideas, like for example culling those that need dewormer the most. Something you probably already plan. But I don't see where I would have the Right to demand you do so. To me their is a difference between a humble suggestion/idea then a demand. I have offered my 2 cents before with the admission that I have no expertise on the topic so I may be wrong. I figure when I do so it's up to that person to decide if they like my idea or not. However I have seen things in the comment section of video's that I thought was rude and out of line.For example demands to do things a certain way and crazy accusations. I seen a rude crazy accusation of the "you don't know what your talking about,this wont work on a large scale" type on an old video of a lecture given by Tony Lovell of the Savory Institute.My hope is that you keep doing what your doing,make whatever improvements you can when you can and document them online in a clean,wholesome and Godly manner for us to watch. And hopefully make a good living doing so.
Excellent job!
I love how you turned the folcks health around!
GreaT show from a more conventional way raising to a more rotational grazing method of raising sheep!!!
Young lady you are truly a inspiration!! I love your approach on your given activity. Do you sell your sheep commercially or privately? Please keep up your good work you definitely are and will be blessed!!
Melvin, can't tell you what your encouragement means to me! Thanks very much!
I plan to sell breeding stock once I build my flock to the size I want. I plan to make a video about how I plan to get my flock to market.
-the Shepherdess
Glad you made this video, I am from Kentucky and the climate and rain we get each year create a huge problem with parasites and we struggle with parasites becoming resistant to the normal chemicals. The University of Kentucky has an amazing sheep herd and program and they have been using copper sulfate. Seems successful here. Might be worth a try if you run into resistance problems. If you’d like I’ll send you the dosages and instructions.
Hi Morgan! You are the 2nd person this week who has talked about copper sulphate. Please do send dosage instructions: shepherdess (at) HarmonyFarms (dot) blog
We need a shepherd, wonder how many sheep can a shepherd keep? My hats off to your dad. Thanks you sharing this video.
watching from Machakos county Kenya am a goat farmer
very well put we cant wait!!!! to get your book.
I really like the scripture you used at the end of your video. Sure adds context to what Jesus said about being the good shepherd and we are his sheep. I really enjoy your channel!
Thank you for the details! May The Lord continue to bless
Thank you, Gene!
-the Shepherdess
Great book you probably have read, “A shepherd looks at Psalm 23”. Keep up the hard work.
Thanks, Rick! I haven't read it yet, but many people have told me I should. I may do it soon :).
God Bless you for uplifting me (and my channel) with your encouragement!
-the Shepherdess
Maybe your best video yet. Thanks for sharing.
Did you see you kind of had a faceless cameo on this vid?? Haha! I just realized you have been along since the very beginning of my journey... even that day at Karl E's! Your support means a lot!
@@theShepherdess
I did not see the cameo. I am a movie star 🌟
And yes, I have been with you since the beginning and plan on staying with you on your journey. It gives me great joy to watch you grow and learn. I think you are providing knowledgeable information and look forward to watching your next VLOG. I learn something every time you post.
Dear Shepherdess m quite impressed by your way of working ...in fact m a regular follower of yours n i am soon gona to start the sheep farm insha allaha ...We have the same climatic conditions as yours ....
You are a amazing person. Thanks for sharing.
The Grass fed Homestead has a recipe for natural wormer with molasses and garlic powder if your interested. He also said it's good to give them DE. Love seeing you and your sheep 😊!
I could be wrong but I believe she said she tried this in the past and didn’t have good success with it.
@@briananders7358 Correct, Brian. I have some concerns about that video because my parents implemented a similar strategy in their first year and lost 30-40% of the flock.
I really hope the info in that video works for most people... but it caused some significant pain for us.
-the Shepherdess
Hi Rebekah! Yes, I have seen that video. My parents actually tried a similar strategy in their first year of owning the flock and lost a lot of animals (maybe 30-40% of the sheep they bought initially). From what I have researched, the natural dewormers are successful in arid regions, but not so much when your working elsewhere. I know of a sheep rancher in California that has wormed with nothing but Garlic Barrier for 2 yrs, the precipitation there is really low.
I hope this helps! Thanks so much for your support!
-the Shepherdess
Good to know, we are planning to get into sheep farming soon and we also live in a very hot and humid area so I'm doing my research on different worming methods.
@@HomemakingwithRebekah yes, we definitely didn’t expect the worms issue. It made the first few years of sheep farming really heartbreaking. Hopefully I can share what we learned and help people get further faster. 🐑🌱👍🏻
I think you're doing well. Looking for land to farm myself. Im 43 and just starting. Looking forward to following your journey. Cheers!
Thanks very much, Dave! I really appreciate you following my channel here.
-the Shepherdess
Hmm, that makes me wonder if there's a way to treat the ground 🤔
Maybe a nematode spray or something to treat the ground for parisites.
I'll have to do some research 👍
Edit: 10 minutes into reading, information I've found so far re-enforces what you're stated along with mowing to expose the parisites to UV and using larvacide.
There's also a few papers on using high nitrogen fertilizers under damp conditions to neutralize larva but I believe that was barber pole worm.
I'll keep looking.
Thank you!
FAMACHA THE best method to check your mob daily if possible. plus the way you then do deworming as and when and where needed, ensures your mob does not become resistant to meds. Love following your journey.
Your flock looks great! Keep up the good work, Greg talks about raising St. Croix as a specific breed that's really parasite resistant, have you thought about getting a couple of St Croix or royal whites to introduce to your flock to make them more parasite resistant?
Thanks Adam! I have, however I’m order to be successful as a commercial/meat producer I need the carcass yield the dorper provides.
Plus, purebred Dorper stock is bringing too dollar at the moment, so they are worth the extra effort in parasite management. 👍🏻
@@theShepherdess That's great, keep up the good work!
Thanks for sharing, blessings to you. Down under in NZ I farm a small block lifestyle block with Suffolk sheep, God is also blessings us with good flock health with only One sheep death (accidental) in five years. God is awesome.
Amazing..
Keep it up
Great job. I hope the sun come out and start thawing out. The sheep looks great.keep up the good good job.
Thanks Ralph! I appreciate your support very much.
-the Shepherdess
Do you do worm egg counts over there? When We had our farm here we managed intestinal worms by doing fecal egg counts. We get kits form local land office, collect fresh poo samples drop them off and they email results in a couple of days. It’s on a scale lower counts we don’t treat ( drench ) moderate maybe monitor hi drench. Do it this way we found it helped with drench resistance of worms by not using when not necessary. If you get your rotation going well you’re not treating very often. Was a small cost to test but we considered it worthwhile. 😊 commented before I seen the eye test you do, if that’s working it’s a great idea.
We do the famacha, but I've been considering doing a fecal once a year just to monitor how they improve. Wish I would have started last year when the flock was really bad. Would be neat to have those numbers now!
-the Shepherdess
That's the correct way under a certain % you don't deworm otherwise the parasite's becomes resistant to the treatment and your sheep's parasite resilience becomes weak
Hello, I´m from Uruguay, South America, I like your videos and your work, everything loos very nice, well done, congrat´s!!
Thank you, Pablo!
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
ABSOLUTELY LOVED this video!!!! Keep up the great work! You are such an inspiration!!!!!! 🙌🏻🌱🐑
Praise the Lord! Just sharing the journey as it unfolds and hope it helps others!!
-the Shepherdess
I am not a farmer but I have seen on YT that when you rotate your sheep to new pasture, if you then free range chickens on the spot where the sheep were you can then get the chickens to eat the bugs and worms left by the sheep. This would also mean that you would have a second crop on the same bit of land and I bet that they would be very tasty. Just rotate the chickens each time you move the sheep. The chickens would also fertilise the land for you so that you will get better grass for the sheep, let nature do the work for you. Just a thought.
Chickens aren't capable of intentionally ingesting sheep parasites, they (the parasites) are too small. Rotating chickens is normally used to keep down the fly load in pastures, normally more to do with cattle manure. Chickens will supply a good bit of nitrogen to the grass.
@@Digger927 Hi, thank you for educating me. This is what YT is about ,LEARNING something new everyday. As I said at the start I am not a farmer, so I didn't know that they would not digest those bugs but I had learned about the fertiliser for the grass. its a shame that they could not do a double whammy of a job in this instance. Thank you once again for imparting me with your knowledge, its truly amazing what we can learn on this channel.
You are actually right @footplate 0. Brent made the correct point that the chickens don't eat the worms... however the work that the chickens do in scraping apart the manure exposed the worm eggs to UV (sunlight) which will kill them if conditions are right.
For spring we are actually going to be putting 30-40 chickens into rotation with our sheep and cows. I'll be interested to track how it helps!
-the Shepherdess
@@theShepherdess How did this work?
@@bthorn5035 better for external parasites than internal ones! I still deworm with prohibit and cydectin.
I farm geese (pigs with feathers), ducks, and chickens. Adding some Dexters and some Pygmy Goats to eat. Really harsh winters up here in Central Upstate N.Y.
I wish my son had done one ounce of research before dumping so many sheep on my little place. 😢. He just doesn’t get it but I’m sending him your videos in the off chance he does get it. I feel bad for these critters.
I have 4 acres fenced and told him last year it would support 4 to 5 sheep pretty easy. He dumped 14 on me. Now their lambing and it’s just a stupid count.
I don’t know what the hell to do.
Vent over, I’ll continue to send him your videos.
From what I gather from Greg Judy, his breed is parasite resistant. Plus he moves them a lot
I would look into a video Justin Rhodes did 3 years back, a 15 year old from Florida was raising goats, and she used copper in their water to combat parasites. Her goats had none
Resistant? show me a animal that does not get infected !! Resilient yes...Moving animals from pasture to pasture is a old age practice to combat pests .Copper is only used for '' liver snail '' (directly translated from afrikaans) where animals got infected by drinking standing water like ponds or swamps in tropical areas
Unlike goats sheep can't have copper-accumulates in their liver and kills them.
@@wcm68tn smaller amount required compared to goats
Hi shepherd's im from Australia running dorpers 800mm rainfall please look up lanessa farms i now use copersulphate for worming it works its cheap and now worm resistance
Just curious, but have you looked into farming yaks as well?
I'm thinking of starting up a yak, sheep, and alpaca ranch
Hi, please can you do a video on how do you teach to obey your calls, it's really awesome to watch them come to you instead of herding them from behind. Thank you in advance. Love your content.
I will plan to make a video talking about this. Thank you!
-the Shepherdess
I believe in your deworming advice
To me....Regenerative Farming is more about the health of the land. Healthy land feeds to stock and the stock feeds you. So yes...you should adapt your process to maximize the health of all.
Agreed! Great points here. Thanks for commenting :).
-the Shepherdess
Agreed! Great points here. Thanks for commenting :).
-the Shepherdess
Stay warm.
With you having 23 acres how many sheep do you have on your rotation grassing. How big are your grazing areas? We have just over 10 acres and I wanted to do 10 to 15 ewes breed and sell lambs at market age. Thank you for sharing. Till next time God Bless.
I am a Judite and really appreciate the fact you are worming. Wad really wondering how in Louisiana you could get around it. When my friends come to Louisiana their continental comment on all the BUGS.
The cull method isn't letting them suffer, it's getting them out of the flock. Competing the circle of life and harvesting them for compost, or treating them then selling them. Greg and I aren't raising a premium breed like you, Also, our flock is more of a complimentary enterprise that provides some revenue, but most importantly, performs a service to the land that improves it.
I will NOT let an animal suffer, even if it means throwing every chemical or drug in the book at them. They have to be sold on the commodity market afterwards. I'd rather see you continue your current practice if you develop a solid local loyal customer. LOCAL trumps any certification. If that breed requires a "cheat" of sorts, but is something that benefits and nourishes a community, I say go for it. You're doing something to minimize less than ideal practices, and I have a feeling your lamb chops are probably noticeably better than mine or Greg's, the same way a true Japanese Wagyu A-5 steak has a premium value over my Choice Plus Dexter beef, it's a product that has it's place in the market. So does your product, as long as you can find and create the demand for it. Which I'd think you could, you have a story. Everybody loves a story.
Thank you for your diplomacy and encouragement!!
14:14 T.E.A.M. Together, Everyone, Achieves More ❤
Wow, I didn't know that it snowed in Texas.
This was a historic storm! Haven’t had so much in 30yrs.
❤️ Love your content so much. Very appreciative of your real world approach! Have been trying to make some decisions about which livestock I want to run on a new farm myself. Zeroed in on meat sheep and was thinking royal whites or dorpers. Like you, I am also in a humid hot summer environment. (NC) I am very concerned about the parasite situation too. These are old cattle pastures. I have been an organic gardener from way back. Very organic farming minded now but not sure how realistically achievable that is with sheep. I’m with you, letting animals die because I have the wrong breed in the wrong environment and am not willing to medicate under any circumstance is not my thing. Do you have thoughts on what your ideal breed choices would be now with parasite resistance as a leading concern? If so… Would you introduce those breeds in as a cross or start rolling over to another breed or possibly even run more than one herd to test it all out? Love to hear your thoughts! Ricki
Good questions! I am opting toward the adaptation route. We are 4gens into the dorper in our climate and already seeing a bit of resistance build up. I am going to stay pure dorper and simply cull the ewes that don’t do well.
The St. Croix is reportedly the most parasite resistant. However the carcass is very small. So small that I wouldn’t be able to meet my market-weight goals (spoke with two market farmers who switched to dorper from st Croix).
All that said, it would be interesting to see what a dorper-st. Croix cross would yield!
@@theShepherdess that is very interesting! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights on that. That makes me think it might be worth the effort to go ahead and work through with the dorpers for all of the positive traits. :)
Keep at it! Jesus does! You’re on the right track. Love Greg Judy, but he will tell you it is hard work. He just has more time at it. Day at a time.
Robert, thank you so very much for your encouragement! I can't tell you what it means to me.
-the Shepherdess
Personally I'll deworm a sheep, but I won't breed a weak sheep that needed deworming. Or keep it's offspring.
I'm in a 50 inch rainfall region. Many people loose sheep to worms, but I haven't lost any of my Katahdins, or wormed any. I've had some white Dorper crosses and they seem to fall out of the flock. I love the pelts off them though. Maybe you could upgrade your ewes to a Saint Croix ram. That's where Katahdins get their parasite resistance.
I have heard that Katahdins are really good at resisting worms on their own. That's good info on the St. Croix possessing the resistance. I talked to a veteran sheep farmer on the phone the other day. She favored Katahdin's for the same reason, but complained that their carcass was much more meager than a Dorper's beefy frame.
Any thoughts on this since you've run both?
-the Shepeherdess
@@theShepherdess I have no issues with the yield from my Katahdins. Last group all hung around 50-55lbs, and I don't need them bigger. Theyre working well for me how they are. The white dorper crosses I've had were from a weak line I think. They were blockier, but got wormy and skinny. I'd rather have a medium sized grass fat sheep than a skinny medium large one. I do like dorper hides better. Their coat is softer. The Katahdins are a new breed made by crossing Saint Croix with other hair and wool breeds. St Croix is where they get the parasite resistance from. Probably because they continuously grazed on a small island without predation for generations. Breeding to Saint Croix rams for a few generations would be a good way to bring in that trait quickly.
I recommend checking out Richard Perkins' "mob breeding" interview. I found it interesting and helpful. It inspired me to close my flock.
Animals doesn't just die from worm infection its something that happens over a time
@@pieterse4075 Barber pole worm kills sheep. I saw two die in one day at a neighbors place I was working on.
@@swamp-yankee what symptoms did it show? How did you know its due to a worm infection?
Why would you compare yourself to Greg Judy? I don't think he expects all farms to be run the same way.
Snow in Texas, crazy!
Yes it was!!
Beautiful flock
Thank you so much! God is good and I’m grateful to be their shepherdess!
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
I'm not sure you should cull for parasite resistance after only one year. It's not all about natural selection, individual life forms also have the capacity to adapt to different conditions. If there's structural damage to the animal, then yeah, culling is the only solution, but the immune system (and perhaps even the digestive system) are more flexible and adaptive. So consider giving their bodies a chance to learn to handle some of the specific diseases in your area. If that doesn't happen after 2-3 years, then, obviously, you have to select for fit specimens. But consider giving them a bit of time.
As the year has played out, I’d have to agree with you. I did not make any parasite-related culls this year as every sheep responded very well to the grazing management. Also, with each new generation born on the farm I’m noticing a higher level of resistance.
Very encouraging to see adaptability in action!
-the Shepherdess
I always thought about this pans we all know there will never be a study by any University or manufacturer only if it is independently funded. When we or animals ingest food,liquid the linings in our stomach absorb it and push input into our blood stream and through out the entire body so when we give a dewormer ( which cannot be made to specifically stay in the stomach) how much of it stays in the muscles, liver, and other organs? Are we not tainting the meat in who knows how many PPM. His thinking as a result of having cancer and understanding how cancers grow has made me never to CHEMICALLY give my sheep, donkeys and chicken any deworming or virus injections but to find a natural way to help just as I have healed myself from cancer with out surgery or chemo therapy and by only using good nutrition.
So not a sub, never been here before only stopped by for the man in bold. Nicely done. If you dont watch it to the end...
I need to know about deworming and milking my sheep
Do you use ACV (water) or Diatomaceous earth (feed) with your sheep?
I use ACV during extreme summer heat (for electrolytes). 👍🏻
We attempted to use them for parasite management early on, but that did not go well.
Thanks so much!
-the Shepherdess
Can you make a video on solar powered boiler ?
How have you come up with a plan to get away from worming more? With the drought, maybe you just haven't been able to give it the attention you'd prefer?
We're considering getting a few here on about 15 acres in central TX, as I've shared before. It's just so brittle here still though, with maybe 50% coverage (might be less).
Identifying and culling the bottom 20% year over year. The records we keep allow me to ID the ones that have been dewormed most frequently.
Why didn't you like sheep initially? curious
Try diatamatious earth coming from South Africa I can tell you that the stuff works wonders with parasites (it does for me)
I’m in a similar climate in south Mississippi. What wormer works best for your sheep?
I’m interested to hear about that solar boiler. Located up in Canada. Can you share that info?
Hi Joel, A viewer sent me the following details:
“The bubbler runs off my 12 volt battery and I use my solar panels to keep it charged up. Keep water moving and keep it from freezing.”
Those are all the details I have, but maybe someone here on YT has made a video on it.
Thanks for watching!
-the Shepherdess
Any sites you recommend where aspiring farmers get in touch?
I’ll be honest, after watching Greg Judy I feel like such a failure. There’s this sense that his way is the only way and if you trim hooves, deworm, or heavens forbid one of your flock gets hoof rot then you are a horrible shepherd. To be honest I’m only a year into my shepherd journey so a lot of this stuff I’m learning on the fly and there’s Greg Judy mistakes that I’ve already made that I can’t go back on. Thanks for putting out the video, I’m praying for wisdom from the good shepherd and learning bit by bit
Great Episode.
Thanks, Michael!
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
What kind of dewormer do you use for pregnant ewes?
Prohibit 👍🏻
Thanks so much for commenting!
-the Shepherdess
truely inspring which software you recording stock data ?
Thank you very much!!
One drive and excel spreadsheet :).
-the Shepherdess
Greg has become a RUclipsr....🤣
Save a ram or two from the does which don’t need to be wormed. Culling is important but so is selection.
Good advice!
Lol. I meant save a ram from the ewes which do not need to be dewormed.
Greg's flock took years to get to the point where he never needed to work them. It's not an overnight thing.
Well said!
Are Black Head Dorper hair sheep?
Yes they are!
@@theShepherdess They looked like the Royal White shedding...Thanks John
Have you thought about diatamatious earth instead to see if it works with your management plan?
We did diatomaceous earth for a bit. We did not notice much positive impact on the parasite load.
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
@@theShepherdess DE doesn't work.
@@geneedmiston6273 I’d have to agree based on our results.
Thanks for commenting!
-the Shepherdess
Very interesting and in the same boat. We run some goats right now. I'd love to get into sheep in the future(one of the reasons I'm following). We live in the south east, it's not sure if it's a rain forest or a swamp but it's hot and wet. Currently using fecals and famacha in conjunction with herbal wormer and pasture rotation. But I expect to use traditional wormers going into this year as needed.
Yep, from all the regenerative farmers I have talked to in my county, chemical dewormers are still part of their management. It seems to be an issue in these parts. I hope to see a continued decrease with intensive rotational grazing, but gotta keep on top of it regardless.
thanks so much for commenting!
-the Shepherdess
@@theShepherdess I would strongly advice you to take the time and have a look at this series its for cattle but applies for sheep and goats too its very informative and I'm 100% sure you will learn a lot and benefit from it although I not 100% agreeing with Johann Zietsmann on disregarding the bonsmara breed yes there are poor examples out there but there is a place and market for high mass gain/ grow rate in the specific category but I'm not going into detail here explaining my disagreement...but have a look at the series its excellent. Here are 2 links but check the rest also
ruclips.net/video/9kRjDUbD_qc/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/lUm6ihjT-VY/видео.html
@@pieterse4075 thank you very much for sending these videos! Watched the first one and found it full of great information. 👍🏻
@@theShepherdess Pleasure
I don't know... what do they mean by parasite resistant? Not such a thing! Parasite resilience yes... resilience is measured by how badly the animal is infected before it affects the animal's condition , dorpers should have a good resilience except if it differs from the one's here in SA. How do you know if it has worms? When a animal is badly infected it will have dairee
My life is farming I am in Bangladesh
Thanks for commenting!
-the Shepherdess
👍
Forget the kardashions this is my kind of woman 🙏🏼👌🏼👍🏼
Unless you have an enormous farm, you have to worm, but it is important to rotate wormers to avoid worm resistance. The pre chemical method of farming in the UK was the traditional mixed farm. Greg Judy talked about his callous attitude to just let his sheep die if they lacked worm resistance. He could have segregated the wormy sheep, dosed them, fed them and shipped them. His management of the sheep is minimal. What he has are sheep producing fatty sheep with poor conformation. He said the Dorpers all died on him. Your sheep have a good life, I don’t think the other extreme of intensive farming is right for sheep either. Keep up the good work.
I should have mentioned the downland shepherd in the old days lived with the flock. Folded them at night and moved the sheep and the fold daily. Our downs in the UK are rolling chalk hills.
Thank you for sharing this! What kind of rotation would you suggest (every other month?)? We sometimes use Ivermectin, but don't have a routine for switching them out regularly.
Thanks very much!
-the Shepherdess
@@theShepherdess coming from Wales, it would be hard to advise on your worm challenge. We always have a challenge for young spring lambs with a nasty worm called nematodirus. It is a killer but the benedizamole white wormers which are cheap work on this worm. It survives over winter and a sharp cold spell hatches the larvae. We try not to worm the ewes but, come mid summer the strongyle worms are an issue for ewes and lambs. Our vets advise worm counts, but on my farm the challenges are always the same.so the three main wormers are Ivermectin, levamisole, and benedizamole. We now have two new very expensive wormers to tackle resistance.Due to climate change bringing plenty of wet weather, we now have a serious liver fluke problem and they too are becoming resistant. It has become a world wide problem.
Perhaps with Texas weather, if you are in a dry area, a lot of the worm eggs will perish. Anyway I do advise alternating wormers, and if your vet is good with sheep ,he may be able to advise.
@@wendyrowland7787 thanks, Wendy for all of this info! I really appreciate the time you have taken to share. It is helping me to strategize. 👍🏻
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
@@wendyrowland7787 Don't these dewormer chemicals affect the microbiome of the soil when the animals excrete them? Do you move your flock every couple of days or so? Wouldn't that be easier and more effective than trying to give them dewormers?
I enjoy your videos but I wish people like you who I am learning from would stick to the subject instead of all the back stories. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to be mean in any way. I am trying to learn from videos like yours but sometimes it gets annoying and boring when all the back stories are told over and over again and not sticking to the subject. Thank you
It's deworming, yes? I'm being bothered by you saying "We're doing a worming today." unless I'm not hearing your accent correctly! (Or you are giving them worms for some reason. DRAMA!!) >:-)
lol. Bad habit on my part... I think you are right and it is DEworming. No way I'm dropping worms in the feed bucket just for YT drama... Haha!
-the Shepherdess
In this part of the world that's what we say when we're going to deworm our livestock. 99% of the people know that, it's just a local way of saying it. Like she said nobody would intentionally give their livestock worms!
You should apologize to Greg. Aweful thing.