10 ACRE ROTATIONAL GRAZING SYSTEM for Winter
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- Опубликовано: 26 янв 2021
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Here is our 10 acre Rotational Grazing System that we use to graze our sheep and cows over winter. This Rotational grazing system will also work well during spring and summer as it can be easily adjusted to create more paddocks. This small scale Rotational Grazing System uses a combination of strategically placed ground rods and electric fencing to divide this pasture into smaller paddocks.
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I hope this video on Rotational Grazing helps you in your regenerative farming journey!
-the Shepherdess
More at HarmonyFarms.blog/
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach..." James 1:5
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My shepardess neighbor HATES it when I say, "I saw it on the internet". LOL but there are good ideas. She has agreed to help me when I get started. She has seen too many idealistic wannabes like me fall on their faces thanks to bad information from the internet. I am sending your channel to her. I think she will like it.
Country View Acres viewer here, came to take a look ;)
Thanks ! God Bless !!!
Learn about gravity suction pump no solar less maintenance
Another great vid! Thanks, and God bless from Nova Scotia
So thankful you shared this!
Really glad it helped you! Thank you for commenting.
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
Excellent video. Great thinking 🤔
Many thanks!! 😁😁
Wow! Very inventive solution.
You are a very creative problem solver.
So awesome to see a person openly follow God! Knowing this will cost some viewers and as a result, money. That is an inspirational attitude! So many people "hide" this so they wont lose views... 🥴 great content BTW!
Thank you, Kylan!
-the Shepherdess
No, God won’t be able to help Himself and bless her even more for her faithfulness! He is just so good!! Blessings.
Thanks for providing good information
Thank you very much!
-the Shepherdess
Just found this video missed it before. Great job!
Thanks!! I was waiting for your comment 😁
amen Sister !! Great work !!!
Love the white board!
Great video!!! I always learn a lot from them!!!
Thank you, Anna!
Good idea
Many thanks!!
-the Shepherdess
Evan recommended your channel. New subscriber. Great video.
A galvanized T post will provide a good ground also and the the Gallagher charger has a slot ( not sure if your model does have it ) in the back to hang the charger on the T post, just drive it so it faces south for the best charging
Good video!!!!
My property is mostly woods .
So what I did was I purchased the largest AC charger I can get completely overkill 😄
Then I ran poly braid in the trees about 7 foot up . So I could move my fence anywhere I want by just looking into the main wire that runs around the property .
you just gained another subscriber great video.
great video! i saw a greg judy video once where he says to leave your paddocks energized all year, even when empty, and you’ll never ground out from vegetation. just food for thought.
Good tip! I might need a more powerful charger for that. Will do some research on it.
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
Ok
I’m addictive to your RUclips
Grace you have given me ideas for my pasture. The ground rods placed in the pasture 👍 but to locate them just pick up a 3/4” pvc pipe cut into two that should be 5’ long. Slide it over the unused ground rods. There should be no problem with finding them.
Water
My friend uses a bulge pump, 12 volt battery, black pvc pipe, and 300 gallon water tank. To pull water from the pond for his cattle. The pump can be purchased from any boat dealer. All that is needed is emanation .
You are now getting me excited about spring. Hopefully the ground is thawed by mid May.
Thank you for all the great comments!!
I'm looking to buy land for myself and start homesteading....I know that it's not just that easy but it's a start. Thanks for your vids.
You are on the right track! Keep me asking through the open doors. 👍🏻
Thanks for the comment!
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
We are thinking abo it doing the same- currently looking for land in north eastern & central
Wisconsin. If any conservative folk want to join us, be helpful neighbors/trade, reach out to me. We are newlyweds in our early 40’s
It sounds like you are putting some thought into it, but you might want to look into altering the size and shape of the paddocks as well with a good copper ground to attach to the ground rods, you could stretch away from the poles and do more narrow strips that connect to water, but they also would be half the size of the current paddocks that you are proposing.
I'm back. Thank you ❤
Hi!
Helpful info. Thanks
Thanks, Robert! You are always an encouragement.
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
Hello great video . Here both california we get snow so I guess winter i may have to gave grane and alfalfa maybe . I am using you as a mentor we starting with goats before investing in sheep .
⚘❤🤠Divna si lepojko 🪕🍒🌽🍅🌻🎶
Ma’am where is you located
And how much could I get 3 breeding age ewes and 1 ram
Looks great, my only concern would be the Sheep getting on the ice of that pond and falling in.
I had the same problem on my 10 acres. Much the same energizer too and weak spark. I solved that with a higher joules 12v energizer a car battery and 10w solar pannel. Now I get 10kv and don't need all the grounding rods. I also pump water from a pond into an elevated barrel with a simple billag pump, battery and 20w solar pannel. Then I have 1 inch black hose down the middle for gravity feed water. Works very well.
I just saved all this info!! Thank you. I’m prepping my spring grazing plan and I think your combination of tools will help.
I really appreciate you taking the time to share!
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
@@theShepherdess Let me know if you could use pictures of my set up. I like your use of Scripture as I am a fellow believer.
@@mikereimer368 I’d love it! Email Shepherdess(at)harmonyfarms(dot)blog
I am hosting a small farmer livestream tonight and would love to invite you to join! It’s short notice, but starts at 7pm CST. I think you could contribute a lot of knowledge. Here is a link to register if you can join: harmonyfarms.blog/meet-farmers/
Excellent video! This is the third video of yours that I’ve watched in the last couple of days, trying to educate myself for the launch of a farm that I have in my heart. Concerning your water situation, have you considered running your electrical fence in a sunrise pattern where each of your lines run up to the water edge of the pond and away at an angle? This would divide your pasture a unique way, but would allow water access all year round. Of course the paddocks would be narrow, but I don’t think it will be a problem especially if you fed them from the opposite end of the paddocks.
Thanks Jason! That’s a pretty good idea. I think it could be work!!
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
Excellent.... Great layout! I'm so glad I subscribed!
I think you may run into issues with the width of each sub paddock, animals don't like being in a narrower space than about 12 feet if there is a hot wire involved
This is so awesome your 10 acre pasture layout is what I've been wrapping my brain around I have a very similar layout how my 10 acres goes around my homestead. Up here in Iowa were are working on integrated farming small scale so we can get a winter eye forage crop then hay throughout the season and also have a little corn ground for feed. Check out the stock cropper system.
Glad this helped you! Thanks for your info. Will you explain what a “winter eye forage crop” is? I’ve been researching winter forage that I might be able to plant and would love to know if you have insights.
-the Shepherdess
@@theShepherdess sorry meant to type winter rye. So after our corn crop is harvested for silage we then seed in winter rye get about a good 6 inch growth going into winter and then when the snow is gone let it grow almost to head out usually around memorial day weekend for us and then we chop it for ryelage. Can usually see about 15 to 18 percent protein at that time. Then we can either drill in a bean crop or strip till in a corn crop or more alfalfa ground it helps the land in so many ways nutrient retention conservation soil management and it's just good old fashion practice for crop rotation. The rye was good for bred ewes making sure they didn't get too heavy and I would find a balance ration between that and corn silage or alfalfa haylage in preventing pregnancy toximia (sp?) People here are doing more with sorghum Sudan grass and a mixture of cereal rye grass and peas turnips etc.
Pasture ground around here for us is scarce so we have to figure how to use tillable acres for other than just row crops at least that's what small conservative farmers and ranchers are doing. Unfortunately we are seeing the government hand out way too much program money for the use of cover crops when really it's just good practice farmers should be doing on their own management. The Joel Salatins and Greg Judy and others such as your self are huge advocates for proper farming and ranching. Someone once said when we see livestock leave the farm the family leaves the farm. Keep up the great work!!!!
@@adameboge5270 this is great info! Really appreciate you taking the time to share.
I might try some winter rye... I think it would do well here!
-the Shepherdess
I am hosting a small farmer livestream tonight and would love to invite you to join! It’s short notice, but starts at 7pm CST. I think you could contribute a lot of knowledge. Here is a link to register: harmonyfarms.blog/meet-farmers/
I live in N Texas. I have not had much luck w those plastic step in posts. The weather is too hot and cold. They end up falling apart.
I just used the fiberglass rods from TSC
Yes! Those fiberglass posts are great!
Get a bigger charger! Lol. I have a .3 joule charger and have had the same issues with goats and cows getting out. In springtime I’m getting a way bigger 110v charger for the whole farm. But you can build a 1 or 2 joule charger with solar panel and battery for around 200 bucks. Great videos!
I was actually considering the portable battery setup! That price sounds really doable! Will update you as I build that idea out.
Thanks for commenting!
-the Shepherdess🐑🌱
@@theShepherdess check out the video from the Andrew Mast RUclips channel dyi solar fence charger. He has 2 videos on building a 1 joule charger. I like how you use the polytape. I use just poly wire and can’t decide whether to get the tape or poly braid. But keep up the good work healing the land and raising healthy animals!
can i give you a tip i learned the hard way by running over a couple with the mower? please tie a ribbon on your ground rods so you can see them and not run over them, great video
That is a very helpful tip! Thank you!!
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
Great video 👏 how many sheep do you keep in 10 hectare
Thank you
Great video! What solar pump/setup do you use to pump from your pond to those further paddocks? We have a similar setup on our homestead with the ponds and two creeks but haven't found a good solar option, unfortunately.
How many acres for the enter rotation and how many animals are you moving
Entire rotation is 23 acres and at this point in time I was moving 6 animal units through.
❤
Hi thank you for the video. I have 10 acres as well and just getting started with my flock. Currently I have 10 goats and 3 sheep. How many sheep do you run in each of your paddocks? Thank you
Please be cautious raising your T-post driver above the top of whatever your driving with it. The spring in the post coupled with the weight and force of the driver can create a more dangerous situation than one would think faster than one can react. It's more an issue up high. I've got 2 concussions and a cracked shin that remind me to never lift the driver that high again.
Edit: said problem arises when the leading edge of the driver catches the top of the post. The force immediately transfers to the post which springs the driver in the direction of least resistance with surprising force. Can really ruin an afternoon quick
Good warning!
Good video =) regarding water access, could you use the strip grazing method?
Where you have the sheep in the paddock closest to the water source, then when ready to move you similar roll up the horizontal dividing fence.
So they now have access to the full paddock, including the fresh graze and the one they were just on so they still have the water access. Theyll still spend most of their time in the fresh graze.
I’ve considered that method! I only struggle b/c out grass gets growing so fast and sheep graze so low to the grown that they might backtrack to the old pasture more than a cow would.
I may give it a try, though! Watering can really affect your whole system.
Thanks very much for your support!
-the Shepherdess
@@theShepherdess interesting. Not sure how wide those paddocks would be, bit could you divide them again vertically rather than horizontally? So they'll still always have access to the water on the south end of each strip?
@@TheNashBurger you know, that actually might work! Especially since I will be creating bigger paddocks for a greater number of animal units (post lambing) once we revisit this field.
Thanks for the great brainstorm on this!
-the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
@@theShepherdess glad I could help! Hope you figure it out a simple solution. Water acess is a bane on the farm!
@@TheNashBurger that’s the truth!
could you link to the app you reference please. It seems there are many out there.
Great 👍🏼 Have you had liver fluke problems in your animals ?
We have all kinds of parasites here in east Texas. I’m not sure if I’ve every dealt with liver fluke specifically, but research prohibit and Valbazen. Those dewormers may treat them!
Just now seeing this video. I did this for rotating my pigs. Two questions. What is the ideal paddock size to rotate every week? Of course it depends on how many sheep. Second question... what do you do about shelter with rotational grazing? That would mean you either have a mobile shelter or permanent shelter per paddock.
Hi Jason,
Here is a video addressing my paddock sizing: ruclips.net/video/Zafxj_N-IUc/видео.html
As far as shelter: I will make sure a paddock has good tree coverage if there is extreme heat or rain on the forecast. If it’s freezing rain I will walk them back to the shed we have for extra coverage.
I made these portable shade units for summer which were perfect for areas of the pasture where there is not tree coverage: ruclips.net/video/kGzC28WLqa4/видео.html
I would have just bought a BIG energiser.
Nice setup. That is sweet about the ground rods. How did you do that with the GPS turning to acres? I really need to look into that, that would help SO much with planning!
Yes! It’s a great app. It’s called “distance” in the App Store and gives you various units of measure. 👍🏻
-the Shepherdess
@@theShepherdess Great! Thank you so much for that!
@@RusticSoDakFarm my pleasure! Thanks for your comment.
-the Shepherdess 🐑🐑
I don't know how I missed this video. I thought I had seen all of them! So I have been wrestling with how to section off both of my four acre pastures for rotational grazing. In my mind I could only see t posts but after watching this video, the ground rods are the perfect solution! Just like you, I can only use solar where I am at so we have to be creative in our uses. One question though, in a more recent video you discussed that electric netting kept the sheep in better. That is what I use currently but I want to switch to the tape instead for ease of installation. What are your thoughts?
Hi Tracy! Yes, I use netting when the labs are super small on pasture. When a lamb slips under the wire, the rest of the flock wants to follow. I’m going to try poly tape only again this year, but last year I used the netting until the lambs were about 8 weeks old :).
Hope this helps!
@@theShepherdess it does, but I currently use my netting for my little flock of shetlands and my kunekune pigs. I was hoping with the larger sheep that poly tape would keep them contained. Have you tried transitioning them from netting to poly tape as a lambs grow older? How did they take to it?
Yes! Once the lambs were around 8-12 weeks I went back to the tape with great success! I use poly tape 9/10 days. The netting I reserve for when they are having a super rough containment week. Typically happens when forage quality takes a dip in the winter or over summer and their appetites make them tough to contain.
Hi, what's the distance app you used to measure the area of the paddock?
it is called "Distance" in the app store :)
Question I thought Joel salitan said to move animals every day ?
I'm confused
Why not put a circle of gravel around each grounding rod to deter grass growing close to it? Why not have a travel lane to a centalized water source to serve all portions of your rotational acreage?
Great video!
Can u recommend a map app for android.
I’m sorry, I don’t have an Android referral for you. Maybe the Google maps could provide you the same info?
-the Shepherdess
@@theShepherdess google pro has a download for free but its only for labtops and computers.
Great Videos! Following your journey from Spain... Could you tell exactly the name of the app? I tried a few and were not so nice... Gracias!
Hi Miguel, here is a link to the app: apps.apple.com/us/app/distance-find-my-distance/id483591610
Thanks for commenting and watching from Spain! -the Shepherdess 🐑🌱
@@theShepherdess Thanks!!!
Does the shepherdess need a shepherd
A dog will eat your chickens etc. IF he is really hungry. Keep him well fed and you will have no problems.
Watching the commercials to try to get you a little extra revenue.
They don't need water in winter
Seriously?!? BUY A BIGGER FREAKING CHARGER!!!
Why, except in the name of mediocrity, and inexperience, would you move all those ground rods??? They are not that much more than what you already bought. Energize the high tensile, and hook each paddock to it. That's it. Simple. Occam's Razor.
Take it easy, sir. 😅 Everyone starts somewhere. Yes, I did buy a bigger charger.