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Thanks Dominic !

Yes we are on the drier side as well.. had about 40mm of rain two weeks ago which helped, before that the rivers were at July/ August levels.

@@nicholasmacinnis1486 thats more rain than we've had lately. We've had close to half an inch over 3 showers in the last couple of weeks

Yup that’s very true. I’ve custom grazed a few cattle over the years that were on the aggressive side. Not fun!

I have been a member in the past, there wasn’t an active group in my province ( Nova Scotia) until this year. I’ll join again as a member for sure.

For nova Scotia climatology region

Yes Alderson high increase nitrogen, they tend to finally die off around 40 plus years to give way to another tree species

Damn autocorrect Alders ... high ....

Good question, I think there’s a lot of variables that you need factor into that equation. Depends on what you’d like to do with the property, 5-10 acres is probably enough for someone looking to improve forest ecology / economic value in terms of producing your own firewood for example.

Thank you butch !

Well we just went through the toughest three weeks of weather I’ve went through in five years of raising cattle. -19 temps on a few occasions and high winds, plus 3 feet of snow in a three day blizzard. I have some wind breaks set up near a mature spruce tree windbreak. The cattle really never seemed to be uncomfortable, kind of remarkable really. One of the keys is to have lots of hay to feed them. I’m going to make a video very soon on dealing with blizzards.

@@nicholasmacinnis1486 thank you!

Hi Karl - my email is macinnis.nicholas@gmail.com

@@nicholasmacinnis1486 thanks Nic

Thank you for the comment!

Thanks for comment - these are predominantly Red Poll cattle. A British breed originating around 1800 I believe, developed from Red Devons and a couple other breeds.

I have a mix of British breeds, Herefords, Beef Shorthorns, Red Devon and Red Poll cattle. My preference would probably be the Red Poll. A lot of my cows were sired by red poll bull. I’ve got a few videos up on the channel about them.

Epigenetics … exactly. I underestimated its importance when I started. You must be starting to see some big changes in your herd and flock now George versus a few years ago

@@nicholasmacinnis1486 it is apparent in all the ewe lambs, larger and more hardy than our original ewes we purchased.

@@georgeheller2281 crazy isn’t it. The last two years my lamb crop has been far superior to the earlier ones. I also culled a lot.

Thanks Dom! You guys dodged the bullet on this one lol

Yes that was nice of them to feature one of my photos on the cover.

Thanks for the comment. I do follow Greg, in fact I’ve read all his books and I consider him to be a mentor of sorts ( even tho I haven’t met him!). I watched a couple calves this weekend take big long drinks of milk off their mamas, and when they were finished they had snouts full of milk. As far as I could tell they are still getting ample milk and they are growing very well. These cows are predominantly red poll genetics and they are quite hardy and well adapted to the winters here in Canada. They are all maintaining good body condition on hay and some stockpile forage .., no grain and no exposure to glyphosate;)

Thank you!

Interesting regarding the presence of “bee trees” in swamps and wet ground. Good reason to leave those boggy, poor drained sections of land alone .. instead of working against nature.

Hmm if the animals are grazing close to the ground aka eating the grass stems right down to the dirt, then yes it could be an issue. Typically the unrolled hay is sitting off the ground enough that the cattle dont appear to be touching dirt. Parasites are much less active at the surface of the soil during winter months as well due to cold. I haven’t dewormed a single cow in 4 years.

I don’t have one yet, but I’ll try simplifying it for you. Stocking density is typically used to calculate the number of cows per acre. For example, if a herd of 100 cows was given 2 acres to graze , the stocking density would be 50 head per acre .

Same to u!

Thanks for watching!

I totally agree!

We’ve got 16 head total right now and I’m feeding one round bale per day. My round bales aren’t huge, probably 500lbs. Specifically I have 4 cows with calves at the side (8 total), 1 bred heifer (900lbs approx), 4 steers between 800-1000lbs and two yearling bulls (800lbs each).

Thank you Kevin! It’s been very wet the past three weeks but we are managing pretty good! Hard freeze last night which will help.

@@nicholasmacinnis1486 Sounds great...Happy New Year!

We do have a couple small populations of moose within my county ( Antigonish) but we’ve only seen one set of tracks on our property in 14 years.

@@nicholasmacinnis1486 Wow! Our deer population got hit hard 10-15 years ago by two hard winters back to back. The deer are just starting to come back. Our moose population is in good shape and we try to manage for that

@@RyanForbes-yq5rw it’s been a bit of a mystery to me why the moose haven’t made much of a comeback here. Lots of blame on the deer brainworm impacting moose. I’ve heard a lot of DNR scientists blame climate change… though I don’t quite buy that theory as moose exist in several USA states that are quite a bit warmer

@@nicholasmacinnis1486 I've seen moose with brainworm, it's not a pleasant site. It's been several years since I've seen it and not in my immediate area. It's quite possible that our lack of deer and healthy moose are related. The moose have an easier time than deer in deep snow and the moose can browse much higher than the deer during winter. We have a draw system here in NB, you enter your name for a chance to be drawn for a moose tag.

@@RyanForbes-yq5rwwow, I’ve heard it can be devastating. I know with both cattle and sheep, parasite loads can become a big problem if they are mineral deficient. I know in NS, our soils are naturally low in minerals .. and historic land use practices have only made that worse, plus acid rain. We are gonna start taking our mineral licks more serious this year on the woodlot to address this to some degree.

Thank you, merry Christmas to you as well!

Sounds like a good mix! I’m surprised how many people out there are using red polls, nice to see.

We have some tall fescue mixed into our forage mix on most of our pastures. Trying to do a better job at having stockpile forage set aside for winter grazing to reduce hay consumption. I did notice last summer that the areas where I rolled out hay the previous winter had the best stands of tall fescue.

That’s awesome - what province are you in ? And what farm did your red poll come from?

@nicholasmacinnis1486 I'm in NB. Up by Hartland. Got him from Vinland farms. He's a yearling. Quite happy with him so far. I've ran charlolais and simmental cattle all my life. Liking the easy keeping and fertility of the British cattle . We bale graze and rotational graze as well

@@tomtompkins5856 that’s awesome. I’ve talked to Gordon a couple times and would like to get a bull from him in the future.

Some are kept for breeding stock and some are butchered for direct sale.

Glad you’re enjoying them!

Damp soil works good, wood chips, sand and peat moss work well too… just gotta keep some moisture in them. The key is to keep them under 5 degrees C during storage. Whereabouts are u located ? I’ve heard of people being able to leave carrots in the ground in some areas for storage .. covering with a good layer of straw to keep frost out.

@@nicholasmacinnis1486 Southern part of Minnesota, Zone 4. I've left carrots in ground this year but uncovered. Maybe I should of thrown a silage tarp over them hmmm? The ground here freezes very deep, I think it's a 42" frost line. I watch curtis stone a lot, really like his way of doing winter carrots. I just need to figure out what works for me.

Hello Eddie - thanks for the comment. Ive been butchering these type of cattle for 3 years now, typically at the 22-24 month of age mark.. all of which have been 100% grassfed and grass-finished. The breed of cattle is important for being able to do that in my opinion, which is why I’ve chosen the red poll cattle.. they haven’t been overly commercialized - aka they haven’t been bred to produce animals destined for the feedlot. Feedback from customers has been great, they love lean ground beef and the taste of roasts and steaks is great. I’ve been very picky with the cattle on my farm, if they aren’t well tempered and calm they go to the freezer and not the breeding program. I’ve found keeping the cattle outside year round is a great way to keep them clean! I haven’t had any here with sores or mud cakes. Plus exposure to the sunlight is great for keeping lice etc away. These are red poll cattle mixed with some other breeds.

@@nicholasmacinnis1486 I'm currently leaning towards Herford but am gonna look into Red Polls. Being docile is a requirement for me, no black angus. Although I'd guess 80% of being docile is from time with the animals. Thanks for your response.

@@eddieslittlestack7919 I was told by an old farmer once that when it comes to temperament in cattle there is as much of a difference within breeds as there is between breeds. He mentioned that angus had a higher chance of being flighty / spooky because there has been less incentive to cull animals with poor temperament due to demand for angus calves. If you can find some animals from a farm with calm animals regardless of the breed you will be in a good position.

Ahh never mind! Nova Scotia! I'm watching your other videos now, this was the 1st I'd seen from ya.

@@eddieslittlestack7919 oh great! I was just gonna comment on your reply above! Glad you found the channel!

Good to know!

Perhaps an issue with your audio. Not sure what your talking about

Good day Kevin, you are correct the cattle with the white on their faces are red poll crosses. Sired by red poll bull and born to Hereford mothers. Seems to be a nice cross for both heifers that we’ve had and steers. Yes I’ve seen a few farms with Lincoln Reds, beautiful cattle. I think they are a bit larger than the red polls.

@@nicholasmacinnis1486 Yes lincoln reds are probably 200-00 lbs. heavier. Thanks Nicholas...Happy Holidays!

Starting her early!