Great Video! I've got Kune Kune, Icelandic Sheep, Goats, and chickens (a couple of weird ducks in there as well. They just fell in with the chickens one day and never left). We rotate in that order throughout our fields. It's amazing what just a few years have done to the quality of our soil.
I am totally dreaming of this, A Small Homestead, a small amount of animals, all living as friends in my yard! Basically if the book Animal Farm wasn't political lol
In a recent video, I saw you mention a terrace garden I have not heard mentioned before. Could you go into this area in more detail (specifically how you set it up). I live on a hill and am looking for a cheap way to set something up I can use. Thanks SO much for all your very useable help. You guys are so well spoken and specific which makes the information so easy to understand.
I love the wide rows, have been trying to plan out sheep moves block by block, with the chickens behind or in with them. Wide rows look like the solution. What do you do with the livestock in the winter?
Thanks that the best 101 explanation I’ve seen on ms rotational grazing, a question or possible opportunity for another video. I’ve been thinking about a Circa 22 acre, river, three lakes property in Uk with the objective of full food independence, plenty of room to make hay and grow vegetables etc , considering sheep, goats, pigs, chicken ducks geese turkeys, not expecting to have massive excess produce to sell (any excess to donate to family/food banks). Maybe small plot wheat, oats to stock the kitchen. The big problem is grain for animal feed. Initial thought was to buy additional land to grow enough to a) sell to cover costs an b) provide needs but that puts a great reliance on other people and equipment (and stable society🤪), and the margins in the Uk for small scale farming of this kind are scary tight What alternate feeds might I be able to grow myself on the 22 acres that would supplement grazing? I was thinking root crops for the bigger animals and grasses/leafy greens for the birds. Any books on that you could recommend would be greatly appreciated.
Grazers like cows, sheep, horses, geese are herbivores. Chickens and most other fowl are somewhat granivores/omnivores and so are pigs. If you want to increase nutrion/energy in the diet from your own lands, treehay is a better bet. It contains more nutrition and they can graze under it. Also good grazing practice will increase the nutrition of your pastures. You will have to start with suitable breeds though, your standard holstein milkcow and like improved breeds won't thrive on grass alone. But plenty of the more primitive and old breeds can get there quickly or are there already.
@@hillockfarm8404 interesting…. I hadn’t previously considered selecting breeds more suitable to grazing only rather trying to find the most self contained way to grow additional calories ‘modern’ breeds require. Thanks for the insight I will think on this, I was already considering the less domesticated breeds of pig. 👍👍
Trying to figure out how I can let my chickens graze in a chicken tractor during day and then transfer them back into their stationary coop by night. Only Solution im imagining involves me physically moving all 18 to and from everyday. Any ideas???
You can, however, there is an advantage to moving them in behind the cows a day or two later in that the fly larva will be hatching out beginning day two. The chickens love them, and as they are spreading the manure they will also be breaking that pest cycle. JMO
Very good explanation/intro that leads me to some questions for the homestead I'm starting to slowly build on some rural land where I'm not yet living. I plan to move there within the next 6 months to a year so won't be getting any more critters till then. I already have quail in my suburban garage, but they're not going to be part of my grazing setup. I have 2.5 acres in the Texas Hill Country (Bosque County), with about 1.75 of it being unimproved native grasses, the rest is heavily treed. Rainfall estimates are about 36"/year. I hadn't really been thinking about a cow, but have been considering sheep and/or goats, pigs (I like the suggestion of kune kune), chicken and other fowl. With such poor pasture, which type of animal would you recommend starting as grazers? I've done a little bit of cover crop sowing in limited areas (rye, clover, buckwheat, etc.), but don't expect the pasture to be really good quality. I've been planning tractors for meat chicken and a stationary coop/run for my egg layers when I start raising the chicken. I know that I'm going to have some predator issues. We have game cameras setup in various places and have captured images of a large feline (probably a cougar), at least one canine (probably coyote), several wild pigs, along with deer, rabbits and wild turkeys. My current thinking is to use electric poultry netting around the chicken tractor, maybe let the birds free range during the day, then move the tractor and netting as necessary each day. Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
This was great at explaining and showing what could be done. I'll be listening to the next video of the kune kune pigs , we currently do heritage mangalistas, mule foot mix which definitely roots up everything. Thank you!
Thank you for the video. I've been working on my plan to homestead, and this is one of the things that I see as a huge benefit. My problem is I haven't found much information, other than, "first bring the cows through. Then bring the chickens along." Definitely not the amount of information you present here. Again, thank you.
It is a low roof on wheels that gives sheep, turkeys, and pastured chickens a place to get out of the weather and a place to hide from aerial predators, in a rotational grazing scenario. I
@@dianewassell7693 Justin Rhodes built one for his sheep that he calls a "Sheep-Shaw" because it can be moved around your pasture like a rickshaw. It is essentially just a flat deck on two wheels that is elevated a couple of feet above the ground. It can be built to a height that is perfect for the animal with which you intend to use it. For example, if you are using it with pastured chickens it would be built closer to the ground than one that was going to be used for turkeys or sheep. The weak point in the design is the axel, so be sure to address that issue or the wheels will eventually loosen and or wobble as the axel gives up. Justin Rhodes has a TH-cam video entitled "What Do Farm Animals Do In The Rain" that shows a pretty good view of one version of his Sheep-Shaw. Of course, you can modify it to include a waterer, feed pans, mineral trays, etc., your choice. I think Justin Rhodes has a book named "Homestead Build" that shows the plans but I could not verify that. Joel Salatin's book Polyface Designs: A Comprehensive Construction Guide for Scalable Farming Infrastructure might also have some plans you could use or modify.
Thank you! Finally a video about your homestead and not only a pantry chat.
Very good and helpful information
💚 Thanks for clarifying things about multi-species rotational grazing..so important! 💚
Great Video! I've got Kune Kune, Icelandic Sheep, Goats, and chickens (a couple of weird ducks in there as well. They just fell in with the chickens one day and never left). We rotate in that order throughout our fields. It's amazing what just a few years have done to the quality of our soil.
We are in the process of purchases new homestead and this video was so helpful for our daydreams!
Glad it was helpful!
I am totally dreaming of this, A Small Homestead, a small amount of animals, all living as friends in my yard! Basically if the book Animal Farm wasn't political lol
That was so well explained, and really helped to solidify the theory for me, thank you Josh!
Glad it was helpful!
Beautiful video! Yhank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you Josh. I would really like to know how your water system looks like for everyday moving animals.
Thank you so much! God bless you and your family!
In a recent video, I saw you mention a terrace garden I have not heard mentioned before. Could you go into this area in more detail (specifically how you set it up). I live on a hill and am looking for a cheap way to set something up I can use. Thanks SO much for all your very useable help. You guys are so well spoken and specific which makes the information so easy to understand.
I think Diego Footer has dealt with this idea
He is on YT
Wow, this helped me so much! Thank you, and God bless❤
Very interesting informative and thorough. Thankful for you!
Thank you. I really needed this information.
Thank you for the information very well explained.
Great information! Thank you.
Thanks for this! Very interesting!
Super helpful. Thank you.
Do you have any videos on how you made the shelters?
I love the wide rows, have been trying to plan out sheep moves block by block, with the chickens behind or in with them. Wide rows look like the solution. What do you do with the livestock in the winter?
Thanks that the best 101 explanation I’ve seen on ms rotational grazing, a question or possible opportunity for another video. I’ve been thinking about a Circa 22 acre, river, three lakes property in Uk with the objective of full food independence, plenty of room to make hay and grow vegetables etc , considering sheep, goats, pigs, chicken ducks geese turkeys, not expecting to have massive excess produce to sell (any excess to donate to family/food banks). Maybe small plot wheat, oats to stock the kitchen. The big problem is grain for animal feed. Initial thought was to buy additional land to grow enough to a) sell to cover costs an b) provide needs but that puts a great reliance on other people and equipment (and stable society🤪), and the margins in the Uk for small scale farming of this kind are scary tight What alternate feeds might I be able to grow myself on the 22 acres that would supplement grazing? I was thinking root crops for the bigger animals and grasses/leafy greens for the birds. Any books on that you could recommend would be greatly appreciated.
Grazers like cows, sheep, horses, geese are herbivores. Chickens and most other fowl are somewhat granivores/omnivores and so are pigs. If you want to increase nutrion/energy in the diet from your own lands, treehay is a better bet. It contains more nutrition and they can graze under it. Also good grazing practice will increase the nutrition of your pastures. You will have to start with suitable breeds though, your standard holstein milkcow and like improved breeds won't thrive on grass alone. But plenty of the more primitive and old breeds can get there quickly or are there already.
@@hillockfarm8404 interesting…. I hadn’t previously considered selecting breeds more suitable to grazing only rather trying to find the most self contained way to grow additional calories ‘modern’ breeds require. Thanks for the insight I will think on this, I was already considering the less domesticated breeds of pig. 👍👍
Any chance you have a sketch of your lay out?
That is the best shelter I’ve seen for rotational grazing
Do you sheer your sheep? what do you do with the wool?
Do you ever burn a pasture let’s say every three years? Or leave an area out of rotation for a year so it can build itself back up?
"Certainly you need a few acres" - well, doesn't apply to me, I guess, with my 1 acre.
We run a flock of dairy sheep with laying chickens on 1.5 acres. We started with just one acre. In the right environment, it can be done.
Just have to use smaller cells/paddocks.
Trying to figure out how I can let my chickens graze in a chicken tractor during day and then transfer them back into their stationary coop by night. Only Solution im imagining involves me physically moving all 18 to and from everyday. Any ideas???
Re fencing: Suppose you don't have electric, What do you do? Can you use gates instead?
I was wondering are you rotating every animal every day or do u have different time frames for different animals?
Do you keep layers in the tractor or let them out? If out, do they lay in the boxes or everywhere?
We have a video on it here: th-cam.com/video/Ie6izx6JCl4/w-d-xo.html
I'm from Philippines, how many acres total area in your homestead
We have 40 acres.
How big are your lanes.
Do you have goats in the rotation
how long do you keep them in the designated area before rotating?
At 2:50 he said move them the next day and keep rotating.
Can you have the chickens in with the cow at the same time? Or do you move the cow to a new pasture and then put the chickens in?
You can, however, there is an advantage to moving them in behind the cows a day or two later in that the fly larva will be hatching out beginning day two. The chickens love them, and as they are spreading the manure they will also be breaking that pest cycle. JMO
Very good explanation/intro that leads me to some questions for the homestead I'm starting to slowly build on some rural land where I'm not yet living. I plan to move there within the next 6 months to a year so won't be getting any more critters till then. I already have quail in my suburban garage, but they're not going to be part of my grazing setup. I have 2.5 acres in the Texas Hill Country (Bosque County), with about 1.75 of it being unimproved native grasses, the rest is heavily treed. Rainfall estimates are about 36"/year. I hadn't really been thinking about a cow, but have been considering sheep and/or goats, pigs (I like the suggestion of kune kune), chicken and other fowl. With such poor pasture, which type of animal would you recommend starting as grazers? I've done a little bit of cover crop sowing in limited areas (rye, clover, buckwheat, etc.), but don't expect the pasture to be really good quality. I've been planning tractors for meat chicken and a stationary coop/run for my egg layers when I start raising the chicken. I know that I'm going to have some predator issues. We have game cameras setup in various places and have captured images of a large feline (probably a cougar), at least one canine (probably coyote), several wild pigs, along with deer, rabbits and wild turkeys. My current thinking is to use electric poultry netting around the chicken tractor, maybe let the birds free range during the day, then move the tractor and netting as necessary each day.
Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
Pigs are good for dog meat
This was great at explaining and showing what could be done. I'll be listening to the next video of the kune kune pigs , we currently do heritage mangalistas, mule foot mix which definitely roots up everything. Thank you!
Where would you put rabbits in your order? Thank you! Good information!
I like your portable shade carts - great idea.
Can you rotate your pastures with 3 species together in the same pasture at the same time ? Move them all together every few days ?
Thank you for the video. I've been working on my plan to homestead, and this is one of the things that I see as a huge benefit. My problem is I haven't found much information, other than, "first bring the cows through. Then bring the chickens along." Definitely not the amount of information you present here. Again, thank you.
Well done Basics of Multispecies 101 course
That made a lot of sense, practical and non technical... thank you
Thank you for the very informative video!
Where do they live
What is the flat thing on wheels please?
It is a low roof on wheels that gives sheep, turkeys, and pastured chickens a place to get out of the weather and a place to hide from aerial predators, in a rotational grazing scenario. I
@@roundmott oh thank you.
@@roundmottDoes it have a name please? Looking in uk and can’t find anything like this.
@@dianewassell7693 Justin Rhodes built one for his sheep that he calls a "Sheep-Shaw" because it can be moved around your pasture like a rickshaw. It is essentially just a flat deck on two wheels that is elevated a couple of feet above the ground. It can be built to a height that is perfect for the animal with which you intend to use it. For example, if you are using it with pastured chickens it would be built closer to the ground than one that was going to be used for turkeys or sheep. The weak point in the design is the axel, so be sure to address that issue or the wheels will eventually loosen and or wobble as the axel gives up.
Justin Rhodes has a TH-cam video entitled "What Do Farm Animals Do In The Rain" that shows a pretty good view of one version of his Sheep-Shaw. Of course, you can modify it to include a waterer, feed pans, mineral trays, etc., your choice. I think Justin Rhodes has a book named "Homestead Build" that shows the plans but I could not verify that.
Joel Salatin's book Polyface Designs: A Comprehensive Construction Guide for Scalable Farming Infrastructure might also have some plans you could use or modify.
@@roundmott Thank you for this.