Having finally met Greg and talked with him for quite some time, I think you'll be pleased when you meet him. He is just as helpful and happy in person. The man is a genius and humble all at the same time. He gets a lot of haters only because he has managed to turn things around by leaving traditional practices that left him broke in the search for smarter solutions that paid for 3 farms and tons of leases. It's sad, but people like to hate on others who are successful and excited. He's always willing to adapt and stays positive. That's something in my book. Everybody has to do what they can, but I look at the happy person who is willing to learn and teach and help...AND makes bank ...and I emulate them as much as possible.
I think his practices are MORE traditional the the gashog machine methods. If we go back far enough, we find this is the traditional farm. The WWII methods were what destroyed our soils and caused the death of the microbes (NPK fertilizer instead of manure and 60 minerals fertilizer) and caused the dust bowl. WWI brought us some wonderful things but it also brought us a lot of horrible chemicals that companies decided to market as insecticides (which came from war killing chemicals, Rachel Carson taught us that).
I think Greg is a soil health genius. No doubt knows his stuff. I’ve begun taking my farm down the soil health path and I’m in Manitoba Canada. Going to start no tilling some diverse covers crops on my hay fields for winter grazing to try eliminate as much of the haying process as I can. And build soil health at the same time. But my favourite regenerative farmer is Gabe brown as he does that in a climate closer to mine. But all this is hard to do when you’ve already set up your farm in a conventional type of way, which is the biggest reason most people don’t go down the soil health path.
Winter grazing annuals? Won't that just become a muddy mess before frost or if there's a thaw? Maybe you have reliable frost, we don't anymore. Here we need good water infiltration, good ground cover with a strong root system to do late grazing.
Ryan G I really can’t say weather there are farmers that do internships near me, I certainly haven’t heard of it but I haven’t looked into it myself. Any learning I’ve done was all through TH-cam, and now observing it in the natural creation. It will be a trial and error process for myself mostly as nearly nobody around me farms this way.
Amaranthian450: what would be the things that someone would need to overcome to make the switch to regenerative farming? I'm also in Manitoba and would love to hear from you if you have the time.
@@tombarrett7797 well on my farm specifically, nearly all of my fencing is all barbed wire and very large paddocks. My main pasture is about 900 acres and I only have 4 paddocks within that, So i need to put up at least one electric strand on all of my fences and cross fences so that I can make smaller temporary paddocks to move the cows through at higher stock density rates and to allow good grass recovery times and get better trample on the forage to feed soil and also get better forage usage and force the cows more to compete with each other for the grass, helps them not to be so picky. Also I learned from my grandfather that tillage was completely necessary to get good crops, for controlling weeds and preparing a “proper” seed bed, I’ve since learned this is far from the truth so last year we bought a small 10 foot no till disc drill and sold any tillage equipment that was worth anything, so we wouldn’t be tempted to till ever again. We only ever grew hay to feed livestock, we never did any cash crop. So the no till drill is essential for growing crops that we can graze late fall and winter and get away from haying as much as possible, and also opening up for the possibility of growing some cash crops. We always found tillage to be extremely hard on our equipment because we have such rocky ground in our area, (Amaranth Mb) and the no till drill does extremely well on rocks and rougher ground, it just floats over any rock that might be at the surface. Another challenge I’ve found is that it can be hard to source the wide variety of seed required to grow diverse cover crops, and it is pricey, but I’ve found that I can get seed from my local co-op which is in Gladstone Mb and they order it from North Star Seeds. They offer a decent baseline variety of seeds, but have very few warm season varieties. So I would like to find another supplier and also would like to grow some of my own seed.
Not one farmer has the answers for all farmers to be successful. Greg has given me plenty of good advice on his channel that I have implemented into my operation. I have been working with under 15 acres of pasture for little over 20 years and have made a profit every year. I have had as many as 40 head here at one time but have rotated as many as a hundred through here in a year. I have my own methods that work for me.
You have the same concepts down that Greg preaches about all the time with the big ones being rotating your animals regardless of number of times to give your land rest AND growing your operation without borrowing a ton of money from the bank. You're doing good stuff.
Folks who have never heard of Greg Judy should check out his channel. Also Joel Salatin's channel, talks by Ray Archuleta, and Gabe Brown. There is quite a lot of info out there that could help someone who has different situations.
Seen his videos..... Hes not open to constructive criticism. Any questions relating to any thing negative at all he will block you ! He seems to live in heaven !!!!! Never an issue with anything ! Always perfect ! Sometime he needs to come to reality !
@@hairymanonetwo Why dont you repost here the questions you posted on his channel that got you blocked? Would we be surprised at the tone of your "questions"
No"tone" to my question......this is how I posted it here and on Greg Judys video. Except for my " Blocked" its the same as I posted it....general up front questions. None were answered Just blocked. Ive already posted it here. Ive left comments on his videos and he instantly blocked me ! No bad comments but just basic questions relating to his operation. Example.... I asked how he deals with a cows having calves in the middle of the night ? Blocked. Whom checks on them. Blocked ! How does he deal with Pink Eye issues . Blocked ! How does he deal with foot problems ( Ive seen as many as six cows limping at the end of his cattle drives they are always last of course ) Now he never shows the end of his drives. Blocked ! I asked why his cows always just keep walking when he introduces them to a new paddock.....and mine always start eating as soon as they enter. He stated my cows are hungry . (??????) If a cow likes whats in front of them...they will stop and eat ! Fact is.....I can imagine his pastures are overloaded with manure. It takes as long as 2 years to get the smell off of where a cow pooped ! Even if the worms consume the manure ! I am a former dairy farmer.. rotational grazed for 40 yrs. I know about grazing and cattle ! He talks about the expense of baling hay. I own at most... 15,000 dollars in hay equipment . A small round baler ( 4x4 ) ..... utility tractor... inline rake..... discbine .. a bale wrapper I built myself... 3 hay racks to haul the bales home. I noticed on Greg latest video he owns a John Deere tractor with bush hog mower. That alone is more then 100,000 dollars. And hay equipment is expensive ? Please ! Dont get me wrong..... Greg knows his stuff....but he needs to incorporate " some "reality into his videos. So....I am very impress with your first video Ive seen of yours here ! Good luck.....keep up the hard work ~!
@@hairymanonetwo true , he way over the top. i seen where he said calf was a few months old. i thought it looked 6 months, or older.later he say it was 4 months. every thing perfect way to good to be true. try to rent land very hard to find and do. even in ga. way out.
I'm from southeast Mo area and recently bought a small farm. Its easy for folks to say you should farm like Greig Judy. It's not so easy to come up with all the cash to implement his practices out of the gate. Most existing farms around my area are far from anything resembling what Greig does. So all of us younger farmers who want to farm like Greig are looking at completely redesigning our entire farms to make it work most times. Not a cheap or easy endeavor especially while learning and trying to make our farms work along the way. Until then we are just going to keep working at it the best way we can, getting a little closer to our goals every day. Because it isn't free and it doesn't build itself.
Do what you can, do what works. I watch Greg's vids. He's very experienced, but everybody has to learn to get experience...and then do what works. It's great to see young farmers. God bless you in your endeavours!
Once I found your channel I stopped looking, I for one haven’t heard of Greg Judy. You’ve got to be the captain of your own ship, I like the way you farm!
I enjoyed the video and subbed. I raised hair sheep for three years and absolutely loved it. Low maintenance, didn't test fences, no losses from worms or illness, and multiply like crazy! High profit margins too!
I totally agree with you, Greg Judy is note the norm in Missouri. We have a ranch in Missouri and rent is not an option. A ranch at around 300+ acres is around $800K or more. We can not have the same set up as Greg talks about, Greg is lucky to have a set up on rented property but it is not practical for all ranches to do what Greg preaches.
And another it's easier to do conventional, feeding grain to herbivores meant to eat grass because capital intensive farming is easier than management intensive farming.
Greg is in a special area where the farms were al abandoned and he stepped in and made something work .That doesn't happen long term usually ,some else will come along and out bid you on land
@Redrustyhill That is the point of Greg Judy's approach to raising animals. To regenerate the land as too much has been destroyed by poor management. Allen Savary was a pioneer of planned grazing. Dr Allen Williams is another farmer who consults on the practice all over north America. There was mention of "Our Wyoming Life" Channel in comments here too and he is going to look at planned management of his herd now too. Regenerative farming is an attitude and a means to heal the land, retain water on the land, create a healthy ecosystem with biodiversity, reduce chemical inputs, create a higher quality product and sequester carbon all while using less invasive practices. Farm & Hammer, I wish you the best in farming success and hopefully you will seek to grow in regenerative farming practices. All the power to you all.
Redrustyhill I understand. Putting the comment out for others more than you. I know water is critical to any farm trying to move to planned grazing. That is the first crux to address. As the soil rebuilds, water for the land becomes less of an issue but won’t water cows. Topography also is critical if water catchment means could work. Hopefully these farms you speak of do fall into the hands of young farmers coming in with a fresh holistic approach and can make it work for them.
Sheep are a lot easier to keep in than goats are. That was the original reason I chose sheep over goats. After having my Katahdins for several years now, I am quite happy with my choice. The demand is high and they are quite productive animals. You are doing a GREAT job. Don't let others discourage you.
Never heard of Greg Judy until you mentioned him! After watching your videos I started raising bottle calves too and roughly modeled your operation! Keep up the good work and keep the videos coming!
I think Greg is passionate because of his personal experiences. He does have a lot of valuable advice. But obviously it is specific to his area and his situation (i.e. it probably wouldn't work great if you live in the middle of the desert). I dont think I've ever met a farmer who doesn't have a strong opinion about what they do and how they do it. I think us younger guys need to eat the meat and spit out the bones. There's a lot to learn, we just can't take things too personally .
Have you thought of a solar pump? To get the water where you need it. Our neighbors did that. They seem to like it. They are land locked. And they pump it from a neighbors pond about 1/2 mile or so.
Raising bottle calves the way you are doing it is a great venture for a young farmer with not a lot of money but still makes a profit. I did it myself for 4 years with my two daughters and we really enjoyed it.
People who give you a hard time, don't understand Greg Judy's philosophy. You might not mob graze, but from what you said, you rotate stock. Main point, your paddocks look great. As far as water goes, when you can afford it, you could put in a above ground water tank and gravity feed water troughs, using the pond as water source by pumping into tank. I do this, but get water from my low lying stream. I got out of cows because I don't have much land and the land I have gets real wet in winter. The cows caused too much plugging. Now I have hair sheep, not St. Croix like Greg. I've got Damara. You know what your doing and your animals look good, so don't let the TH-cam know it alls get you doubting yourself.
Thanks for sharing your experiences and future plans. Keep at it and you’ll get there. Keep sharing your intentions about buying and leasing land with everyone and you’ll accomplish what you are looking to build. Continue looking for creative solutions. Keep up the good work.
Correct about rented land I was 50 miles north of Houston Texas hence I went north another 35 miles and bought land it worked for me case by case don’t wait to buy land buy land and wait
Right on brother! I hear what your saying... there is not one right way to farm... We just got 11 acres and are turning it into a homestead. Im checking out all the styles I can to see which works best for us.
As someone who farms in MO and grew up learning and using “conventional” methods, I will also say you can’t just flip a switch and do things differently overnight. I’ve been to grazing schools, conventions and believe you should never stop learning or trying new things. Had my own farm for about twelve years now and my operation has evolved over the years. You gotta work with what you have and start where you are. Greg’s operation didn’t become what it is overnight either. It grew and evolved too.
Goats are a challenge. A fence that will keep a goat in...will keep "anything" in. We have learned over the years that a "knock you on your butt" electric charger (pegs out 7000 on the tester) and a 4 strand fence with wires at 6", 6", 8", & 10" will keep all in most of the time. The new crop of babies will go through it a time or 2 (if you don't have an electric fence training pen set up) but they want back with momma real fast. Rotational grazing is a must for them to keep parasite loads down. We have their area divided into 4 strips and they get 10 days per strip. They used to say 30 days before you go back on the same ground. Now our vet says 60; but we don't have that much area fenced for them yet.
Don't worry about what your neighbors are doing. You will spend more time and money trying to compete with them that you won't make a dime. I am 55 and have been around cattle since I was about 3 and have seen several so called cattlemen spend any profits they ever would have made by trying to buy the latest bull, or the latest breed of cattle, the best tractor or the best farm truck. You do the best you can with what you have to work with. As far as I'm concerned all my stuff including the land is the best around, it's all paid for! Keep the hard work going, you are going to do fine.
One advantage of raising bottled calves vs. Beef cow/calf operation is it takes alot less pasture. I know in South Central Missouri, they figure that a person will need 3 acres of pasture for a beef cow plus another acre of land for a feeder calf. The amount of extra money needed to buy and raise calves might offset the cost of buying beef cows plus amount of land needed. Although long term buying beef animals is probably best for long term.
You explain your logistics well. I am in Eastern Kansas and I can say water is key, especially in June, July. Something goes wrong with your water source and you can be in trouble quickly. Intense competition for land is your dynamic too that Greg does not equate to. Got to do what works in you part of the world.
Awesome calves. I think Greg is a wealth of knowledge and its great that he's taking time to share what he knows. One problem is that of his 40,000 subscribers, probably 39,500 don't own animals or even have a clue as to what goes into farming. Some of his practices are useless where I live in Canada while some are game changers. I subscribed and I'll be watching these calves grow
Greg says all the time that his way of doing things works for his environment (humid and wet, central missouri) so it should work in similar climates and rainfall
I have the same problem everything with a fence someone has cows on it. Greg has a good concept but you got to have land available. Take care and have fun
Hey! Great! You seem like your old self again! Glad to hear about the animals finally. I’d love to see you with goats and sheep. How funny was that lost bull popping up. I guess he thought your grass was greener...
Hi, I've never heard of Greg Judy, I like your channel and enjoy seeing what you do on your farm and the content of your videos. You're a smart guy and have reasons for doing what you do. Thanks for the great videos! Stay safe and healthy!
Nice show first time on your channel. City boy here, from doing my family genealogy my last ancestor left the farm in the 1880s so I have never been around a farm. Sure would of been a different life if I had grew up on a farm. I want to tell you and Greg Judy I am envious as hell.
Thanks for speaking out about Greg Judy !!!!! So nice to hear your not the only one whom has some issues with his grassing operation / etc. He seems to live in heaven. Never an issue with anything. Ive left comments on his videos and he instantly blocked me ! No bad comments but just basic questions relating to his operation. Example.... I asked how he deals with a cows having calves in the middle of the night ? Blocked. Whom checks on them. Blocked ! How does he deal with Pink Eye issues . Blocked ! How does he deal with foot problems ( Ive seen as many as six cows limping at the end of his cattle drives they are always last of course ) Now he never shows the end of his drives. Blocked ! I asked why his cows always just keep walking when he introduces them to a new paddock.....and mine always start eating as soon as they enter. He stated my cows are hungry . (??????) If a cow likes whats in front of them...they will stop and eat ! Fact is.....I can imagine his pastures are overloaded with manure. It takes as long as 2 years to get the smell off of where a cow pooped ! Even if the worms consume the manure ! I am a former dairy farmer.. rotational grazed for 40 yrs. I know about grazing and cattle ! He talks about the expense of baling hay. I own at most... 15,000 dollars in hay equipment . A small round baler ( 4x4 ) ..... utility tractor... inline rake..... discbine .. a bale wrapper I built myself... 3 hay racks to haul the bales home. I noticed on Greg latest video he owns a John Deere tractor with bush hog mower. That alone is more then 100,000 dollars. And hay equipment is expensive ? Please ! Dont get me wrong..... Greg knows his stuff....but he needs to incorporate " some "reality into his videos. So....I am very impress with your first video Ive seen of yours here ! Good luck.....keep up the hard work ~!
@Irv Farmer You have posted your memory of what you posted on his channel that got blocked. I asked for the actual posts. But now that you have let more slip I have a clearer picture. You are an ex diary farmer. Your kids take it over? Do you still hold a note on it? If so it would explain why you would be cheering on this young man buying the waste of a diary operation and encouraging him to waste his time trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. All your questions are pointless and/or silly not surprised Judy blocked you. While I love cream and buy it on the regular the only one here that wants to be a diary farmer is you. F&H and G&J both want to be grass fed beef and sheep ranchers. Read that last sentence again twice slowly. Stop encouraging the kid to waste his time with diary cows when he wants a beef herd. Please show me one of Judy's cows coughing. I have looked at only 3 of F&H's videos and all showed coughing cows. Not good. A Calf should be drinking their mom's Colostrum not that powdered s**t. If he does not control the breeding he cannot breed out undesirable traits like excess milk production and inability to gain weight on grass alone. He is trying to drive a car without a steering wheel and you are telling him to keep on doing that. Have you no shame? Even better would be for him to start building a herd that has the traits he needs from the start. Penny wise pound foolish with the dairy cows. Regarding your questions that supposedly got you blocked lets see if I can answer them as a non farmer that has just watched Judy's videos: 1 Cows giving birth in the middle of the night: he leaves them alone and sees the baby in the morning. If the mom can't do it on her own he sells her 2 Cows with any illness are sold. They are telling you that they have the wrong genes for your land. Don't name your cows! 3 Cows that limp recover on their own or are sold. Detecting a pattern yet? 4 Cows going to the end of the paddock Why is this a problem? I think they are full and are looking for the best tasting grass before their fellows get to it. 5 Fields are "overloaded" with manure. That must be why he has no bare spots and he can feed his cows 10 months of the year off grass. I wish my bank account was as "overloaded" with money as Judy's pastures are with poo. You know manure is free fertilizer right? Just checking, 6 Baling hay is not expensive. Who cares? The problem with growing hay is that it is not available to feed your cows AND it is exporting nutrients you need for next years grass and cows off your land. One step forward two back Regarding Judy's need for more reality. I don't know how much more real he could be walking his talk like he does every day
We should both go to Greg Judys latest video and post there what we are posting here ???? I promise I would be blocked ! Not you...just me. First...cows have their calves any time of the day. Not only at night. You can cull a cow which has problems / issue with calving. However its a bit late to cull a cow if she is out alone with the calves head turned back or leg turned back and she can not have her calf and is found dead. A day too late. This is about management ! You can not cull a lamb cows which is infected with foot rot and dies. Shes dead ! Pink Eye is the same. Once the cow is blind or the eye ball pops its a bit late to cull her. These are all issue related to mother nature......not to mention many others ! None of these are addressed in any of Greg Judes videos. You have another name for what I call " Milk Replacer " or milk supplement........milk additive. Bottom line....its dried cows milk. As a former Peace Corps volunteer to Liberia Africa I do realize how important dried cows milk is to humans let alone cattle. Trust me.... many moms in impoverished countries would give anything for " dried milk " to feed their child when the mother has no milk herself or the child just need more nurishment. Sometimes it helps to get out and see the real world too ! Here in the USA.... food is taken for granted. Too much food. If grain is poison tell that to a starving person. As you mentioned your a non farmer. I was aware of that relating to your posts. There are many ways to farm and make a living doing it. Do I hold a note on my land or my boys land ? No......Im lucky to be debt free. My boy though.....he has just started ( two weeks ago ) his own dairy operation. I can not and will not be involved financially . He is now milking 14 cows. Will he be successful.....I will wait and see. A parents job is to support a child. I will do that. Im familiar with both......more so with dairy.....but now stock cows too. Stock cows are often treated as trash cows in my view. I always thought for a cow to produce a lot of milk for the calf they should eat high quality forage. If a milk cow ate from the same field as a stock cow the milk cow would go dry in a few weeks ! So now I have accepted the fact that stock cows are trash eaters. Feeding only a calf. I was wrong all along ! So if you wish......lets go to Greg Judes video and continue about his methods....... no bad words.......no nasty trash talk.....just a basic conversation...see what happens ?
@@hairymanonetwo You have to understand its TH-cam, and one has to manage the comments and be smart about what he puts in a video to avoid a flood of negative comments or having a video blocked by TH-cam itself. I never got blocked asking about the same questions as You, so I guess You have to try to formulate your critique a bit different. I learned a couple of things from him, but You can not be succesfull with cattle using only his advice. In his vids he gives people a dream of being a farmer to mostly people who will never have a single cow, and thats fair. Also meat buyers can see how their animals are kept on almost a daily basis. Good idea, one should not destroy this with dystocia videos or rotting feet. Just look at Gregs position.
All the big names have good ideas and are worth learning from, but at the end of the day, every situation is different and you have to find what works for you. Nice work and keep on learning!
Some of the re-gen ag gets a little cult like. I borrow from many camps with the primary goal to keep my costs down. Keeping my pastures healthy is the easiest way to do that. But I don't shut commercial fertilizer, grain and feeding hay either. There is a place for all of that. What I do, is to try and use practices that minimize those inputs and in the end lead to a more profitable operation. If you can make $$$ on those calves and keep your pasture looking like that then keep it up. Thanks for sharing
I'm trying to farm with as much regenerative practice as I can muster but there is a large difference between central MO and northern NE when it comes to grass production, water, and of course whether. So far I've been able to stay off corn but I've had to buy a crap ton of hay while I try to get my grass up to a better standard through rotational grazing. Better this year, hopefully better next and so on. I don't try to farm like anyone in particular but I keep my eye on what works and what doesn't for my particular area and animals. I'm learning a great deal and I'm trying to limit the impact of my mistakes and missed opportunities. This years lesson was that even though I don't like to see calves drop in the freezing cold of March, they handle that better than the heat of June so I will put the bulls on earlier this year than last to keep the calving cycle in the late March time frame. Thought it would help the calves to be born later when it's warm but turns out they handle cold better than heat.
I totally agree about the land leasing part. I'm in Texas and its very hard to fine land. And they wonder why the average age of a farmer keeps increasing... Probably because there's not enough room for the younger generations to get in. Good video
Great video. Just a suggestion on how to keep your cows out of an existing pond. I had a pond that I ran a pipe out of that way. All you need to do is rent yourself a trencher and reach out onto the water as far as you can and then trench up and over the dam. Run your pipe inside that and even if it’s going uphill and then back down the side of the dam. As long as your cattle trough is lower than the waterline in the pond you’ll be OK. You will have to prime the line because it will be siphoning out of the pond but I promise it will work great. I run bison on a TH-cam channel called broken arrow bison.
What works for one rancher or farmer doesn't necessarily work for everyone. However good ideas, and tips can be implemented into your individual farm/ranch plan. I love Greg Judy and the way he carries out his healthy farm activities, and I have implemented some of his advice into my farm operation. Thanks for the great video & cheers 🍻from Prairie Sunset Ranch☀️
No one right way! Your rocking it. Love goats and bottle calves. Could you combine dairy goats to feed the bottle calves and save the milk bill? Feed milk longer and skip the grain too?
Ignore the PermaCult. People who look at sustainable agriculture as a religion, with a few "prophets", whose words are the scripture not to deviate from. Sustainable farming operations will look different in Missouri than Texas or Minnesota or Australia or Kenya. They will look different on 10 acres than 100 acres. Like you mentioned, financial situation also plays a big role. Wouldn't we all like to buy a beautiful piece of land and set up our operations, not sparing any expenses ? For some this is reality and good for them. For the rest of us, as many others said, we do what we can with what we have. If we learned and did something better than last year, we're accomplished another step on this journey.
What is the extent of plant types and ranges of the forage on your spread? It looked a little narrow in the video. Might need to get in a few extras to boost soil and cow health? Good luck.
Probably about 50% of the forages are fescue 25% ladino clover and the rest is a mix of everything. We’ve got a lot of orchard grass in every field, red clover, lespedeza, and Bermuda grass etc.
Oh, and by the way, your little ladies are beautiful, especially those little brown and white gals!! Enjoy your life your way! We wish you tons of luck on your farm start up!
I love the mismatched herds. Got a neighbor that started his herd with a couple of Longhorns and Holsteins, probably just the cheapest cows he could get at the sale barn and now he has about 15 head. He’s run Brahman bulls with them, charolais, hereford… I love his crossed up herd. They all raise a good calf.
You do it like I did it. I call it large feedlot ranching. I never cut hay. I buy hay and grain. I buy my grain at the coop and buy years in advance. I buy grain when it's cheap and hang on until it's high or used up. I buy hay in the field and pay before it's cut (cheapest) .
Your doing good. Don't let anyone's negative or harsh comments get to you. Everyone has a difset up. What works for me may not work for you. We rotate pasture raised chickens, dexter cattle and mixed breed sheep on 9 pastures. Also we are doing our best to get our pigs off the pot and get them on rotated pastures.
Thanks for sharing, love hearing the variables and cost benefit analysis. Would be nice to hear about cattle markets in Missouri in terms of what's available amongst breeds and the sentiment regarding lowline cattle. Good luck with your goals from Australia.
I think you are doing a great job. You work hard and you seem to manage your money well. Keep up the good work and don’t pay all attention to what others say.
Wait a minute...where’s the feeder going???? Your cows were very calm and orderly,,,it’s like a free-for-all at times with Pigs at our feeder. Great video, thanks for sharing.
I get comments telling me I should farm like Greg Judy. I like his TH-cam Channel. But it is not one size fits all and each rancher has has to do what fits best on his farm. Thanks for the video.
Everybody has to find their own groove. I love Joel Salatin, but there are things I do but somethings that work better for my farm. I am in sagebrush, and it's horrible to manage, I tried electric fence and it got all knotted up, the goats push through and test it over and over. It also gets horribly caught in the sagebrush. SO we have to do the welded wire fence and set up permanent pastures. Our chickens have a large fenced yard, and I move protected bins over the areas and water for grass. This is mostly because of the area around them, they are kind of in a center circle that is the driveway. So I take what tools I learn and can use but I don't sweat it. I use a lot of tools from a lot of great people and tune it to my situation.
That is part of the logic... Goats are like weed eaters, sheep like lawn mowers.... They tend to favor different parts... They tend to eating parasites that would reinfest the other but don't pose much harm to them selves. Hope that makes sense.
Glad I watched the whole thing before making a snarky comment. Great video - you’ll get there! You might be able to solve your water issue with a solar pump system.
Interesting farm. I have 110 acres.. Part time farmer. I put 5 cows and a bull and their calves on one half. Rest was in CRP. but, I got out of CRP and have been looking for profitable ways to use the other half of the farm.
have to agree with you there not every one can rent large proportions off land and also have the time to be moving cows and doing new electric fencing every day.
For a start Greg Judy is not calf rearing which requires feed to replace the dam’s milk. You are doing great and doing a service rearing a by product of the dairy industry and giving those calves a chance of life. One thing Greg Judy never tells you is how much he pays to rent land.
Greg Judy has a lot of great ideas! He has proven his ideas can work...in his area. Different ground, different grasses, different everything.... Not every great idea will work everywhere!! Just like people wanting grass fed beef.. for most of us, we can't afford to keep the animals around for 24-30 months to finish them.. and the grasses and soil types don't all allow that to be feasible. We feed grain, because our grasses and soil don't allow enough nutrition...and we finish steers at 16-18 months.. time is money!! Can't buy more ground here. $15-$20k/ acre is not feasible!! That's the crap ground.. the rest gets paved over😪 We all do it the best way we can with what we have and where we are. Thank you for the video!!
What about leasing more ground? Maybe you have too many head for your acreage? Are you doing free choice cafeteria minerals to address your land deficiencies? I bet where you feed the grain is where all the manure piles up. What are you doing to get it out to the land where you want forage to grow? How much sickness do you have feeding grain to grass eaters? The grass/ruminant/poo and pee/worms/grass cycle needs to be closed for your land to get better. By using grain you break the cycle and reduce your profit potential
@@adlsaias obviously you have never watched my channel.. manure is hauled out in the fall and spread on pasture.. we lost a 40+ year lease the first of the year to one of the greedy government programs, so we have already been forced to cut our herd in half. Of course selling during the lowest of the low at the early covid crap. We have a rigorous heard health program, free choice minerals and salt. Overall herd health is very good. We also farm other ground for hay and grain. As for finding more ground.. that would literally require moving the whole opporation out of state.. as we are in an area that was large tracts of farm ground that is now under concrete and asphalt...for companies like Intel, Nike and the many support companies surrounding them.. BTW, just Intel alone buys 500+ acres at a time, and covers it.. for every new facility they build, another 500 acres is developed for more houses...and another 500 for more schools and strip malls... Definitely not the place I was born and raised, when we farmed 1500 acres and were among the biggest farms in the area... As for feeding grain, hmm... Bovine are plant eaters, including grains, legumes, even trees and brush...
@@GosselinFarmsEdGosselin True, I have not yet watched your channel. Are you in oregon? Fascinating response and lots of questions and comments: You let your manure pile up and ferment for months and you deprive your grass of that manure all spring and summer? I suspect there would be a different outcome with animal spreading every 2 months as Greg does, possible? What happens if there is a big rain the day that you do your spreading? Lose it all into drainage? Sorry to hear that the Govt hosed you, unfortunately typical. I hear that the demand for grass fed beef has shot up and all the direct marketers are selling all they want. Yet another reason to get out of the sale barn. Both Judy and Saletin have a piece of a local processor, which seems wise. Are you finding your free choice minerals cow demand is changing and or reducing over time, as Judy claims? If you don't it might be because of the delay caused by your annual manure cycle and grain feeding Glad your herd is healthy. Do you have cows coughing like this guy? Is that a grain thing? Never saw one of judy's cough, why is that? Why not convert the hay and grain to grasslands and buy hay if needed? That way you are keeping the nutrients on your farm and bringing it in from elsewhere. Of course if you are buying a lot adjust the size of the herd or management strategy. Maybe Nike will go broke as they have already got woke. Have you seen how much the sports ball broadcasts have dropped in tv ratings? Then you can buy the parking lots and rip them up. The price of land going up is bittersweet as it is hard to find more but increases your net worth as a land owner. Just don't borrow against it for combines and stuff. The plus side of the high tech coming in is that they can afford to buy high dollar grass fed beef and you can deliver directly with no postal costs. Set up a marketing program and get the suburban kids and moms out to the farm store. Opportunity knocks! I have seen cows eat clover (legumes) never seem them eat grain off the bush if there was high brix grass nearby. But I am a retired engineer not a farmer. Have you seen them eat wheat off the stalk with fresh grass available? Birds with crops and gizzards are designed to eat wild grain directly. Do cows have something that performs the same function? Even if they do, does any grain grow back as fast as a blade of grass? Which plant is most efficient with the demands it places on the land. Which is more pest resistant. which can feed your cows more of the year? Which can provide forage that cows can reach under a light snow? Which requires flat ground and which can grow on cheap hillsides that cows can patrol? Gotta look at the whole picture to avoid being painted into a Govt controlled corner. Good Luck and best wishes for your farm
@@adlsaias we have a great steer market, all sold private party before they are even born.. It is much less expensive to make our own hay than to buy.. we have run short before. $5-$8k for a semi load, I hauled in 10 semi loads one year. That hurt!!! Manure feeds the soil and plants any time of year. Applied in the spring, the rains will wash it away and it will be in the hay when we cut. We clean the feed barn regularly through the winter, it is stored under roof per government mandates. The rest is under hoof until we clean the barns. Yes, in West Oregon, where fall rains and winter snow gradually take the manures nutrients into the soil, spring rains would wash it away.. Not a fan of grass fed, it is not feasible for us to keep the steers on feed for the extra 6 to 12 months.. makes no sense financially to put the extra money and time in when we get paid better for them at a younger age.
@@GosselinFarmsEdGosselin Thanks for your reply Steers private party. Does that mean direct to consumer? retailers? or to institutional buyers? or packers? It is my impression that the more grass stockpile you have for winter the less hay you will need. How do you know where to strike the balance to max profit? Judy appears to adjust the size of the herd continuously to minimize his hay buying. Although I think he is still in the process of laying hay in the winter to help some of his leased land recover from prior mono-cropping abuse. That seems to maximize cow productivity and the only nutrients leaving his farm are in the animals he sells to start new herds or for processing. Am I correct in assuming the only reason there is manure under roof is that you are keeping the cows in a barn during the winter? Judy keeps them outside all year and the manure is directly applied year round via bovine and it is fresh when applied. The cows keep moving and never have to stew in their own poo and parasites for long periods. Are the winters in Missouri and West Oregon so different that yours could not be out on the range year round? Does your breed not have a winter hair coat like South Poles do? Too damp or too cold? Is the extra 6 to 12 months of feed that you are giving to your steers a purchased grain feed? If it is access to grass they are just another cow out in the herd being moved twice a day. The decision to sell comes down to whether they are adding enough weight on the zero out of pocket grass they are eating. If the herd is getting too big for the amount of grass available you start selling the steers that have maxed out to make room for the high growth youngsters that were born in the spring and summer. Guess it comes down to how much of a premium you can charge for grass fed & finished and willingness to be first to a new market. At least grass fed & finished appears cheap to try. It seem mainly to be substituting new management practices for expensive traditions
Great conclution on bottle calves, grain and wormer. I started at age 24 with bottle calves and kept heifers to build a herd. Now 25 years on I have small healthy cows and an angus Cross bull on 100% grass. Grazing non arable land moving twice a day. I grow red clover/grass mix for balage for winter feed in rotation with grain and sell the grain. Using one strand outer fence a battery works fine. A solar pump filling a 1000 liter container on a high platform will help keep the pond clean and give you pressuariced water. Keep up the good work
One possibility instead of milk/milk replacer, or beef cows, is what I did when I was raising bottle calves... I bought good quality, but high somatic cell count cows from dairies that were going to cull them because they would result in a loss of their premiums for somatic cell count. These are usually "chronic" mastitis cows, meaning, no matter how thoroughly they treat them, they just don't come down on the cell count, but they don't get sick with mastitis either. I was able to run as many as 4 calves per Holstien nurse cow, but I'd advise to keep that to only two now after having experience with it. The calves will do much better, and so will the cows. You can pretty much buy them for "cull price"... whatever the cull market is on the day that you're buying them. Get your calves from the same dairy, and form a relationship with them. Now, if the cow doesn't lose too much weight on you (nursing too many calves), she'll always be worth what you paid for her, so you're only long term overhead cost is the feed she'll require, which will be less than the cost of the milk replacer. This might allow you to not have to grain the calves, offsetting the cost of the cow even more.
Dude, you're doing great ,, it's easy from the sidelines. Like the previous folks said, every situation is different. You do what makes sense for you. I enjoy seeing your operation and believe that you will do well👍
There are cowdrinker pumps they can operate themselves by pushing. Much cheaper than solar pumps and simpler too. Sheep are grazers, goats are browsers, if you want to graze them in rotation with cows (or horses like me), sheep work better. In England some breeds are "hefted" i.e. made territorial on the summer high pastures by feeding them in a specific location. Here heft them onto a feeder (bit like you do your cows) to help keep them where you want them. You will have to pick a more "improved" breed though, the more primitive ones don't flock well bigger than mom, daughter(s) and the lambs of both.
itHinK you are doing a gr8 job. your systems are great for you & seem to be working fine. you consistantly seem to evolve with your practice anytime its necessary. i appreciate your channel & your great work [the bottle calves too!]
Dude, you aren't kidding about land in Missouri. I've been searching for almost 9 months for land to buy and everything I come across is either crap or so expensive I'd never see a return. I also raised goats for years (South East MO) and had to sell out for a few reasons out of my control. I miss their mischievousness and energy a lot! You make good content and I've been watching Greg Judy's videos for a while and sometimes he's just a bit too egotistical for me. He's smart, experienced, but I think he doesn't understand that land isn't cheap anymore.
Different cows in different landscapes have different requirements. Start by contacting your local agricultural government organization. I think in the US they have local ones that have information about things like how many cows can one acre support. I wouldn't be surprised if Germany is the same. I know Greg Judy recommends small breeds, and from what I've been reading, they seem to have a lot less problems giving birth. He also recommends starting with sheep, as they are quicker to turn a profit, while a cow takes around two years.
Having finally met Greg and talked with him for quite some time, I think you'll be pleased when you meet him. He is just as helpful and happy in person. The man is a genius and humble all at the same time. He gets a lot of haters only because he has managed to turn things around by leaving traditional practices that left him broke in the search for smarter solutions that paid for 3 farms and tons of leases. It's sad, but people like to hate on others who are successful and excited. He's always willing to adapt and stays positive. That's something in my book. Everybody has to do what they can, but I look at the happy person who is willing to learn and teach and help...AND makes bank ...and I emulate them as much as possible.
I think his practices are MORE traditional the the gashog machine methods. If we go back far enough, we find this is the traditional farm. The WWII methods were what destroyed our soils and caused the death of the microbes (NPK fertilizer instead of manure and 60 minerals fertilizer) and caused the dust bowl. WWI brought us some wonderful things but it also brought us a lot of horrible chemicals that companies decided to market as insecticides (which came from war killing chemicals, Rachel Carson taught us that).
Agreed
never knew greg had any haters at all
He seems like a down to earth good guy. I've heard Joel is really condescending, big headed and rude by people who've met him.
You farm where you are comfortable safe convenient for you and your animals
Farming isn't a factory, every farmer has to do what he can with what he has to do with.
💯
True
I think Greg is a soil health genius. No doubt knows his stuff. I’ve begun taking my farm down the soil health path and I’m in Manitoba Canada. Going to start no tilling some diverse covers crops on my hay fields for winter grazing to try eliminate as much of the haying process as I can. And build soil health at the same time. But my favourite regenerative farmer is Gabe brown as he does that in a climate closer to mine. But all this is hard to do when you’ve already set up your farm in a conventional type of way, which is the biggest reason most people don’t go down the soil health path.
Winter grazing annuals? Won't that just become a muddy mess before frost or if there's a thaw?
Maybe you have reliable frost, we don't anymore. Here we need good water infiltration, good ground cover with a strong root system to do late grazing.
Frode Haugsgjerd I’m in Manitoba so yes. Hard frost for 6 months usually
Ryan G I really can’t say weather there are farmers that do internships near me, I certainly haven’t heard of it but I haven’t looked into it myself. Any learning I’ve done was all through TH-cam, and now observing it in the natural creation. It will be a trial and error process for myself mostly as nearly nobody around me farms this way.
Amaranthian450: what would be the things that someone would need to overcome to make the switch to regenerative farming? I'm also in Manitoba and would love to hear from you if you have the time.
@@tombarrett7797 well on my farm specifically, nearly all of my fencing is all barbed wire and very large paddocks. My main pasture is about 900 acres and I only have 4 paddocks within that, So i need to put up at least one electric strand on all of my fences and cross fences so that I can make smaller temporary paddocks to move the cows through at higher stock density rates and to allow good grass recovery times and get better trample on the forage to feed soil and also get better forage usage and force the cows more to compete with each other for the grass, helps them not to be so picky. Also I learned from my grandfather that tillage was completely necessary to get good crops, for controlling weeds and preparing a “proper” seed bed, I’ve since learned this is far from the truth so last year we bought a small 10 foot no till disc drill and sold any tillage equipment that was worth anything, so we wouldn’t be tempted to till ever again. We only ever grew hay to feed livestock, we never did any cash crop. So the no till drill is essential for growing crops that we can graze late fall and winter and get away from haying as much as possible, and also opening up for the possibility of growing some cash crops. We always found tillage to be extremely hard on our equipment because we have such rocky ground in our area, (Amaranth Mb) and the no till drill does extremely well on rocks and rougher ground, it just floats over any rock that might be at the surface. Another challenge I’ve found is that it can be hard to source the wide variety of seed required to grow diverse cover crops, and it is pricey, but I’ve found that I can get seed from my local co-op which is in Gladstone Mb and they order it from North Star Seeds. They offer a decent baseline variety of seeds, but have very few warm season varieties. So I would like to find another supplier and also would like to grow some of my own seed.
Not one farmer has the answers for all farmers to be successful. Greg has given me plenty of good advice on his channel that I have implemented into my operation. I have been working with under 15 acres of pasture for little over 20 years and have made a profit every year. I have had as many as 40 head here at one time but have rotated as many as a hundred through here in a year. I have my own methods that work for me.
You have the same concepts down that Greg preaches about all the time with the big ones being rotating your animals regardless of number of times to give your land rest AND growing your operation without borrowing a ton of money from the bank. You're doing good stuff.
Folks who have never heard of Greg Judy should check out his channel. Also Joel Salatin's channel, talks by Ray Archuleta, and Gabe Brown. There is quite a lot of info out there that could help someone who has different situations.
Seen his videos..... Hes not open to constructive criticism. Any questions relating to any thing negative at all he will block you ! He seems to live in heaven !!!!! Never an issue with anything ! Always perfect ! Sometime he needs to come to reality !
Good to get several different farming perspectives
@@hairymanonetwo Why dont you repost here the questions you posted on his channel that got you blocked? Would we be surprised at the tone of your "questions"
No"tone" to my question......this is how I posted it here and on Greg Judys video. Except for my " Blocked" its the same as I posted it....general up front questions. None were answered Just blocked. Ive already posted it here.
Ive left comments on his videos and he instantly blocked me ! No bad comments but just basic questions relating to his operation. Example.... I asked how he deals with a cows having calves in the middle of the night ? Blocked. Whom checks on them. Blocked ! How does he deal with Pink Eye issues . Blocked ! How does he deal with foot problems ( Ive seen as many as six cows limping at the end of his cattle drives they are always last of course ) Now he never shows the end of his drives. Blocked ! I asked why his cows always just keep walking when he introduces them to a new paddock.....and mine always start eating as soon as they enter. He stated my cows are hungry . (??????) If a cow likes whats in front of them...they will stop and eat ! Fact is.....I can imagine his pastures are overloaded with manure. It takes as long as 2 years to get the smell off of where a cow pooped ! Even if the worms consume the manure ! I am a former dairy farmer.. rotational grazed for 40 yrs. I know about grazing and cattle ! He talks about the expense of baling hay. I own at most... 15,000 dollars in hay equipment . A small round baler ( 4x4 ) ..... utility tractor... inline rake..... discbine .. a bale wrapper I built myself... 3 hay racks to haul the bales home. I noticed on Greg latest video he owns a John Deere tractor with bush hog mower. That alone is more then 100,000 dollars. And hay equipment is expensive ? Please ! Dont get me wrong..... Greg knows his stuff....but he needs to incorporate " some "reality into his videos. So....I am very impress with your first video Ive seen of yours here ! Good luck.....keep up the hard work ~!
@@hairymanonetwo true , he way over the top. i seen where he said calf was a few months old. i thought it looked 6 months, or older.later he say it was 4 months. every thing perfect way to good to be true. try to rent land very hard to find and do. even in ga. way out.
I'm from southeast Mo area and recently bought a small farm.
Its easy for folks to say you should farm like Greig Judy.
It's not so easy to come up with all the cash to implement his practices out of the gate.
Most existing farms around my area are far from anything resembling what Greig does.
So all of us younger farmers who want to farm like Greig are looking at completely redesigning our entire farms to make it work most times.
Not a cheap or easy endeavor especially while learning and trying to make our farms work along the way.
Until then we are just going to keep working at it the best way we can, getting a little closer to our goals every day. Because it isn't free and it doesn't build itself.
Do what you can, do what works. I watch Greg's vids. He's very experienced, but everybody has to learn to get experience...and then do what works. It's great to see young farmers. God bless you in your endeavours!
Once I found your channel I stopped looking, I for one haven’t heard of Greg Judy. You’ve got to be the captain of your own ship, I like the way you farm!
At least theres more then one whom disagree with Greg ! He lives in heaven...always ! NOT !
You should check out Greg Judy. He’s interesting
Starfish, I am
I enjoyed the video and subbed.
I raised hair sheep for three years and absolutely loved it.
Low maintenance, didn't test fences, no losses from worms or illness, and multiply like crazy! High profit margins too!
I LOVE greg judy
I totally agree with you, Greg Judy is note the norm in Missouri. We have a ranch in Missouri and rent is not an option. A ranch at around 300+ acres is around $800K or more. We can not have the same set up as Greg talks about, Greg is lucky to have a set up on rented property but it is not practical for all ranches to do what Greg preaches.
And another it's easier to do conventional, feeding grain to herbivores meant to eat grass because capital intensive farming is easier than management intensive farming.
Greg is in a special area where the farms were al abandoned and he stepped in and made something work .That doesn't happen long term usually ,some else will come along and out bid you on land
@Redrustyhill That is the point of Greg Judy's approach to raising animals. To regenerate the land as too much has been destroyed by poor management. Allen Savary was a pioneer of planned grazing. Dr Allen Williams is another farmer who consults on the practice all over north America. There was mention of "Our Wyoming Life" Channel in comments here too and he is going to look at planned management of his herd now too. Regenerative farming is an attitude and a means to heal the land, retain water on the land, create a healthy ecosystem with biodiversity, reduce chemical inputs, create a higher quality product and sequester carbon all while using less invasive practices. Farm & Hammer, I wish you the best in farming success and hopefully you will seek to grow in regenerative farming practices. All the power to you all.
Redrustyhill I understand. Putting the comment out for others more than you. I know water is critical to any farm trying to move to planned grazing. That is the first crux to address. As the soil rebuilds, water for the land becomes less of an issue but won’t water cows. Topography also is critical if water catchment means could work. Hopefully these farms you speak of do fall into the hands of young farmers coming in with a fresh holistic approach and can make it work for them.
Sheep are a lot easier to keep in than goats are. That was the original reason I chose sheep over goats. After having my Katahdins for several years now, I am quite happy with my choice. The demand is high and they are quite productive animals. You are doing a GREAT job. Don't let others discourage you.
Goats are escape artists and super smart. They will find a hole.... Even if it don't exist!
Well I think you are a great farmer Isaac, don't let anyone tell you different. You run your farm, and he'll run his.
Never heard of Greg Judy until you mentioned him! After watching your videos I started raising bottle calves too and roughly modeled your operation! Keep up the good work and keep the videos coming!
Your comment about your beef dairy cross heifers is what made me think of my neighbors herd
I think Greg is passionate because of his personal experiences. He does have a lot of valuable advice. But obviously it is specific to his area and his situation (i.e. it probably wouldn't work great if you live in the middle of the desert). I dont think I've ever met a farmer who doesn't have a strong opinion about what they do and how they do it. I think us younger guys need to eat the meat and spit out the bones. There's a lot to learn, we just can't take things too personally .
Check out the Las Damas Ranch in the Chihuaha Desert in Mexico. No irrigation and it's a lush green landscape due to regenerative grazing.
Have you thought of a solar pump? To get the water where you need it. Our neighbors did that. They seem to like it. They are land locked. And they pump it from a neighbors pond about 1/2 mile or so.
Great video! Your bottle calves look really nice. As for Greg, to each his own, what works for you works for you. Keep on keeping on.
Raising bottle calves the way you are doing it is a great venture for a young farmer with not a lot of money but still makes a profit. I did it myself for 4 years with my two daughters and we really enjoyed it.
People who give you a hard time, don't understand Greg Judy's philosophy. You might not mob graze, but from what you said, you rotate stock. Main point, your paddocks look great. As far as water goes, when you can afford it, you could put in a above ground water tank and gravity feed water troughs, using the pond as water source by pumping into tank. I do this, but get water from my low lying stream. I got out of cows because I don't have much land and the land I have gets real wet in winter. The cows caused too much plugging. Now I have hair sheep, not St. Croix like Greg. I've got Damara. You know what your doing and your animals look good, so don't let the TH-cam know it alls get you doubting yourself.
Thanks for sharing your experiences and future plans. Keep at it and you’ll get there. Keep sharing your intentions about buying and leasing land with everyone and you’ll accomplish what you are looking to build. Continue looking for creative solutions. Keep up the good work.
Correct about rented land I was 50 miles north of Houston Texas hence I went north another 35 miles and bought land it worked for me case by case don’t wait to buy land buy land and wait
Right on brother! I hear what your saying... there is not one right way to farm... We just got 11 acres and are turning it into a homestead. Im checking out all the styles I can to see which works best for us.
As someone who farms in MO and grew up learning and using “conventional” methods, I will also say you can’t just flip a switch and do things differently overnight. I’ve been to grazing schools, conventions and believe you should never stop learning or trying new things. Had my own farm for about twelve years now and my operation has evolved over the years. You gotta work with what you have and start where you are. Greg’s operation didn’t become what it is overnight either. It grew and evolved too.
Goats are a challenge. A fence that will keep a goat in...will keep "anything" in. We have learned over the years that a "knock you on your butt" electric charger (pegs out 7000 on the tester) and a 4 strand fence with wires at 6", 6", 8", & 10" will keep all in most of the time. The new crop of babies will go through it a time or 2 (if you don't have an electric fence training pen set up) but they want back with momma real fast. Rotational grazing is a must for them to keep parasite loads down. We have their area divided into 4 strips and they get 10 days per strip. They used to say 30 days before you go back on the same ground. Now our vet says 60; but we don't have that much area fenced for them yet.
Don't worry about what your neighbors are doing. You will spend more time and money trying to compete with them that you won't make a dime. I am 55 and have been around cattle since I was about 3 and have seen several so called cattlemen spend any profits they ever would have made by trying to buy the latest bull, or the latest breed of cattle, the best tractor or the best farm truck. You do the best you can with what you have to work with. As far as I'm concerned all my stuff including the land is the best around, it's all paid for! Keep the hard work going, you are going to do fine.
One advantage of raising bottled calves vs. Beef cow/calf operation is it takes alot less pasture. I know in South Central Missouri, they figure that a person will need 3 acres of pasture for a beef cow plus another acre of land for a feeder calf. The amount of extra money needed to buy and raise calves might offset the cost of buying beef cows plus amount of land needed. Although long term buying beef animals is probably best for long term.
You explain your logistics well. I am in Eastern Kansas and I can say water is key, especially in June, July. Something goes wrong with your water source and you can be in trouble quickly. Intense competition for land is your dynamic too that Greg does not equate to. Got to do what works in you part of the world.
Awesome calves. I think Greg is a wealth of knowledge and its great that he's taking time to share what he knows. One problem is that of his 40,000 subscribers, probably 39,500 don't own animals or even have a clue as to what goes into farming. Some of his practices are useless where I live in Canada while some are game changers. I subscribed and I'll be watching these calves grow
Greg says all the time that his way of doing things works for his environment (humid and wet, central missouri) so it should work in similar climates and rainfall
I have the same problem everything with a fence someone has cows on it. Greg has a good concept but you got to have land available. Take care and have fun
Hey! Great! You seem like your old self again! Glad to hear about the animals finally. I’d love to see you with goats and sheep. How funny was that lost bull popping up. I guess he thought
your grass was greener...
Hi, I've never heard of Greg Judy, I like your channel and enjoy seeing what you do on your farm and the content of your videos. You're a smart guy and have reasons for doing what you do. Thanks for the great videos! Stay safe and healthy!
Nice show first time on your channel. City boy here, from doing my family genealogy my last ancestor left the farm in the 1880s so I have never been around a farm. Sure would of been a different life if I had grew up on a farm. I want to tell you and Greg Judy I am envious as hell.
Thanks for speaking out about Greg Judy !!!!! So nice to hear your not the only one whom has some issues with his grassing operation / etc.
He seems to live in heaven. Never an issue with anything. Ive left comments on his videos and he instantly blocked me ! No bad comments but just basic questions relating to his operation. Example.... I asked how he deals with a cows having calves in the middle of the night ? Blocked. Whom checks on them. Blocked ! How does he deal with Pink Eye issues . Blocked ! How does he deal with foot problems ( Ive seen as many as six cows limping at the end of his cattle drives they are always last of course ) Now he never shows the end of his drives. Blocked ! I asked why his cows always just keep walking when he introduces them to a new paddock.....and mine always start eating as soon as they enter. He stated my cows are hungry . (??????) If a cow likes whats in front of them...they will stop and eat ! Fact is.....I can imagine his pastures are overloaded with manure. It takes as long as 2 years to get the smell off of where a cow pooped ! Even if the worms consume the manure ! I am a former dairy farmer.. rotational grazed for 40 yrs. I know about grazing and cattle ! He talks about the expense of baling hay. I own at most... 15,000 dollars in hay equipment . A small round baler ( 4x4 ) ..... utility tractor... inline rake..... discbine .. a bale wrapper I built myself... 3 hay racks to haul the bales home. I noticed on Greg latest video he owns a John Deere tractor with bush hog mower. That alone is more then 100,000 dollars. And hay equipment is expensive ? Please ! Dont get me wrong..... Greg knows his stuff....but he needs to incorporate " some "reality into his videos. So....I am very impress with your first video Ive seen of yours here ! Good luck.....keep up the hard work ~!
@Irv Farmer You have posted your memory of what you posted on his channel that got blocked. I asked for the actual posts. But now that you have let more slip I have a clearer picture.
You are an ex diary farmer. Your kids take it over? Do you still hold a note on it? If so it would explain why you would be cheering on this young man buying the waste of a diary operation and encouraging him to waste his time trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear.
All your questions are pointless and/or silly not surprised Judy blocked you.
While I love cream and buy it on the regular the only one here that wants to be a diary farmer is you. F&H and G&J both want to be grass fed beef and sheep ranchers. Read that last sentence again twice slowly. Stop encouraging the kid to waste his time with diary cows when he wants a beef herd.
Please show me one of Judy's cows coughing. I have looked at only 3 of F&H's videos and all showed coughing cows. Not good. A Calf should be drinking their mom's Colostrum not that powdered s**t.
If he does not control the breeding he cannot breed out undesirable traits like excess milk production and inability to gain weight on grass alone. He is trying to drive a car without a steering wheel and you are telling him to keep on doing that. Have you no shame? Even better would be for him to start building a herd that has the traits he needs from the start. Penny wise pound foolish with the dairy cows.
Regarding your questions that supposedly got you blocked lets see if I can answer them as a non farmer that has just watched Judy's videos:
1 Cows giving birth in the middle of the night: he leaves them alone and sees the baby in the morning. If the mom can't do it on her own he sells her
2 Cows with any illness are sold. They are telling you that they have the wrong genes for your land. Don't name your cows!
3 Cows that limp recover on their own or are sold. Detecting a pattern yet?
4 Cows going to the end of the paddock Why is this a problem? I think they are full and are looking for the best tasting grass before their fellows get to it.
5 Fields are "overloaded" with manure. That must be why he has no bare spots and he can feed his cows 10 months of the year off grass. I wish my bank account was as "overloaded" with money as Judy's pastures are with poo. You know manure is free fertilizer right? Just checking,
6 Baling hay is not expensive. Who cares? The problem with growing hay is that it is not available to feed your cows AND it is exporting nutrients you need for next years grass and cows off your land. One step forward two back
Regarding Judy's need for more reality. I don't know how much more real he could be walking his talk like he does every day
We should both go to Greg Judys latest video and post there what we are posting here ???? I promise I would be blocked ! Not you...just me.
First...cows have their calves any time of the day. Not only at night. You can cull a cow which has problems / issue with calving. However its a bit late to cull a cow if she is out alone with the calves head turned back or leg turned back and she can not have her calf and is found dead. A day too late. This is about management ! You can not cull a lamb cows which is infected with foot rot and dies. Shes dead ! Pink Eye is the same. Once the cow is blind or the eye ball pops its a bit late to cull her.
These are all issue related to mother nature......not to mention many others ! None of these are addressed in any of Greg Judes videos.
You have another name for what I call " Milk Replacer " or milk supplement........milk additive. Bottom line....its dried cows milk.
As a former Peace Corps volunteer to Liberia Africa I do realize how important dried cows milk is to humans let alone cattle.
Trust me.... many moms in impoverished countries would give anything for " dried milk " to feed their child when the mother has no milk herself or the child just need more nurishment. Sometimes it helps to get out and see the real world too ! Here in the USA.... food is taken for granted. Too much food. If grain is poison tell that to a starving person.
As you mentioned your a non farmer. I was aware of that relating to your posts. There are many ways to farm and make a living doing it.
Do I hold a note on my land or my boys land ? No......Im lucky to be debt free. My boy though.....he has just started ( two weeks ago ) his own dairy operation. I can not and will not be involved financially . He is now milking 14 cows. Will he be successful.....I will wait and see. A parents job is to support a child. I will do that.
Im familiar with both......more so with dairy.....but now stock cows too. Stock cows are often treated as trash cows in my view. I always thought for a cow to produce a lot of milk for the calf they should eat high quality forage. If a milk cow ate from the same field as a stock cow the milk cow would go dry in a few weeks ! So now I have accepted the fact that stock cows are trash eaters. Feeding only a calf. I was wrong all along !
So if you wish......lets go to Greg Judes video and continue about his methods....... no bad words.......no nasty trash talk.....just a basic conversation...see what happens ?
@@hairymanonetwo You have to understand its TH-cam, and one has to manage the comments and be smart about what he puts in a video to avoid a flood of negative comments or having a video blocked by TH-cam itself.
I never got blocked asking about the same questions as You, so I guess You have to try to formulate your critique a bit different.
I learned a couple of things from him, but You can not be succesfull with cattle using only his advice. In his vids he gives people a dream of being a farmer to mostly people who will never have a single cow, and thats fair. Also meat buyers can see how their animals are kept on almost a daily basis. Good idea, one should not destroy this with dystocia videos or rotting feet. Just look at Gregs position.
All the big names have good ideas and are worth learning from, but at the end of the day, every situation is different and you have to find what works for you. Nice work and keep on learning!
The babies are growing fast,,,, good job my friend the love you show those little ones is undeniable......thanks
A.plan is the way to go. Keep on keeping on , great job
If you don’t mind me asking where are you from in Missouri
You can add a siphon to your ponds over the dam to get water wherever you want.
Exactly, siphons work. As long as you have enough fall
Could you get a water pump and water wagon? Fill the wagon from the lake and transport to troughs? Just an idea. I imagine you’ve thought it already
Some of the re-gen ag gets a little cult like. I borrow from many camps with the primary goal to keep my costs down. Keeping my pastures healthy is the easiest way to do that. But I don't shut commercial fertilizer, grain and feeding hay either. There is a place for all of that. What I do, is to try and use practices that minimize those inputs and in the end lead to a more profitable operation. If you can make $$$ on those calves and keep your pasture looking like that then keep it up. Thanks for sharing
Well said!
Can you tunnel a pipe through a pond?
I'm trying to farm with as much regenerative practice as I can muster but there is a large difference between central MO and northern NE when it comes to grass production, water, and of course whether. So far I've been able to stay off corn but I've had to buy a crap ton of hay while I try to get my grass up to a better standard through rotational grazing. Better this year, hopefully better next and so on. I don't try to farm like anyone in particular but I keep my eye on what works and what doesn't for my particular area and animals. I'm learning a great deal and I'm trying to limit the impact of my mistakes and missed opportunities. This years lesson was that even though I don't like to see calves drop in the freezing cold of March, they handle that better than the heat of June so I will put the bulls on earlier this year than last to keep the calving cycle in the late March time frame. Thought it would help the calves to be born later when it's warm but turns out they handle cold better than heat.
I totally agree about the land leasing part. I'm in Texas and its very hard to fine land. And they wonder why the average age of a farmer keeps increasing... Probably because there's not enough room for the younger generations to get in. Good video
You do you!
Do what you need to do the way your farm and your animals need you to. You've got this!
Thanks for making this video. It was helpful to hear your perspective.
Great video. Just a suggestion on how to keep your cows out of an existing pond. I had a pond that I ran a pipe out of that way. All you need to do is rent yourself a trencher and reach out onto the water as far as you can and then trench up and over the dam. Run your pipe inside that and even if it’s going uphill and then back down the side of the dam. As long as your cattle trough is lower than the waterline in the pond you’ll be OK. You will have to prime the line because it will be siphoning out of the pond but I promise it will work great. I run bison on a TH-cam channel called broken arrow bison.
Awesome video! Thanks for the quick shot answers!
What works for one rancher or farmer doesn't necessarily work for everyone. However good ideas, and tips can be implemented into your individual farm/ranch plan. I love Greg Judy and the way he carries out his healthy farm activities, and I have implemented some of his advice into my farm operation. Thanks for the great video & cheers 🍻from Prairie Sunset Ranch☀️
Great video! Your experience, ambition, and wisdom will keep you on a good path..... I think you are doing/will do really well!
No one right way! Your rocking it.
Love goats and bottle calves. Could you combine dairy goats to feed the bottle calves and save the milk bill? Feed milk longer and skip the grain too?
I love Greg Judy, but everyone has to follow their own path. I'd LOVE to see an interview with you both!!!
Judy is an idiot he was exposed before.
@@trossponsor9077 exposed on how to raise grass?
@@trossponsor9077 That is what everyone said about Alan Savary.
Ignore the PermaCult. People who look at sustainable agriculture as a religion, with a few "prophets", whose words are the scripture not to deviate from. Sustainable farming operations will look different in Missouri than Texas or Minnesota or Australia or Kenya. They will look different on 10 acres than 100 acres. Like you mentioned, financial situation also plays a big role. Wouldn't we all like to buy a beautiful piece of land and set up our operations, not sparing any expenses ? For some this is reality and good for them. For the rest of us, as many others said, we do what we can with what we have. If we learned and did something better than last year, we're accomplished another step on this journey.
What is the extent of plant types and ranges of the forage on your spread? It looked a little narrow in the video. Might need to get in a few extras to boost soil and cow health? Good luck.
Probably about 50% of the forages are fescue 25% ladino clover and the rest is a mix of everything. We’ve got a lot of orchard grass in every field, red clover, lespedeza, and Bermuda grass etc.
@@FarmandHammer Thanks
Another great video. You are doing a great job, keep it up!
You can easily add a pipe to a pond, it's done all the time. Trench up close to pond and have excavator push thru a pipe to feed water line into.
Oh, and by the way, your little ladies are beautiful, especially those little brown and white gals!!
Enjoy your life your way! We wish you tons of luck on your farm start up!
I love the mismatched herds. Got a neighbor that started his herd with a couple of Longhorns and Holsteins, probably just the cheapest cows he could get at the sale barn and now he has about 15 head. He’s run Brahman bulls with them, charolais, hereford… I love his crossed up herd. They all raise a good calf.
You do it like I did it. I call it large feedlot ranching. I never cut hay. I buy hay and grain. I buy my grain at the coop and buy years in advance. I buy grain when it's cheap and hang on until it's high or used up. I buy hay in the field and pay before it's cut (cheapest) .
Looking good young man. Learn from everyone in the business that you meet; some what to do, some not what to do.
Awesome video, I love watching this great content!!
Where are you in Missouri? I’m currently in Kansas City but we are moving to my family farm an hour and half north of St. Louis
Im located in northwest missouri and the land struggle is real to gets some is magic without being able to go tackit out from under another farmer
I never heard of him ! Every farmer farms their own way , it all depends on the area, animals , land conditions and so on !
@jacob hutter stfu
Your doing good. Don't let anyone's negative or harsh comments get to you. Everyone has a difset up. What works for me may not work for you. We rotate pasture raised chickens, dexter cattle and mixed breed sheep on 9 pastures. Also we are doing our best to get our pigs off the pot and get them on rotated pastures.
Keep doing what you're doing, you are a young dude and everything will fall in place. Keep up the Great Work Bro !!!!!!!!
What are you feeding those cows at the trough.
I'd like to know what it would take for you to be able to do this full time. Thanks for the video
Thanks for sharing, love hearing the variables and cost benefit analysis. Would be nice to hear about cattle markets in Missouri in terms of what's available amongst breeds and the sentiment regarding lowline cattle.
Good luck with your goals from Australia.
I think you are doing a great job. You work hard and you seem to manage your money well. Keep up the good work and don’t pay all attention to what others say.
Great video. Judy does things his way. You do things your way. You are your own man - go by your gut.
Wait a minute...where’s the feeder going???? Your cows were very calm and orderly,,,it’s like a free-for-all at times with Pigs at our feeder. Great video, thanks for sharing.
Well done... great vision !
I get comments telling me I should farm like Greg Judy. I like his TH-cam Channel. But it is not one size fits all and each rancher has has to do what fits best on his farm. Thanks for the video.
Everybody has to find their own groove. I love Joel Salatin, but there are things I do but somethings that work better for my farm. I am in sagebrush, and it's horrible to manage, I tried electric fence and it got all knotted up, the goats push through and test it over and over. It also gets horribly caught in the sagebrush. SO we have to do the welded wire fence and set up permanent pastures. Our chickens have a large fenced yard, and I move protected bins over the areas and water for grass. This is mostly because of the area around them, they are kind of in a center circle that is the driveway. So I take what tools I learn and can use but I don't sweat it. I use a lot of tools from a lot of great people and tune it to my situation.
You should try to ranch like Greg Judy. I kid, I kid. Great video.
Raise sheep and goats the one eats what the other doesn’t eat (just a thought)
That is part of the logic... Goats are like weed eaters, sheep like lawn mowers.... They tend to favor different parts... They tend to eating parasites that would reinfest the other but don't pose much harm to them selves. Hope that makes sense.
Glad I watched the whole thing before making a snarky comment. Great video - you’ll get there! You might be able to solve your water issue with a solar pump system.
You can buy cows that always throw twins. Then you have both bottle babys and cow ,calf pair. keep every heifer and sell every steer, herd grows fast.
Interesting farm. I have 110 acres.. Part time farmer. I put 5 cows and a bull and their calves on one half. Rest was in CRP. but, I got out of CRP and have been looking for profitable ways to use the other half of the farm.
You should build a rain catch system on the other side of your road
Good explanation...keep on with your plans, do things your way and you will eventually achieve your goals!😊
have to agree with you there not every one can rent large proportions off land and also have the time to be moving cows and doing new electric fencing every day.
Bottle calves sound like a great way to cash flow your start-up.
Where in Missouri are you?
For a start Greg Judy is not calf rearing which requires feed to replace the dam’s milk. You are doing great and doing a service rearing a by product of the dairy industry and giving those calves a chance of life. One thing Greg Judy never tells you is how much he pays to rent land.
if you read his books judy has stated some of his land he has a life time lease on, and many of the landowners are leasing them to him for nothing.
Greg does say in several videos what he has leased land for. In his book he goes into much more depth and explains how he does so.
Greg Judy has a lot of great ideas!
He has proven his ideas can work...in his area.
Different ground, different grasses, different everything.... Not every great idea will work everywhere!!
Just like people wanting grass fed beef.. for most of us, we can't afford to keep the animals around for 24-30 months to finish them.. and the grasses and soil types don't all allow that to be feasible.
We feed grain, because our grasses and soil don't allow enough nutrition...and we finish steers at 16-18 months.. time is money!!
Can't buy more ground here. $15-$20k/ acre is not feasible!!
That's the crap ground.. the rest gets paved over😪
We all do it the best way we can with what we have and where we are.
Thank you for the video!!
What about leasing more ground?
Maybe you have too many head for your acreage?
Are you doing free choice cafeteria minerals to address your land deficiencies?
I bet where you feed the grain is where all the manure piles up. What are you doing to get it out to the land where you want forage to grow?
How much sickness do you have feeding grain to grass eaters?
The grass/ruminant/poo and pee/worms/grass cycle needs to be closed for your land to get better. By using grain you break the cycle and reduce your profit potential
@@adlsaias obviously you have never watched my channel.. manure is hauled out in the fall and spread on pasture.. we lost a 40+ year lease the first of the year to one of the greedy government programs, so we have already been forced to cut our herd in half. Of course selling during the lowest of the low at the early covid crap.
We have a rigorous heard health program, free choice minerals and salt. Overall herd health is very good. We also farm other ground for hay and grain.
As for finding more ground.. that would literally require moving the whole opporation out of state.. as we are in an area that was large tracts of farm ground that is now under concrete and asphalt...for companies like Intel, Nike and the many support companies surrounding them.. BTW, just Intel alone buys 500+ acres at a time, and covers it.. for every new facility they build, another 500 acres is developed for more houses...and another 500 for more schools and strip malls...
Definitely not the place I was born and raised, when we farmed 1500 acres and were among the biggest farms in the area...
As for feeding grain, hmm... Bovine are plant eaters, including grains, legumes, even trees and brush...
@@GosselinFarmsEdGosselin True, I have not yet watched your channel. Are you in oregon?
Fascinating response and lots of questions and comments:
You let your manure pile up and ferment for months and you deprive your grass of that manure all spring and summer? I suspect there would be a different outcome with animal spreading every 2 months as Greg does, possible? What happens if there is a big rain the day that you do your spreading? Lose it all into drainage?
Sorry to hear that the Govt hosed you, unfortunately typical.
I hear that the demand for grass fed beef has shot up and all the direct marketers are selling all they want. Yet another reason to get out of the sale barn. Both Judy and Saletin have a piece of a local processor, which seems wise.
Are you finding your free choice minerals cow demand is changing and or reducing over time, as Judy claims? If you don't it might be because of the delay caused by your annual manure cycle and grain feeding
Glad your herd is healthy. Do you have cows coughing like this guy? Is that a grain thing? Never saw one of judy's cough, why is that?
Why not convert the hay and grain to grasslands and buy hay if needed? That way you are keeping the nutrients on your farm and bringing it in from elsewhere. Of course if you are buying a lot adjust the size of the herd or management strategy.
Maybe Nike will go broke as they have already got woke. Have you seen how much the sports ball broadcasts have dropped in tv ratings? Then you can buy the parking lots and rip them up. The price of land going up is bittersweet as it is hard to find more but increases your net worth as a land owner. Just don't borrow against it for combines and stuff.
The plus side of the high tech coming in is that they can afford to buy high dollar grass fed beef and you can deliver directly with no postal costs. Set up a marketing program and get the suburban kids and moms out to the farm store. Opportunity knocks!
I have seen cows eat clover (legumes) never seem them eat grain off the bush if there was high brix grass nearby. But I am a retired engineer not a farmer. Have you seen them eat wheat off the stalk with fresh grass available?
Birds with crops and gizzards are designed to eat wild grain directly. Do cows have something that performs the same function? Even if they do, does any grain grow back as fast as a blade of grass? Which plant is most efficient with the demands it places on the land. Which is more pest resistant. which can feed your cows more of the year? Which can provide forage that cows can reach under a light snow? Which requires flat ground and which can grow on cheap hillsides that cows can patrol? Gotta look at the whole picture to avoid being painted into a Govt controlled corner.
Good Luck and best wishes for your farm
@@adlsaias we have a great steer market, all sold private party before they are even born..
It is much less expensive to make our own hay than to buy.. we have run short before. $5-$8k for a semi load, I hauled in 10 semi loads one year. That hurt!!!
Manure feeds the soil and plants any time of year. Applied in the spring, the rains will wash it away and it will be in the hay when we cut. We clean the feed barn regularly through the winter, it is stored under roof per government mandates. The rest is under hoof until we clean the barns.
Yes, in West Oregon, where fall rains and winter snow gradually take the manures nutrients into the soil, spring rains would wash it away..
Not a fan of grass fed, it is not feasible for us to keep the steers on feed for the extra 6 to 12 months.. makes no sense financially to put the extra money and time in when we get paid better for them at a younger age.
@@GosselinFarmsEdGosselin Thanks for your reply
Steers private party. Does that mean direct to consumer? retailers? or to institutional buyers? or packers?
It is my impression that the more grass stockpile you have for winter the less hay you will need. How do you know where to strike the balance to max profit?
Judy appears to adjust the size of the herd continuously to minimize his hay buying. Although I think he is still in the process of laying hay in the winter to help some of his leased land recover from prior mono-cropping abuse. That seems to maximize cow productivity and the only nutrients leaving his farm are in the animals he sells to start new herds or for processing.
Am I correct in assuming the only reason there is manure under roof is that you are keeping the cows in a barn during the winter? Judy keeps them outside all year and the manure is directly applied year round via bovine and it is fresh when applied. The cows keep moving and never have to stew in their own poo and parasites for long periods. Are the winters in Missouri and West Oregon so different that yours could not be out on the range year round? Does your breed not have a winter hair coat like South Poles do? Too damp or too cold?
Is the extra 6 to 12 months of feed that you are giving to your steers a purchased grain feed? If it is access to grass they are just another cow out in the herd being moved twice a day. The decision to sell comes down to whether they are adding enough weight on the zero out of pocket grass they are eating. If the herd is getting too big for the amount of grass available you start selling the steers that have maxed out to make room for the high growth youngsters that were born in the spring and summer.
Guess it comes down to how much of a premium you can charge for grass fed & finished and willingness to be first to a new market. At least grass fed & finished appears cheap to try. It seem mainly to be substituting new management practices for expensive traditions
Great conclution on bottle calves, grain and wormer. I started at age 24 with bottle calves and kept heifers to build a herd. Now 25 years on I have small healthy cows and an angus Cross bull on 100% grass. Grazing non arable land moving twice a day. I grow red clover/grass mix for balage for winter feed in rotation with grain and sell the grain. Using one strand outer fence a battery works fine. A solar pump filling a 1000 liter container on a high platform will help keep the pond clean and give you pressuariced water. Keep up the good work
Where at in missouri? Thinking about getting into silvopasture. Would like to chat.
One possibility instead of milk/milk replacer, or beef cows, is what I did when I was raising bottle calves... I bought good quality, but high somatic cell count cows from dairies that were going to cull them because they would result in a loss of their premiums for somatic cell count. These are usually "chronic" mastitis cows, meaning, no matter how thoroughly they treat them, they just don't come down on the cell count, but they don't get sick with mastitis either. I was able to run as many as 4 calves per Holstien nurse cow, but I'd advise to keep that to only two now after having experience with it. The calves will do much better, and so will the cows. You can pretty much buy them for "cull price"... whatever the cull market is on the day that you're buying them. Get your calves from the same dairy, and form a relationship with them. Now, if the cow doesn't lose too much weight on you (nursing too many calves), she'll always be worth what you paid for her, so you're only long term overhead cost is the feed she'll require, which will be less than the cost of the milk replacer. This might allow you to not have to grain the calves, offsetting the cost of the cow even more.
Dude, you're doing great ,, it's easy from the sidelines. Like the previous folks said, every situation is different. You do what makes sense for you. I enjoy seeing your operation and believe that you will do well👍
There are cowdrinker pumps they can operate themselves by pushing. Much cheaper than solar pumps and simpler too.
Sheep are grazers, goats are browsers, if you want to graze them in rotation with cows (or horses like me), sheep work better. In England some breeds are "hefted" i.e. made territorial on the summer high pastures by feeding them in a specific location. Here heft them onto a feeder (bit like you do your cows) to help keep them where you want them. You will have to pick a more "improved" breed though, the more primitive ones don't flock well bigger than mom, daughter(s) and the lambs of both.
itHinK you are doing a gr8 job. your systems are great for you & seem to be working fine. you consistantly seem to evolve with your practice anytime its necessary. i appreciate your channel & your great work [the bottle calves too!]
Not only hard to find rental land around in Missouri cattle country it's expensive to try and out rent someone else.
Dude, you aren't kidding about land in Missouri. I've been searching for almost 9 months for land to buy and everything I come across is either crap or so expensive I'd never see a return. I also raised goats for years (South East MO) and had to sell out for a few reasons out of my control. I miss their mischievousness and energy a lot! You make good content and I've been watching Greg Judy's videos for a while and sometimes he's just a bit too egotistical for me. He's smart, experienced, but I think he doesn't understand that land isn't cheap anymore.
I think he knows the price of land. He's bought enough.
Could you recomend a book which covers what cows eat, how much they eat,
And everything else a I need to know to keep cows?
Greetings from germany😁
Different cows in different landscapes have different requirements. Start by contacting your local agricultural government organization. I think in the US they have local ones that have information about things like how many cows can one acre support. I wouldn't be surprised if Germany is the same.
I know Greg Judy recommends small breeds, and from what I've been reading, they seem to have a lot less problems giving birth. He also recommends starting with sheep, as they are quicker to turn a profit, while a cow takes around two years.
Start where you can with what you have, and keep you eyes on perfection. Your doing all the right things already