I think Joel Salatin would be pretty happy with this one. He is a wordsmith on trying to help people to understand the complexity is important and both sweat equity and wisdom are rewards
I feel like this is exactly what regenerative farmers stress most. Adapt to your farm. Your climate, your soil, your vegetation, your pests and your goals. But this is a good thing, as it's the most overlooked part for beginning farmers.
Pure gold. Im trying to research integration of AGH and: planting of small grains for grain feed, and growing cover crops. Your videos are invaluable to me.
Excellent video. I really enjoy learning from you but have always known I'll have to figure some stuff out for the very different environment I plan to farm in. But i grew up in a high desert and always had to adapt everything. My friends are often surprised at how much thought I'm putting into what seems like such a simple thing to them.
I’m in the process of buying 117 acres near booneville. 67 acres have been clear cut. That was about 6 or 7 years ago. The first couple years they kept it bush hogged. Now it’s got about 3 or 4 years growth. I’m thinking of building an outer fence and putting pigs in it. I’m gonna break into paddocks. What size paddocks and how many pigs to a paddock would you recommend? I would like to have it cleared in a year. I’m wanting to turn that into a cow pasture. Then I plan to put the pigs on the tree covered 50 acres. It’s mainly hardwood so I’ll finish them in the fall with nuts from the trees and processin January.
If you want pigs to do a lot of rooting up and cleaning up quickly, they need larger pigs in a small sized paddock. More pigs in smaller spaces is my general rule more frequent moves is my general rule of thumb for cleaning up infested spots.
I'm kind of at a loss with this video because you make a claim that's not really true. I watch videos on regenerative ag. and the ONE thing I know from watching them is each farm is different, based on the environment, soil, what you want to grow, is it mixed crop/animal production, etc..... The one thing I KNOW about cover crops is there is no such thing as X meets all your needs. In fact from watching No-till Growers (Jessie Frost) is to figure out cover crops there are multiple questions you first need to answer. You also need to understand your soil, your unique growing conditions which MIGHT match the zone your in, maybe not. In fact from the few regenerative ag. channels I've watched the one thing that's VERY clear is there's a learning curve and you better be organized and document what you're doing. So I'm not sure how you get the idea that regen ag. farmers don't talk about the very issues you brought up. In fact they do, but they also make it clear that THEY had to learn what works for their farm and you'll have to do the same. The main strength of the videos I watch for instance is giving me ideas and getting me into the mindset of learning, and I'll be learning for years. Both Jessie and Richard Perkins recommend starting your career by doing at least one, if not two internships on a farm that's doing what it is you want to do and in a similar environment. Richard Perkins will tour farms, some of which are run by people he helped to train and they all pretty much echo the same things about learning experiences, being organized, doing excellent record keeping, getting fast at what you do to maximize your time and especially learning how to be efficient. So, this is what I can say for sure. There are SOME people that will watch a video and think it has all the answers for you, when in fact the person making the video never claims such a thing. I see this a lot with permaculture, where people get CONVINCED that you can use permaculture in any situation. Then they watch real regen ag. farmers who don't incorporate it because it leads to inefficiencies, and both Richard Perkins and Jessie Frost have said as much, and you can see the comments sections telling these farmers they should be able to do X, Y or Z. Lastly, no-till, regenerative ag., organic farming are different, and depending who you talk to no-till can often mean initial till to work the soil pretty deep, adding organic material and breaking up layers that may have formed in that soil from prior use. Jessie for instance has used the word "dogma" a few times, meaning don't get locked into an idea as if it will solve your problems just because you believe it should always work.
@johndoh5182 You bring up a good point about the validity of my central statement in this video. I’m curious if you farm or are you just interested in regenerative agriculture? It doesn’t really matter other than beginning usually ask the questions like the two I mention in the video because they are looking for a place to start. In many ways, people don’t talk about this concept at all and in other ways they do. I think it depends on one’s perspective. I addressed this partially in the recording and ended up cutting it out during editing because I got long winded and it rambled a bit. It has been some time since I watched any of Jessie’s videos because of very different farms. I haven’t watched Richard Perkins videos though either, but I may check a couple out. One the one hand, Gabe Brown emphasizes context like Jessie. Will Harris, likewise talks about the importance of figuring it out, though I haven’t heard him articulate it as clearly as Brown. On the other hand, there’s a lot of information, perhaps what Jessie was referring to as “dogma”, that is repeated and told. It’s everything from “this breed of pig or cow is the best” to “since you disk your field you aren’t regenerative and you won’t improve your soil.” I cut this out of the video, because it’s where regenerative agriculture and sustainability crosses into pastured pig territory. Pastured pigs, in my mind, are not necessarily “a regenerative” endeavor. They can be, but rarely are even if people are putting the pigs to work cleaning up their farm and the pigs have great welfare. The grain fed to pastured pigs is a big issue among other things. In an effort to remain focused, I mention these issues only because I don’t just operate in regenerative agriculture. There are permaculture, homesteading, small farming, pastured pigs, no till growers, among others that I interact with. I definitely get and hear a lot of “dogma” from these sometimes. These people are advising. So the advising ones are split into groups like Gabe Brown, Jessie, and others who are saying know your context. It’s even a soil health principle used now. Others seem to be louder in my mind because of the comments on social media or other places. Then, there are the questions from new practitioners who are overwhelmed and want to know how to get started. Most of the questions I get are related to pigs. Even the questions about cover crop seed mixes are related to pigs mostly. There are very very few people growing a large portion of their pig feed in place as I am. Lots of people grazing pigs on pasture, few people growing crops that replace substantive portions of their pig’s nutrition. These people may or may not hear from those other practitioners. Originally I titled this video “What Regenerative Farmers Don’t Talk About” but I later added the “much” to the title because the information is out there. But not in all circles and it’s often overlooked when people are trying something out. Practically, most people don’t have time to intern on a farm for a few months so they look for a place to start.
I'm about to move onto 10 acres and there's lots of bramble. I was really hoping to rotate some Berkshires and hope that they help clear it out. Any tips?
Yes. Most feed stores sell it as deer corn (don't get flavored) in 50 pound bags. Fill a five gallon bucket just under half full with corn, and then fill it up with water. Keep the temps above 70 ideally, and you will smell it ferment kinda sweet smelling. It will be bubbling. After three our for days, you can broadcast it over the areas you want them too root up. Don't consider the fermented corn as part of their feed ration. It's not. You just want to give the pigs something to root around the stuff you want them to destroy. @thedancingcarnivore
I think Joel Salatin would be pretty happy with this one. He is a wordsmith on trying to help people to understand the complexity is important and both sweat equity and wisdom are rewards
Thanks. He is quite the wordsmith!
I feel like this is exactly what regenerative farmers stress most. Adapt to your farm. Your climate, your soil, your vegetation, your pests and your goals.
But this is a good thing, as it's the most overlooked part for beginning farmers.
Some do. But most people don’t know where to start.
Pure gold. Im trying to research integration of AGH and: planting of small grains for grain feed, and growing cover crops. Your videos are invaluable to me.
Thank you Sir! You have been very informative regarding assisting beginners to be better farmers. I hope to meet you one day.
So nice of you. If you are ever in Mississippi stop by for a visit!
Excellent video. I really enjoy learning from you but have always known I'll have to figure some stuff out for the very different environment I plan to farm in. But i grew up in a high desert and always had to adapt everything. My friends are often surprised at how much thought I'm putting into what seems like such a simple thing to them.
I’m in the process of buying 117 acres near booneville. 67 acres have been clear cut. That was about 6 or 7 years ago. The first couple years they kept it bush hogged. Now it’s got about 3 or 4 years growth. I’m thinking of building an outer fence and putting pigs in it. I’m gonna break into paddocks. What size paddocks and how many pigs to a paddock would you recommend? I would like to have it cleared in a year. I’m wanting to turn that into a cow pasture. Then I plan to put the pigs on the tree covered 50 acres. It’s mainly hardwood so I’ll finish them in the fall with nuts from the trees and processin January.
If you want pigs to do a lot of rooting up and cleaning up quickly, they need larger pigs in a small sized paddock. More pigs in smaller spaces is my general rule more frequent moves is my general rule of thumb for cleaning up infested spots.
@@DowdleFamilyFarms thanks.
I can barely keep my pot plants alive. I can't imagine how complex and challenging running a regenerative farm is.
It's wild sometimes for sure, but a lot of fun!
Cover crops 🍀 ASMR
And don't forget what you learned
For sure!
I'm kind of at a loss with this video because you make a claim that's not really true.
I watch videos on regenerative ag. and the ONE thing I know from watching them is each farm is different, based on the environment, soil, what you want to grow, is it mixed crop/animal production, etc.....
The one thing I KNOW about cover crops is there is no such thing as X meets all your needs.
In fact from watching No-till Growers (Jessie Frost) is to figure out cover crops there are multiple questions you first need to answer. You also need to understand your soil, your unique growing conditions which MIGHT match the zone your in, maybe not.
In fact from the few regenerative ag. channels I've watched the one thing that's VERY clear is there's a learning curve and you better be organized and document what you're doing.
So I'm not sure how you get the idea that regen ag. farmers don't talk about the very issues you brought up. In fact they do, but they also make it clear that THEY had to learn what works for their farm and you'll have to do the same.
The main strength of the videos I watch for instance is giving me ideas and getting me into the mindset of learning, and I'll be learning for years. Both Jessie and Richard Perkins recommend starting your career by doing at least one, if not two internships on a farm that's doing what it is you want to do and in a similar environment. Richard Perkins will tour farms, some of which are run by people he helped to train and they all pretty much echo the same things about learning experiences, being organized, doing excellent record keeping, getting fast at what you do to maximize your time and especially learning how to be efficient.
So, this is what I can say for sure. There are SOME people that will watch a video and think it has all the answers for you, when in fact the person making the video never claims such a thing. I see this a lot with permaculture, where people get CONVINCED that you can use permaculture in any situation. Then they watch real regen ag. farmers who don't incorporate it because it leads to inefficiencies, and both Richard Perkins and Jessie Frost have said as much, and you can see the comments sections telling these farmers they should be able to do X, Y or Z.
Lastly, no-till, regenerative ag., organic farming are different, and depending who you talk to no-till can often mean initial till to work the soil pretty deep, adding organic material and breaking up layers that may have formed in that soil from prior use. Jessie for instance has used the word "dogma" a few times, meaning don't get locked into an idea as if it will solve your problems just because you believe it should always work.
@johndoh5182 You bring up a good point about the validity of my central statement in this video. I’m curious if you farm or are you just interested in regenerative agriculture? It doesn’t really matter other than beginning usually ask the questions like the two I mention in the video because they are looking for a place to start.
In many ways, people don’t talk about this concept at all and in other ways they do. I think it depends on one’s perspective. I addressed this partially in the recording and ended up cutting it out during editing because I got long winded and it rambled a bit. It has been some time since I watched any of Jessie’s videos because of very different farms. I haven’t watched Richard Perkins videos though either, but I may check a couple out. One the one hand, Gabe Brown emphasizes context like Jessie. Will Harris, likewise talks about the importance of figuring it out, though I haven’t heard him articulate it as clearly as Brown.
On the other hand, there’s a lot of information, perhaps what Jessie was referring to as “dogma”, that is repeated and told. It’s everything from “this breed of pig or cow is the best” to “since you disk your field you aren’t regenerative and you won’t improve your soil.” I cut this out of the video, because it’s where regenerative agriculture and sustainability crosses into pastured pig territory. Pastured pigs, in my mind, are not necessarily “a regenerative” endeavor. They can be, but rarely are even if people are putting the pigs to work cleaning up their farm and the pigs have great welfare. The grain fed to pastured pigs is a big issue among other things. In an effort to remain focused, I mention these issues only because I don’t just operate in regenerative agriculture. There are permaculture, homesteading, small farming, pastured pigs, no till growers, among others that I interact with. I definitely get and hear a lot of “dogma” from these sometimes. These people are advising.
So the advising ones are split into groups like Gabe Brown, Jessie, and others who are saying know your context. It’s even a soil health principle used now. Others seem to be louder in my mind because of the comments on social media or other places.
Then, there are the questions from new practitioners who are overwhelmed and want to know how to get started. Most of the questions I get are related to pigs. Even the questions about cover crop seed mixes are related to pigs mostly. There are very very few people growing a large portion of their pig feed in place as I am. Lots of people grazing pigs on pasture, few people growing crops that replace substantive portions of their pig’s nutrition. These people may or may not hear from those other practitioners.
Originally I titled this video “What Regenerative Farmers Don’t Talk About” but I later added the “much” to the title because the information is out there. But not in all circles and it’s often overlooked when people are trying something out. Practically, most people don’t have time to intern on a farm for a few months so they look for a place to start.
I'm about to move onto 10 acres and there's lots of bramble. I was really hoping to rotate some Berkshires and hope that they help clear it out. Any tips?
That would be good. You can ferment corn and place around the bramble and they will root it up.
@@DowdleFamilyFarms that's brilliant! This may be an ignorant question, but what kind of corn? Like dried corn?
Whole feed corn from your local feed store. Fermenting for a few days will help hogs digest and get more nutrition out of it.
Yes. Most feed stores sell it as deer corn (don't get flavored) in 50 pound bags. Fill a five gallon bucket just under half full with corn, and then fill it up with water. Keep the temps above 70 ideally, and you will smell it ferment kinda sweet smelling. It will be bubbling. After three our for days, you can broadcast it over the areas you want them too root up. Don't consider the fermented corn as part of their feed ration. It's not. You just want to give the pigs something to root around the stuff you want them to destroy.
@thedancingcarnivore