I did just the opposite of what Greg tells us to do. I did what the County Extension Service Sheep Specialist told me to do for 20 years. We lost money with the sheep EVERY year. I sure wish Greg had been around 50 years ago. 😢
Modern civilized man is the most dependent and ignorant in history. No one knows less, and is sure of more that is false, than modern "educated" people.
"The best way to bankrupt a farmer or rancher is to have him apply current (1985) agro economic extension advice"...Allan Savory Nothing has changed! Government is the master of disinformation!
@@davemi00 sheee Greg Judy had more sense then most ag extensions service workers when he was 10 it’s just the internet had to catch up to his wisdom to get him out there to the masses
My wife and I left the California Bay Area to do this. We are in southern central Missouri on 42 acres with St. Croix sired sheep and South Poll cattle. We were watching Greg's videos while in CA every day, dreaming about doing this, and we still are watching here in Missouri, but we are doing it. Step in posts, reels, quad and all. Thanks Jan & Greg!
Up here in MN the catchphrase I hear about sheep from all the old timers is "Sheep die if you look at 'em wrong" and "they're too much trouble to keep in". Local guys almost don't believe me almost until they see a video or come to our farm - we don't worm, we don't have a barn and we keep them all in on one hot wire. I can operate with little or no competition locally because of this and it's thanks to Greg's channel and SGF. - Peter
I'm from the Twin Cities and know of only ONE sheep farm, talk about an untapped market specially considering the communities in the cities that love mutton/lamb...
@@firesalamander100 Yes so far, we've sold everything word-of-mouth and haven't even explored the ethnic communities market yet. Definitely untapped potential.
I "joined" a few FB sheep groups. I left them pretty quickly because 99.98% appear to be doing EVERYTHING Greg Judy says "don't do". Folks just don't care to learn I suppose. Change is hard, but holy cow the SUCCESSFUL way y'all show us is SO VERY understandable and doable. I would have never considered grazers of any sort until I learned of your ways, and the benefits to the land and the animals and low labor inputs. Keep rockin' it Mr. Judy!
I am amazed how many channels have video's titled "Why I don't farm like Greg Judy?". i don't get it. I gave one guy a comment that rebuked him for doing that esp. when he was just starting out. lol. But like they say, " negative publicity, is the best publicity" because it draws people to your channel. Your way has been tried, tested and proved to be true, it doesn't take genius to figure that out!!!
I watched this video after the very cold storm. Our sheep and young guardian dogs came through the storm very well. Thank you for putting out a very consistent message over the years.
This is exactly how pastures were before humans interfered . Best regards to you Greg Judy ;to wife and the boys working with you . Merry christmas to all of you and the viewers of your channel .
We're going on 5 months with our flock. So far so good. We have a mix of Dorper x Katahdin and we don't do flock drenching, we're also in Missouri and they are on pasture. Sheep are awesome!
Sheep are absolutely the lowest input animal you can run on the farm. Greg's genetics are as good as it gets, adaptability and parasite resistance, is where it's at! If you want to be successful in a low input system it takes the right animals to fit that type of management. Yes the st Croix has a smaller carcass, but the lack of inputs required make up the difference.
Thanks for the video! I love sheep too. They are so easy to take care of. Our first timers ewes had twins. One of each so now we doubled our flock along selling the ram lambs. They grew right crazy too. This summer we had a few dirty tails but that was me. I didn’t move them for 6 days because there was so much forage in a small paddock I gave them. After I saw that, I moved them right away and after a day the tails were clean again. I had so much forage that my animals weren’t keeping up with all the forage.
Your unfair advantage is all those trees. Here in central Illinois I don’t have trees for miles so I had to make a wind break. My sheep and guard dogs used the wind break and came through the storm in great shape!
It's so interesting to contrast the color you have brought into the flock over the years. I remember two years ago listening to you point out a brown and white ram, and how you were looking forward to him putting some color into your herd. Looks like he is doing a good job.
I have kept sheep for about 15 years. Until last year I never once had to worm. Then, last year I bought a young dorper/katahdin cross ewe. She was fine at first, but over winter she got so sick from parasites I almost lost her. In retrospect there were warning signs of her decline that I missed because I had never faced this issue before. After worming her she recovered great and is still healthy now. I will be keeping her because she has some traits I want to breed into my flock, but am definitely looking forward to her descendants inheriting the hardier traits from my existing flock.
Greg, the South Downs i kept for the winery the last 3 years were only wormed one time when i 1st took them over and they were in such poor condition along with the continuously grazed land. They haven't been wormed since and with extensive culling because of inbreeding, new rams, and regenerative pasture management, with almost daily moves i have not had even one get wormy again. The need to see them twice a day came from fencing issues, and these South Downs are stocky. the rocky ground was such that they often lie down and get on their back and cant get turned over. they then have to be turned back on their feet. yet that was becoming less of an issue as the biomass is deeper and the rocks are gradually getting covered etc. I found them to be low maintenance too. no supplements either, grass/alfalfa hay for 3 month in the winter to help out. oh ya, no barn except or occasional injury or special need. May lambing at your suggestion was a huge success from the old way of in the barn with lambing pens etc.
I used to follow the dorper crowd until I found your videos. I want to do what you're doing, make money and stop whining about vet bills lol. 😄 I'm still in the planning stages. The land I want is zone one, gets down to -50c. I've been trying to figure out if sheep would survive without a barn. Then it occurred to me that the wild horses do just fine in that area. So I guess the sheep probably will too. Lots of trees, shrubs, gulleys, etc. Thanks for being the voice of experience and reason. 🐑 🧡😊👍👍
Thank you so much Greg! We had a wonderful time with all of our kids home together. We hope you had a very nice Christmas as well! We are so thankful for you and all you have taught our son. Happy New year to you all.
Tara, thank-you and your husband for raising such a great young man that is a pleasure to work with each day. You both have got to be commended on a job well done. I remember asking your husband, what was your secret for raising such a quality young man like Isaac? His reply which I will never forget was, “We just let him know that we loved him every day”. Happy New Year to you folks!
QUESTION: When you feed meatscraps to your guard dogs, do you avoid feeding them lamb? Are the scraps generally raw or cooked? I cant wait to see footage of your sheep in the coming blizzard. Stay warm! Thanks for all the sheep education :)
I feed a lot of lamb to my dogs. I have a policy of never feeding young dogs anything that has fur or hooves and looks like their flock. Something to be aware of is there is a parasite that passes from sheep muscle to dogs gut and back to sheep. I forget what it’s called, but because of it it’s actually illegal to keep guard dogs in the UK. 20 days in the freezer kills it. I don’t really worry about never feeding fresh meat but most of what I feed the dogs is organs and stuff trimmed off sheep skins I’ve gotten from the slaughter house so it’s been frozen.
Greg feeds the dogs dog food. But venison scraps too around the hunting season. Without problems. ** I guess Greg answered our question, they have enough food to stay warm and full. Good thing too.
There's always someone disgruntled for whatever reason that likes to badmouth others, always will be. Some people just aren't happy unless they're busting someone else's chops. Sheep and dogs look great, mine are doing fine also...made it through the arctic blast...rougher on me than the sheep.
From what the Shepherdess related, the daily moving of her Dorper sheep was a game changer. In less than a month, their health improved. She has a small farm. Now that she is moving daily a lot less worming. But she has to check every so often. But her size farm, less than a hundred head, it doesn't take long So it is all context. I KNOW she doesn't disparage Greg. She is learning from him and Joel and others. So it can be done well. And I am sure she is hoping to develop more resistance, as Greg did.
Hi Greg thanks for these great videos. Here in Scotland we are under pressure to calve our heifers at 2 years old. I was wondering what age you calve yours and how you manage the joining in and out with the bull if you are running them all in one mob thanks Robbie
Hey man, don’t have the answer, but just want to say that I love your shearing videos! They helped me cut the shearing time in half just in one year! Keep up the good work!
I raised katahdin sheep for a while. The part that I did not enjoy was trimming hooves. We have soft clay land and we were trimming hooves every year. We never had to worm them once we culled for a few years.
@@wcm68tn I only have them a small amount when we were moving them. Something like 5 pounds total for ~40ish sheep maybe every 3-4 days. The sheep were super low input, except for the effort of hoof trimming.
the weeds and broad leave plants -often thought of as weeds. are the sheep's fav food. and yes it does allow for the grasses to come in. thus the flerd idea goes well as they prefer the different plants and can strip the leaves off the brush with woody stems that the cattle don't eat. The cow wraps its tounge around the grass and pulls where the sheep takes a bite and lifts it head up to cut the item its eating. watch them feed and you will see the difference.
Are St. Croix the only breed with parasite resistance? And I'm curious what other hybrid crosses people have done with St Croix besides Katadin? (Nothing wrong with Katadin though.) And how does sheep blood temperature rate with other livestock? (This question I asked because I noticed waterfowl overwinter very well, geese and ducks. And part of it has to do with their heart, blood temperature being higher than other farm animals.)
I have wool sheep and dairy sheep. I don't worm them never have and they fat too. Had to take faeces into vet for our cow because when she sheds she looks like she has mange. No worms. I love the wool sheep and dairy, but I still find them easy to raise because of rotational grazing. They are fat. My sheared says the could lose some weight lol
I've got katahdins in North Alabama and we've had a really hard time with worms. I tried not worming them and several died last year after giving birth. The pasture they are has only been cut for hay for probably 30 years now, I'm just wondering if it's not enough nutrients for them in the grass. Maybe I should mix in some st. Croix. Not really sure but I definitely don't want to have to be working then all the time, and also can't afford for them to just be dying off.
Started reading Greg’s books and watching his channel after I decided I wanted to grass farm a few years ago. He’s been a heck of a mentor! I secured my first leased farm and started my flock of cheviots and romneys last year. Through all the courses I took and farms I’ve toured out here in OR, its standard practice to worm the whole flock routinely multiple times/year. I’ll follow Greg’s advice cause that sounds expensive at scale. I use famacha while my flock is still building to weed out the wormy ones. Half of them havent been wormed since I brought them on and they look great! Low input genetic selection starts from the ground up with any breed. Thanks for sharing your experience Greg!
I got dorper and katahd and cross and I don't have a problem with worms but the Bora goats that run with them I have to worm them unless I give them a copper bolus every 6 months seems to help a lot with the worms I don't give the sheep the copper bolus just the goats
I love Greg Judy's sheep. And I've never even met them :) Thanks for sharing, Greg. How cold would it have to get for you to worry about bringing those dogs out of the weather? I suppose they can handle anything you'll ever get and for a sustained period, but I'm just curious.
Something to consider is that they can always warm up in the flock. During the night or when they’re chewing they gather to share body heat, and the dogs are part of it.
The dogs (I have some of his sheep and dog stock) are cold hardy as the sheep. Those dogs pant and play in single digit temps. They're comfortable in cold weather, more comfortable than they are in hot weather. Keep their bellies full and they're fine.
We want to start raising pastured sheep in central Wisconsin. Would you recommend us starting with straight St. Croix haired sheep or St. Croix / Katahdin Mix? Thanks Love what your doing!
I watch a lot of your videos and really enjoy them. My question is with sheep being your lowest input grazing animal, why you don't raise more of them vs cattle. Not arguing either way as I have ran both and currently have mostly sheep just curious as to your reasoning.
A person should focus on what they love first. My first love was cattle, we also love our sheep. Cattle are my favorite. As we get older, I kidded my wife that we may go 100% sheep, there is no winter work required with sheep unlike there is with cattle.
I have about 8 acres of beautiful hay field on my property that i let the local farmer make hay on just so I can get the tax exemption being under ten acres. My area in PA gets 40-45 inches of rain a year, thought on rotational grazing sheep. St croix sheep a good fit?
I’m in northern Michigan. Can we do what you do for winter thus far north? Obviously we would need to feed hay when snow is on. What about pregnancy toxemia? Last year we fed grain all winter. This year I have only trained the last 6 weeks of pregnancy. It’s just my second year with sheep, I guess I’m just terrified to have a catastrophic lambing season if they have toxemia. Thanks for all you do Greg
New Greg Judy fan here! Love your work, you mentioned selecting the right breed for your homestead, I live in Northern Alberta and I want to start my flock this spring. We get 14-17 inches of rain per summer, with about 6-8 months of winter. What breed of hair should I be targeting to maximize our less than ideal feeding situation?
Put 2 hot hi-tensile wires offset from your barb wire fence. Place your offset wires 8 inches from barb wire fence. The heights on your two wires should be 8” and 15”. Use the 4 foot Timeless Posts, the work great and are sturdy which keeps your fence secure and will not let it touch your barb wire.
I raised my own steer this past year and sent him to butcher. The steer ran with my goats that I free range with a dog. I did not worm him. The butcher said that the liver and heart had worms so he couldn't give them back to me. My intention was to feed the organs to the dog. The butcher also said that he sees worms more in grain fed than in grass fed beef. I fed my steer the same as I was feeding my goats in order to bucket train him. Mostly alfalfa with a handful of the sweet feed I give my horse. I don't know if the butcher was right or not. Was it the little bit of grain? Or was it just the worms are on the land and he was just going to get them?
may i suggest that the steer came with the worms. The parent farm and animals most likely are infected. Id try to find a steer from a farm that practices holistic management etc.
The sheep look beautiful Greg! If you were just starting and you had 5 acres what would be the first size of a property you’d try and lease? I also want to custom graze! I’m studying you like a hawk 😂
Start with your 5 acres. When you start to out grow it find a property close to you that you can afford. The size requirements depend on the herd size and forage available
Is it possible to move them only every couple weeks so long as the acreage is provided? We have 40 acres but 1.5hr from where we live and 20 acres are going into a native grass NRCS contract.
It’s better than giving them the full acreage and not moving them at all. But there are issues that will prevent you from Maximizing your forage. I’m guessing you will not be able to graze the NRCS acreage?
I was looking forward to your comments about a TH-camr I think you're speaking of. The dirty tail remedy tale is a good one. As for that lamb, we all want one just like it. You could make a ceramic of it, and sell them the world over.
These light weight lambs go into the "non traditional" or "ethnic" market. It is pretty big deal (in eastern US... not sure about western) but when the supply gets met..... it can be a real yard sale for lambs. Feeding out hair lambs trying to get them to domestic market size is a total waste of time, forage, and for most people... grain or expensive inputs. They all need to be sold from 50lbs to 99 lbs. The light ethnic market has been great the past few years but we are due for a downturn. I used to sell to a place out in the middle of no where that has a big market for halal lambs in several good sized cities. The prices are split 40 to 59 lbs. 60-79 lbs. 80-99 lbs. If the lamb hit over 100 you took a big hit. I have sit there at the scales and LOSE $20 PER HEAD because a lamb was 60lb instead of 59. There are times when they want the small roasters and pay that much more for them. Greg seems to be in the seed stock business. If you want to see what lambs bring just google USDA sheep market report and it gives you a list of every reported sale in every state. In my state there are a few sales I know of that are not reported. Getting to be alot of lambs because people that could not make any money with cattle are going to sheep.... and they usually end up getting a rude awakening. I know MANY people that got into sheep thinking they were going to be such easy money makers. Very few stay in it.
@@shoshanafox727 they can be. The price per lb is almost always better with goats but they are more trouble IMO. Follow Grandview Livestock here on TH-cam. He runs a pretty tough goat and sheep business and breaks down feed cost and shares what he gets out of them also.
In the winter time as long as they are grazing winter stockpile out in the pasture they don’t drink water, even if it is offered to them. If you feed dry hay, they definitely need water.
Greg. I wonder if the guy in Texas raising dorper sheep successfully has inventoried his browse plant species in his pastures? Perhaps his success with parasite control is due to a certain plant that may be a natural parasite inhibitor. It would be worth him looking into it. Maybe team up a plant botanist or biologists.
Planning for ranching as a rookie 🏞️ 🐑 🐏 🐾 What is best? Acquire flock and LGDs at the same time? Or 1 before the other? I wouldn't want to get a flock and have it unprotected. At the same time, getting LGDs first and then they don't have a flock to protect. Everything including animal additions & dynamics are processes in themselves. Each one, especially different species, takes time to acquire, work with, creating an overall lifestyle. Blessed be 🌈 Rae Fae
Hello sir, I've been following you for some time and I love your concept. Sir I am from Kerala, India. Here we have tropical climate and so we have here goats. My question is regarding deworming. If you feed only grass and shrubs to goats, can we avoid deworming or does it differ between breeds. Please help with your wealth of information.
If the animals are on fresh pasture every day or every other day and not exposed to their manure and urine, breeds that are parasite resistant can go without wormer. If you have the goats (or other animals) in a barn or enclosure, you will likely need to worm them. Areas in Africa are using the Savory Institute method, like what Greg Judy uses, to put together all the cattle from the entire village and use the whole surrounding grazing area with the one herd. The village plans the grazing and also uses a predator friendly corral at night with several nights in the same spot to prep garden and crop fields prior to planting.
@@leelindsay5618 something I over looked is regularly disinfecting their trough. I was asked to take a couple of sheep by an elderly woman who I know and even though she had had wormed them I believe they gave lung worm to the rest of the flock with once a day moves. I’m going to have to pickup some ivermectin today. The other place we could have got it is white tails, but I’m not sure.
I saw a video from Ohio State University where they said white faced sheep have better mothering instincts and black faced sheep have better meat characteristics. They recommended breeding white faced ewes with black faced rams to get hybrid vigor (cross breeds with the best of both). Any thoughts on that? I'm just getting started with a farm in north Texas with about 37 annual inches of rainfall.
Hello there Greg, I have been watching a lot your videos lately. I live in SW Florida and I was wondering what sheep breed would be suited for hot humid climate? We get annually approximately 37 inches of rain. Personally, I was thinking black belly mixed with katahdin. Would love to hear from you, thanks in advance.
Check out the breed called Florida Native. If you find the good ones, they are a great breed. I’ve seen some Florida Nstives that were not very good. Be very selective in choosing.
I raise Royal White (aka DorpCroix) hair sheep. I do not worm them, they live out on pasture 365, and they produce a market size carcass at 5 months that is low fat and great taste.
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher in Southern Ohio, right on the river, so less snow and cold than you, but also less heat than Texas or Southern states. We can get away with less of a Barbados type. We also raise unregistered Katadin/Royal White cross that are very low maintenance and good carcass weight. As you said in the video, it really depends on your climate, rainfall, and management.
Greg first of all, thank you for your work. I have the opportunity to get Navajo Churro sheep as I live in Central New Mexico. Very little pasture and natural grasses. Can you do a video or address raising sheep in the desert? Thank you and happy New Year.
Hey Greg me and my wife recently bought our farm and have since invested in 21 registered Katahdin ewes and a registered Katahdin ram. We fenced our peremiter with 4x4 sheep and goat wire and we love it, but we don’t love the price. We have taken your advice and are now in the process of leasing our first additional 50 acre farm. The owner is wanting a wove wire fence around the perimeter. Do you think that a 6x6 woven wire fence with one high tensile hot wire will Sufice? We do have plenty of grass and we do run guardian dogs. This will be a life time lease Thanks again from Kentucky
If the owner is willing to pay for the woven wire perimeter fence and you have a lifetime lease, then go that route. If you have to pay for the fence, I would go with a 5 strand hi-tensile fence, much more economical and still very effective fence.
This video is being seen on the 29th really I can’t wait to see footage on the Christmas Day Bomb cyclone 2022 I’m sure y’all came out good just curious on seeing livestock handle ice I want to see you unroll bales that would be a great sales point for the Greg Judy bale unroller
I think I already know the answer, but… do you vaccinate against clostridial disease? We always did, but couldn’t get hold of it this year and have had problems. I do wonder if I should be selecting out stock that can’t cope with it, or just vaccinate? It’s cost effective to do it short term but IF there is any genetic resilience to clostridium I feel I shouldn’t be masking it with vaccine…! Hope the -40c didn’t hit you too bad!
Great video as always. Jealous of your “winter” though. Just dug out the gates for the umpteenth time since the first snow we got October 24th that stayed. Running out of places to put the snow. Running out of space to feed, because I can’t get anywhere with the tractor anymore. Up here, winter grazing sheep is unfortunately an impossibility. Snow far too deep, and here for far too long. Also, far too cold, for far too long! If I didn’t feed grain, along with top notch alfalfa hay, my sheep would die, let alone hold onto their lambs. Keeping warm takes a pile of energy and nutrition in long periods of minus 30 to 40C. I have tried bale grazing, but it just can’t be done when the animals can’t physically move. Frustrating. My four foot fences are disappearing fast. The good news? Well, in April it will start to melt. The bad news? In April it will start to melt. Haha. Thanks for another grand video on sheep. I would love to move south. Looks amazing for the end of December. That’s what it looks like here just before the first snow in October. Happy new year!
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher Haha. It is truly exhausting, I don’t mean to complain, I love what I do… But it gets old, Greg. Some cattle guys graze corn in winter with success. But then you’re still using inputs and equipment. I’ve wondered about trying it for the sheep. Alas it is not the direction I want to go. When I have more of my land fenced, I hope to try taller grasses that wouldn’t be as much of a dig for the sheep. Sorghum/Sudan for stockpiling. I have land like yours Greg with lots of natural shelter. If the wind can’t get in and drift the snow into hard concrete, it may work somewhat. Even if I still have to supplement with grain to keep their tanks full, it would be so nice to have them out grazing more. I guess if I’m seeding annual grasses, I may as well seed corn?! I dunno? Trying to figure out a way. It just seems so impossible most years. Last year the sheep were walking over the fence. I had to push the snow away from the fences. This year it’s almost there already. Just to give you an idea of what I’m dealing with… A hundred miles south of west it would be feasible. We’re in a tough, tough region. Thanks, I enjoy your content so much. I might have ti make my own!
are your sheep on a completely different pasture than your cattle mr judy? i know you have mentioned putting the rams and bulls together but i dont recall ever hearing you say anything about running the sheep and cattle together. If that is case, why dont you??
Yes with all the road cattle drives we do our guardian dogs would kill or maim every neighbor dog along the way! That is not the best if your trying to be a good neighbor!!
You’re flock IS fat! They look great. The new ewe lamb is sure cute. I live in Western Wa., we get 40+ inches of rain a year here. People have wool sheep breeds around here which I never have been interested in because of the major time & money to maintain them. Over the last 5 years I have looked for hair sheep out of parasite resistant flocks around my area and have not found anything here. Recently found a farm in Western Oregon in the area I grew up. Considering contacting them in the new year to see if they sell breeding stock.
If it’s cold wet and windy wool sheep are a lot hardier than hair sheep, and sheering is just once a year. My mentor has a flock that is practically indestructible. We joke they are ovine cockroaches. There’s nothing wrong with woolies if their coming from a shepherd that makes them work for their place in his or her flock.
@@swamp-yankee while sheering is a pain, my South Downs made such nice wool the spinners want it and it is a fun event, also allows me to inspect each sheep closely CDT to the ewes about to lamb, and when i see an issue with a missing tag or some hooves that need attention it happens all in the same movement. other than that they only get looked at through the corrals to sort out the ram lambs that we castrate at 6 months and those that are being culled or sold etc
Feed it ( or inject or pour on it ) toxic poison , which then gets pooped out on the ground and kills all the worms in the soil, and whatever other soil life it can kill
Greg doesn't worm sheep. Everyone who does worm sheep gets them up in a corral and runs them through a catch and gives them usually a dose of oral dewormer, then let them back out. Because the dewormer will also kill dung beetles and earth worms, dewormer isn't good for soil building and manure pats or manure pellets don't get decomposed quickly. There are more natural herbs and forages that have a slight deworming effect which helps the sheep "self medicate" but only if the pasture is diverse enough to include the various varieties plus all the other favorite sheep feed of broadleaves.
This is the newer video that she mentions Greg in and is probably what he is referencing since he counter the points in the video. th-cam.com/video/tKUJ1bH15UU/w-d-xo.html starting around the 6 minute mark.
I have followed her from her start, and yes she is doing by trial and error. I Have seen her over time learn and adopt more of the holistic management practices. I want to find out if the issue of needing to worm is the Dorper breed in general. Her other approaches to her farm are well laid out in marketing, planning and looking at the cost vs benefit. I do like that aspect of her channel. i have been looking at her financial and marketing side much closer. She also hosts a weekly live with another young guy regenerative glazier and the topics are interesting and informative.
@@Herps1 Thanks for linking! I have a flock from Greg and we practice most of Greg's methods. That said, the Sheperdess has a point about smaller farms. We've got a smaller farm and adapted by learning from others like Linessa Farms on worming and hoof trimming (no we dont feed grain:)) th-cam.com/video/Bhv9tU-S7Jo/w-d-xo.html
@@raybankes7668 The dorper in my experience is just a wormy breed. I bought a few of them to try them out, and even moving them 4 times a day some of them get wormy. While on the other hand very few of my other sheep get wormy
Will Harris, of White Pastures Farm, in Bluffton, Georgia; has established the model that the rest of the United States must follow, if there is ever to be any hope of reducing the stranglehold that *Cargill* , *JBS USA* , *National Beef*, *Purdue* , *Smithfield* , and *Tyson* currently enforce on our domestic meat market. He took the enormous financial risk to build a FDA compliant large animal slaughterhouse, and followed that up several years later with a sister slaughterhouse operation next door for poultry. His family currently raises, slaughters, processes, packages, and ships; beef, pork, sheep, goats, and rabbits in the red meat/white meat slaughterhouse. They do the same thing for chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, and Guinea hens in the poultry facility. Both operations are located on land that the Harris family owns, and their operation is only *one of 2* family owned, large scale ranches with their own FDA approved slaughterhouse on their own land. The other is in California. Mr. Harris states eloquently, in many interviews, that his operation, with the 6th generation living on the farms, *is not* scalable much further than the approximately 5,000 acres that he is currently raising animals on. However, and I feel that this is the key point that he emphasizes whenever asked if regenerative agriculture can *Feed the World* , his type of operation is endlessly replicatable. What's needed is tens of thousands of White Oak Pastures style animal livestock operations all across the planet, where they can serve local communities. Modern, industrial, commoditized, vertically integrated, agriculture has kept the cost of food for the average citizen in any Westernized country where the United States's *Green Revolution* style of farming has been practiced; to the lowest percentage of a family's annual income than at any time in the history of humankind. The cost of food has been kept artificially low as a result of national governments subsidizing the costs of fuel, fertilizers, pesticides, grains, and meats. In a truly free market with no governmental interference, food costs would initially skyrocket, but eventually settle back to where they used to be prior to government subsidies. Which is to say, approximately 20%-35% higher than they have been for the past 40 years. If independently owned, and operated, slaughterhouses were ever to be re-established all across the United States, then breeds such as the St. Croix hair sheep would be far more profitable than the heavier breeds, such as the Dorper. Nationally-owned supermarket chain stores, with their *One Stop Shopping*, in conjunction with the huge meat processing conglomerates, have destroyed rural America.
Do you vaccinate dogs for limes? We never have because our vet said don’t bother, but I guess there is a new vaccine. We had a dog we sold to some friends come down with limes who showed no symptoms except organ failure. The vet said it’s only a fraction of a percent that get limes like that and almost all dogs have limes, but I’m going to vaccinate my dogs after that experience. It was real sad. She couldn’t have been a better dog. She could guard chickens, or lambing ewes and was as gentle as they come with kids.
In SE Michigan most All Vets, no longer offer Lime vaccines. They seemed not to be concerned. Tho I take my dogs into heavily tick infested woods often. Go figure.
I did just the opposite of what Greg tells us to do. I did what the County Extension Service Sheep Specialist told me to do for 20 years. We lost money with the sheep EVERY year. I sure wish Greg had been around 50 years ago. 😢
Modern civilized man is the most dependent and ignorant in history. No one knows less, and is sure of more that is false, than modern "educated" people.
"The best way to bankrupt a farmer or rancher is to have him apply current (1985) agro economic extension advice"...Allan Savory
Nothing has changed! Government is the master of disinformation!
Lol, he was only 10~11 😂
Not much help then.
@@davemi00 sheee Greg Judy had more sense then most ag extensions service workers when he was 10 it’s just the internet had to catch up to his wisdom to get him out there to the masses
My wife and I left the California Bay Area to do this. We are in southern central Missouri on 42 acres with St. Croix sired sheep and South Poll cattle. We were watching Greg's videos while in CA every day, dreaming about doing this, and we still are watching here in Missouri, but we are doing it. Step in posts, reels, quad and all. Thanks Jan & Greg!
Wow, congratulations on taking a huge step in realizing your dreams! All the best to you.
I never would’ve thought cattle could live in the South Pole. I always just thought they had penguins.
@@nickt3169 Amazing isn’t it?
Up here in MN the catchphrase I hear about sheep from all the old timers is "Sheep die if you look at 'em wrong" and "they're too much trouble to keep in". Local guys almost don't believe me almost until they see a video or come to our farm - we don't worm, we don't have a barn and we keep them all in on one hot wire. I can operate with little or no competition locally because of this and it's thanks to Greg's channel and SGF. - Peter
I'm from the Twin Cities and know of only ONE sheep farm, talk about an untapped market specially considering the communities in the cities that love mutton/lamb...
@@firesalamander100 Yes so far, we've sold everything word-of-mouth and haven't even explored the ethnic communities market yet. Definitely untapped potential.
@@firesalamander100 You make a good point. Same in the Detroit area.
what’s sgf?
@@C.Hawkshaw Stockman Grass Farmer
I "joined" a few FB sheep groups. I left them pretty quickly because 99.98% appear to be doing EVERYTHING Greg Judy says "don't do". Folks just don't care to learn I suppose. Change is hard, but holy cow the SUCCESSFUL way y'all show us is SO VERY understandable and doable. I would have never considered grazers of any sort until I learned of your ways, and the benefits to the land and the animals and low labor inputs. Keep rockin' it Mr. Judy!
I am amazed how many channels have video's titled "Why I don't farm like Greg Judy?". i don't get it. I gave one guy a comment that rebuked him for doing that esp. when he was just starting out. lol. But like they say, " negative publicity, is the best publicity" because it draws people to your channel. Your way has been tried, tested and proved to be true, it doesn't take genius to figure that out!!!
Most of them will go broke before they admit they are wrong and possibly need to change the way they do things. PRIDE has destroyed many farmers.
I watched this video after the very cold storm. Our sheep and young guardian dogs came through the storm very well. Thank you for putting out a very consistent message over the years.
Those spotted ewes are to die for. That dark red and white is what I want!!
This is exactly how pastures were before humans interfered .
Best regards to you Greg Judy ;to wife and the boys working with you .
Merry christmas to all of you and the viewers of your channel .
Oh this makes me so excited to get on my land with these sheep!
We're going on 5 months with our flock. So far so good. We have a mix of Dorper x Katahdin and we don't do flock drenching, we're also in Missouri and they are on pasture. Sheep are awesome!
Can you contact me via email please as I'm seriously looking at Dorper x Katahdin cross on the new ranch I'll be going too.
Glad to hear the update on David, Thanks for highlighting sheep on buck brush
Sheep are absolutely the lowest input animal you can run on the farm. Greg's genetics are as good as it gets, adaptability and parasite resistance, is where it's at! If you want to be successful in a low input system it takes the right animals to fit that type of management. Yes the st Croix has a smaller carcass, but the lack of inputs required make up the difference.
Thanks for the video! I love sheep too. They are so easy to take care of. Our first timers ewes had twins. One of each so now we doubled our flock along selling the ram lambs. They grew right crazy too. This summer we had a few dirty tails but that was me. I didn’t move them for 6 days because there was so much forage in a small paddock I gave them. After I saw that, I moved them right away and after a day the tails were clean again. I had so much forage that my animals weren’t keeping up with all the forage.
That’s a nice problem to have.
Good Herding !
Your unfair advantage is all those trees. Here in central Illinois I don’t have trees for miles so I had to make a wind break. My sheep and guard dogs used the wind break and came through the storm in great shape!
Forest edge certainly helps in windstorms.
It's so interesting to contrast the color you have brought into the flock over the years. I remember two years ago listening to you point out a brown and white ram, and how you were looking forward to him putting some color into your herd. Looks like he is doing a good job.
We love the color in our flock, he is definitely doing his job.
This is exactly what I needed. Thank you for the valuable insight.
I have kept sheep for about 15 years. Until last year I never once had to worm. Then, last year I bought a young dorper/katahdin cross ewe. She was fine at first, but over winter she got so sick from parasites I almost lost her. In retrospect there were warning signs of her decline that I missed because I had never faced this issue before. After worming her she recovered great and is still healthy now. I will be keeping her because she has some traits I want to breed into my flock, but am definitely looking forward to her descendants inheriting the hardier traits from my existing flock.
Greg, the South Downs i kept for the winery the last 3 years were only wormed one time when i 1st took them over and they were in such poor condition along with the continuously grazed land. They haven't been wormed since and with extensive culling because of inbreeding, new rams, and regenerative pasture management, with almost daily moves i have not had even one get wormy again. The need to see them twice a day came from fencing issues, and these South Downs are stocky. the rocky ground was such that they often lie down and get on their back and cant get turned over. they then have to be turned back on their feet. yet that was becoming less of an issue as the biomass is deeper and the rocks are gradually getting covered etc. I found them to be low maintenance too. no supplements either, grass/alfalfa hay for 3 month in the winter to help out. oh ya, no barn except or occasional injury or special need. May lambing at your suggestion was a huge success from the old way of in the barn with lambing pens etc.
Your pragmatism is always refreshing
I used to follow the dorper crowd until I found your videos. I want to do what you're doing, make money and stop whining about vet bills lol. 😄
I'm still in the planning stages. The land I want is zone one, gets down to -50c. I've been trying to figure out if sheep would survive without a barn. Then it occurred to me that the wild horses do just fine in that area. So I guess the sheep probably will too. Lots of trees, shrubs, gulleys, etc.
Thanks for being the voice of experience and reason. 🐑 🧡😊👍👍
Sheep are tough and can handle some very inclement weather. They are amazing at digging back snow to expose food.
Those colorful sheep sure are pretty!
Thank you so much Greg! We had a wonderful time with all of our kids home together. We hope you had a very nice Christmas as well! We are so thankful for you and all you have taught our son. Happy New year to you all.
Tara, thank-you and your husband for raising such a great young man that is a pleasure to work with each day. You both have got to be commended on a job well done. I remember asking your husband, what was your secret for raising such a quality young man like Isaac? His reply which I will never forget was, “We just let him know that we loved him every day”. Happy New Year to you folks!
QUESTION: When you feed meatscraps to your guard dogs, do you avoid feeding them lamb? Are the scraps generally raw or cooked? I cant wait to see footage of your sheep in the coming blizzard. Stay warm! Thanks for all the sheep education :)
I feed a lot of lamb to my dogs. I have a policy of never feeding young dogs anything that has fur or hooves and looks like their flock. Something to be aware of is there is a parasite that passes from sheep muscle to dogs gut and back to sheep. I forget what it’s called, but because of it it’s actually illegal to keep guard dogs in the UK. 20 days in the freezer kills it. I don’t really worry about never feeding fresh meat but most of what I feed the dogs is organs and stuff trimmed off sheep skins I’ve gotten from the slaughter house so it’s been frozen.
Greg feeds the dogs dog food.
But venison scraps too around the hunting season. Without problems.
** I guess Greg answered our question, they have enough food to stay warm and full. Good thing too.
There's always someone disgruntled for whatever reason that likes to badmouth others, always will be. Some people just aren't happy unless they're busting someone else's chops.
Sheep and dogs look great, mine are doing fine also...made it through the arctic blast...rougher on me than the sheep.
To Issac and Family, God Bless and our Best to Craig 🇺🇸
Play, like, finish watching, want to like again.
From what the Shepherdess related, the daily moving of her Dorper sheep was a game changer. In less than a month, their health improved.
She has a small farm. Now that she is moving daily a lot less worming. But she has to check every so often. But her size farm, less than a hundred head, it doesn't take long
So it is all context. I KNOW she doesn't disparage Greg. She is learning from him and Joel and others.
So it can be done well. And I am sure she is hoping to develop more resistance, as Greg did.
Was Greg talking about the shepherdess today? Or some other TH-camr?
@@zuzannaszmidel2305 sure sounded like it lol.
@Zuzanna Szmidel He did not specify, just in general he doesn't want to deal with worming.
Hi Greg thanks for these great videos. Here in Scotland we are under pressure to calve our heifers at 2 years old. I was wondering what age you calve yours and how you manage the joining in and out with the bull if you are running them all in one mob thanks
Robbie
Hey man, don’t have the answer, but just want to say that I love your shearing videos! They helped me cut the shearing time in half just in one year! Keep up the good work!
We calve at 2 years old
Greg explains that process in past videos. When he pulls out the bulls and brings them back in. Cheers.
thanks
@@mihacurk Thanks happy to help
I raised katahdin sheep for a while. The part that I did not enjoy was trimming hooves. We have soft clay land and we were trimming hooves every year. We never had to worm them once we culled for a few years.
Did you feed grain to your katahdins?
@@wcm68tn We trim once a year. But up here, no grain, no sheep. They wouldn’t survive our winter on grazing alone, even if you could graze them.
@@wcm68tn I only have them a small amount when we were moving them. Something like 5 pounds total for ~40ish sheep maybe every 3-4 days. The sheep were super low input, except for the effort of hoof trimming.
Thanks for all of your great videos.
Successful people attract more critics than anyone else.
Thank you for your "Service"
Craig, brother of our "brother" Isaac!
Natural Gramma LLC
#naturalgramma
#aluminumchickentractor
Rev Hank and Laura Reid
Love it.. would love to see a follow up video to see how they handled the storm. Have a good week.
Always enjoy you videos Greg, keep them coming.
Will enough sheep exposure on weedy land eventually make it appropriate for cattle?
the weeds and broad leave plants -often thought of as weeds. are the sheep's fav food. and yes it does allow for the grasses to come in. thus the flerd idea goes well as they prefer the different plants and can strip the leaves off the brush with woody stems that the cattle don't eat. The cow wraps its tounge around the grass and pulls where the sheep takes a bite and lifts it head up to cut the item its eating. watch them feed and you will see the difference.
What Ray said. The sheep eat what the cattle won’t. Making them compliment ea other and improving the pastures.
Congrats on 100k subs, well deserved 🎉
The little lamb is beautiful, I love the color.
14:17 Hi Greg! What do you feed your dogs?
Are St. Croix the only breed with parasite resistance? And I'm curious what other hybrid crosses people have done with St Croix besides Katadin? (Nothing wrong with Katadin though.) And how does sheep blood temperature rate with other livestock? (This question I asked because I noticed waterfowl overwinter very well, geese and ducks. And part of it has to do with their heart, blood temperature being higher than other farm animals.)
The cold storm wasn't as bad as the one we had a couple few years ago. Thank god
I have wool sheep and dairy sheep. I don't worm them never have and they fat too. Had to take faeces into vet for our cow because when she sheds she looks like she has mange. No worms. I love the wool sheep and dairy, but I still find them easy to raise because of rotational grazing. They are fat. My sheared says the could lose some weight lol
They're alive!! Hahah exactly Greg 👍
I've got katahdins in North Alabama and we've had a really hard time with worms. I tried not worming them and several died last year after giving birth. The pasture they are has only been cut for hay for probably 30 years now, I'm just wondering if it's not enough nutrients for them in the grass. Maybe I should mix in some st. Croix. Not really sure but I definitely don't want to have to be working then all the time, and also can't afford for them to just be dying off.
Try mixing in some St Croix. Make sure whoever you buy them from is not worming them
Started reading Greg’s books and watching his channel after I decided I wanted to grass farm a few years ago. He’s been a heck of a mentor! I secured my first leased farm and started my flock of cheviots and romneys last year. Through all the courses I took and farms I’ve toured out here in OR, its standard practice to worm the whole flock routinely multiple times/year. I’ll follow Greg’s advice cause that sounds expensive at scale. I use famacha while my flock is still building to weed out the wormy ones. Half of them havent been wormed since I brought them on and they look great! Low input genetic selection starts from the ground up with any breed. Thanks for sharing your experience Greg!
Central Alabama here. Hoping to not deworm mine anymore… I have dairy ewes though so it’s a different ball game. Taking notes though!!
Looking to add sheep in next!!
I got dorper and katahd and cross and I don't have a problem with worms but the Bora goats that run with them I have to worm them unless I give them a copper bolus every 6 months seems to help a lot with the worms I don't give the sheep the copper bolus just the goats
Hello! I love your videos Greg!! I was wondering how the dogs make out in a big winter storm? Can they still access their feeders?
Maremma, Pyr and Anatolian Shepard
I love Greg Judy's sheep. And I've never even met them :) Thanks for sharing, Greg. How cold would it have to get for you to worry about bringing those dogs out of the weather? I suppose they can handle anything you'll ever get and for a sustained period, but I'm just curious.
Something to consider is that they can always warm
up in the flock. During the night or when they’re chewing they gather to share body heat, and the dogs are part of it.
The dogs (I have some of his sheep and dog stock) are cold hardy as the sheep. Those dogs pant and play in single digit temps. They're comfortable in cold weather, more comfortable than they are in hot weather. Keep their bellies full and they're fine.
I know the sheepdogs are part Pyrenees mountain dogs.
We want to start raising pastured sheep in central Wisconsin. Would you recommend us starting with straight St. Croix haired sheep or St. Croix / Katahdin Mix? Thanks Love what your doing!
What did you go with? I’m nearby where you are 😊
@nikkireigns We didn't end up getting any yet, still trying to figure it out! Homestead life takes time!
I watch a lot of your videos and really enjoy them. My question is with sheep being your lowest input grazing animal, why you don't raise more of them vs cattle. Not arguing either way as I have ran both and currently have mostly sheep just curious as to your reasoning.
A person should focus on what they love first. My first love was cattle, we also love our sheep. Cattle are my favorite. As we get older, I kidded my wife that we may go 100% sheep, there is no winter work required with sheep unlike there is with cattle.
We love the 🐑 sheep
I have about 8 acres of beautiful hay field on my property that i let the local farmer make hay on just so I can get the tax exemption being under ten acres. My area in PA gets 40-45 inches of rain a year, thought on rotational grazing sheep. St croix sheep a good fit?
I’m in northern Michigan. Can we do what you do for winter thus far north? Obviously we would need to feed hay when snow is on. What about pregnancy toxemia? Last year we fed grain all winter. This year I have only trained the last 6 weeks of pregnancy. It’s just my second year with sheep, I guess I’m just terrified to have a catastrophic lambing season if they have toxemia.
Thanks for all you do Greg
New Greg Judy fan here! Love your work, you mentioned selecting the right breed for your homestead, I live in Northern Alberta and I want to start my flock this spring. We get 14-17 inches of rain per summer, with about 6-8 months of winter. What breed of hair should I be targeting to maximize our less than ideal feeding situation?
Try and find a local source that is raising sheep the way you want to and start there.
Hey Greg! I have 5 strand barbed wire fencing. What would be the best option to modify for sheep? Thanks
Put 2 hot hi-tensile wires offset from your barb wire fence. Place your offset wires 8 inches from barb wire fence. The heights on your two wires should be 8” and 15”. Use the 4 foot Timeless Posts, the work great and are sturdy which keeps your fence secure and will not let it touch your barb wire.
I raised my own steer this past year and sent him to butcher. The steer ran with my goats that I free range with a dog. I did not worm him. The butcher said that the liver and heart had worms so he couldn't give them back to me. My intention was to feed the organs to the dog. The butcher also said that he sees worms more in grain fed than in grass fed beef. I fed my steer the same as I was feeding my goats in order to bucket train him. Mostly alfalfa with a handful of the sweet feed I give my horse. I don't know if the butcher was right or not. Was it the little bit of grain? Or was it just the worms are on the land and he was just going to get them?
may i suggest that the steer came with the worms. The parent farm and animals most likely are infected. Id try to find a steer from a farm that practices holistic management etc.
@@raybankes7668 I bought him as a bottle calf and raised him on my dairy goat. He was 2 weeks old when I bought him.
The sheep look beautiful Greg! If you were just starting and you had 5 acres what would be the first size of a property you’d try and lease? I also want to custom graze! I’m studying you like a hawk 😂
Start with your 5 acres. When you start to out grow it find a property close to you that you can afford. The size requirements depend on the herd size and forage available
Do the sheep get snagged and caught up in the buckbrush?
Is it possible to move them only every couple weeks so long as the acreage is provided? We have 40 acres but 1.5hr from where we live and 20 acres are going into a native grass NRCS contract.
It’s better than giving them the full acreage and not moving them at all. But there are issues that will prevent you from
Maximizing your forage. I’m guessing you will not be able to graze the NRCS acreage?
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher not for about 1.5 years or so while it established but after that than it is fine to manage graze.
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher I’m thinking coyotes are my biggest issue as I would have to do a donkey not dogs
Make sure you get a good donkey. Some of them are hard on lambs.
I was looking forward to your comments about a TH-camr I think you're speaking of.
The dirty tail remedy tale is a good one. As for that lamb, we all want one just like it. You could make a ceramic of it, and sell them the world over.
Now that is thinking outside the box!!
Greg, I’d love to get into sheep but there doesn’t seem to be a huge market for them. How do you generally sell yours? I’m assuming not a sale barn?
These light weight lambs go into the "non traditional" or "ethnic" market. It is pretty big deal (in eastern US... not sure about western) but when the supply gets met..... it can be a real yard sale for lambs. Feeding out hair lambs trying to get them to domestic market size is a total waste of time, forage, and for most people... grain or expensive inputs. They all need to be sold from 50lbs to 99 lbs. The light ethnic market has been great the past few years but we are due for a downturn. I used to sell to a place out in the middle of no where that has a big market for halal lambs in several good sized cities. The prices are split 40 to 59 lbs. 60-79 lbs. 80-99 lbs. If the lamb hit over 100 you took a big hit. I have sit there at the scales and LOSE $20 PER HEAD because a lamb was 60lb instead of 59. There are times when they want the small roasters and pay that much more for them. Greg seems to be in the seed stock business. If you want to see what lambs bring just google USDA sheep market report and it gives you a list of every reported sale in every state. In my state there are a few sales I know of that are not reported. Getting to be alot of lambs because people that could not make any money with cattle are going to sheep.... and they usually end up getting a rude awakening. I know MANY people that got into sheep thinking they were going to be such easy money makers. Very few stay in it.
@@farmtuber7815 what about meat goats? Are they any more lucrative?
@@shoshanafox727 they can be. The price per lb is almost always better with goats but they are more trouble IMO. Follow Grandview Livestock here on TH-cam. He runs a pretty tough goat and sheep business and breaks down feed cost and shares what he gets out of them also.
Build your own direct marketing of your sheep, do not rely on the sale barn.
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher Sale barn gave me a hat. Direct market never gave me no hat!
Did I hear you correctly when you say that you don’t water them? Can you elaborate a little? Honest question trying to understand.
In the winter time as long as they are grazing winter stockpile out in the pasture they don’t drink water, even if it is offered to them. If you feed dry hay, they definitely need water.
What is winter stock pile exactly? St croix rams covering katahdin ewes or other way around? Thanks!!!
Greg. I wonder if the guy in Texas raising dorper sheep successfully has inventoried his browse plant species in his pastures?
Perhaps his success with parasite control is due to a certain plant that may be a natural parasite inhibitor.
It would be worth him looking into it. Maybe team up a plant botanist or biologists.
Can goats work the same way?
Yes
Planning for ranching as a rookie 🏞️ 🐑 🐏 🐾
What is best?
Acquire flock and LGDs at the same time? Or 1 before the other?
I wouldn't want to get a flock and have it unprotected. At the same time, getting LGDs first and then they don't have a flock to protect.
Everything including animal additions & dynamics are processes in themselves. Each one, especially different species, takes time to acquire, work with, creating an overall lifestyle.
Blessed be 🌈
Rae Fae
Are sheep doable in rocky no grass area on 4 acre? Or should i develop pastures first?
They need something to eat!
Hello sir,
I've been following you for some time and I love your concept.
Sir I am from Kerala, India. Here we have tropical climate and so we have here goats. My question is regarding deworming. If you feed only grass and shrubs to goats, can we avoid deworming or does it differ between breeds.
Please help with your wealth of information.
If the animals are on fresh pasture every day or every other day and not exposed to their manure and urine, breeds that are parasite resistant can go without wormer.
If you have the goats (or other animals) in a barn or enclosure, you will likely need to worm them.
Areas in Africa are using the Savory Institute method, like what Greg Judy uses, to put together all the cattle from the entire village and use the whole surrounding grazing area with the one herd. The village plans the grazing and also uses a predator friendly corral at night with several nights in the same spot to prep garden and crop fields prior to planting.
@@leelindsay5618 something I over looked is regularly disinfecting their trough. I was asked to take a couple of sheep by an elderly woman who I know and even though she had had wormed them I believe they gave lung worm to the rest of the flock with once a day moves. I’m going to have to pickup some ivermectin today. The other place we could have got it is white tails, but I’m not sure.
I wonder if different breeds have better resistance? I've heard that kiko goats are very hardy and parasite resistant.
Parasite resistance is very breed dependent, so just try to find a breed that is resistant.
@@leelindsay5618 thank you very much,
I saw a video from Ohio State University where they said white faced sheep have better mothering instincts and black faced sheep have better meat characteristics. They recommended breeding white faced ewes with black faced rams to get hybrid vigor (cross breeds with the best of both). Any thoughts on that? I'm just getting started with a farm in north Texas with about 37 annual inches of rainfall.
How much foot care are you having to do?
The Sheppardess has her strong points as well.
She is young, energetic and on top of her herd issues.
She seems to be doing well. It's not a competition. As we get older, we don't want to work hard if we don't have to.
Every time I hear her speak, I question her intelligence. Slightly believable clickbait and being slightly pretty is a great view generator.
How do you aviod fly strike with sheep?
Never had it in our sheep flock.
Hello there Greg, I have been watching a lot your videos lately. I live in SW Florida and I was wondering what sheep breed would be suited for hot humid climate? We get annually approximately 37 inches of rain. Personally, I was thinking black belly mixed with katahdin. Would love to hear from you, thanks in advance.
Check out the breed called Florida Native. If you find the good ones, they are a great breed. I’ve seen some Florida Nstives that were not very good. Be very selective in choosing.
Apart from parasite resistance, under what other circumstances do you cull your sheep?
fence jumpers are culled immediately, bad mothers
Can I depend on Blue Panic as pasture for sheep?
How did everyone fare in the pola air before Christmas?
I raise Royal White (aka DorpCroix) hair sheep. I do not worm them, they live out on pasture 365, and they produce a market size carcass at 5 months that is low fat and great taste.
Good job, what state are you located in?
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher in Southern Ohio, right on the river, so less snow and cold than you, but also less heat than Texas or Southern states. We can get away with less of a Barbados type. We also raise unregistered Katadin/Royal White cross that are very low maintenance and good carcass weight. As you said in the video, it really depends on your climate, rainfall, and management.
Greg first of all, thank you for your work.
I have the opportunity to get Navajo Churro sheep as I live in Central New Mexico. Very little pasture and natural grasses.
Can you do a video or address raising sheep in the desert? Thank you and happy New Year.
Hey Greg me and my wife recently bought our farm and have since invested in 21 registered Katahdin ewes and a registered Katahdin ram. We fenced our peremiter with 4x4 sheep and goat wire and we love it, but we don’t love the price. We have taken your advice and are now in the process of leasing our first additional 50 acre farm. The owner is wanting a wove wire fence around the perimeter. Do you think that a 6x6 woven wire fence with one high tensile hot wire will Sufice? We do have plenty of grass and we do run guardian dogs. This will be a life time lease
Thanks again from Kentucky
If the owner is willing to pay for the woven wire perimeter fence and you have a lifetime lease, then go that route. If you have to pay for the fence, I would go with a 5 strand hi-tensile fence, much more economical and still very effective fence.
Greg what kind of dogs are they
Part Pyrenees
Greg discusses this on past videos about the dogs, puppies and Selling them. Cheers
This video is being seen on the 29th really I can’t wait to see footage on the Christmas Day Bomb cyclone 2022 I’m sure y’all came out good just curious on seeing livestock handle ice I want to see you unroll bales that would be a great sales point for the Greg Judy bale unroller
Greg how many guard dogs should you have for a flock of sheep?
2 dogs is nice, if something happens to one, you have a backup
Do you ever sell ewes and lambs for people looking to start a new flock? My husband and I would like to start a flerd next year.
Watch our website, we will be selling some ewes this year
I think I already know the answer, but… do you vaccinate against clostridial disease? We always did, but couldn’t get hold of it this year and have had problems. I do wonder if I should be selecting out stock that can’t cope with it, or just vaccinate? It’s cost effective to do it short term but IF there is any genetic resilience to clostridium I feel I shouldn’t be masking it with vaccine…! Hope the -40c didn’t hit you too bad!
We only vaccinate against Blackleg
How do you avoid inbreeding do you have a video on that? Do you have to buy a ram every year?
Where do you sell your lambs? Sale barn or just private treaty.
95% direct marketed. The culls go to the salebarn
Great video as always. Jealous of your “winter” though. Just dug out the gates for the umpteenth time since the first snow we got October 24th that stayed. Running out of places to put the snow. Running out of space to feed, because I can’t get anywhere with the tractor anymore. Up here, winter grazing sheep is unfortunately an impossibility. Snow far too deep, and here for far too long. Also, far too cold, for far too long! If I didn’t feed grain, along with top notch alfalfa hay, my sheep would die, let alone hold onto their lambs. Keeping warm takes a pile of energy and nutrition in long periods of minus 30 to 40C. I have tried bale grazing, but it just can’t be done when the animals can’t physically move. Frustrating. My four foot fences are disappearing fast. The good news? Well, in April it will start to melt. The bad news? In April it will start to melt. Haha. Thanks for another grand video on sheep. I would love to move south. Looks amazing for the end of December. That’s what it looks like here just before the first snow in October. Happy new year!
Best Wishes !
Wow, you are a tough farmer to handle those kind of conditions.
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher Haha. It is truly exhausting, I don’t mean to complain, I love what I do… But it gets old, Greg. Some cattle guys graze corn in winter with success. But then you’re still using inputs and equipment. I’ve wondered about trying it for the sheep. Alas it is not the direction I want to go. When I have more of my land fenced, I hope to try taller grasses that wouldn’t be as much of a dig for the sheep. Sorghum/Sudan for stockpiling. I have land like yours Greg with lots of natural shelter. If the wind can’t get in and drift the snow into hard concrete, it may work somewhat. Even if I still have to supplement with grain to keep their tanks full, it would be so nice to have them out grazing more. I guess if I’m seeding annual grasses, I may as well seed corn?! I dunno? Trying to figure out a way. It just seems so impossible most years. Last year the sheep were walking over the fence. I had to push the snow away from the fences. This year it’s almost there already. Just to give you an idea of what I’m dealing with… A hundred miles south of west it would be feasible. We’re in a tough, tough region. Thanks, I enjoy your content so much. I might have ti make my own!
are your sheep on a completely different pasture than your cattle mr judy? i know you have mentioned putting the rams and bulls together but i dont recall ever hearing you say anything about running the sheep and cattle together. If that is case, why dont you??
We put the bulls in with the sheep flock in the spring.
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher is there a specific reason you never put all of your animals together for one flerd?
Yes with all the road cattle drives we do our guardian dogs would kill or maim every neighbor dog along the way! That is not the best if your trying to be a good neighbor!!
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher I understand now. Thank you!
Do you need to castrate if your going to slaughter them at around 9-10 months of age
Absolutely not, leave them in tact!!!!
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher Thanks for the info I appreciate it
Always interesting how one persons opinion isnt the last word on farming anything.:-)
You’re flock IS fat! They look great. The new ewe lamb is sure cute.
I live in Western Wa., we get 40+ inches of rain a year here. People have wool sheep breeds around here which I never have been interested in because of the major time & money to maintain them. Over the last 5 years I have looked for hair sheep out of parasite resistant flocks around my area and have not found anything here. Recently found a farm in Western Oregon in the area I grew up. Considering contacting them in the new year to see if they sell breeding stock.
If it’s cold wet and windy wool sheep are a lot hardier than hair sheep, and sheering is just once a year. My mentor has a flock that is practically indestructible. We joke they are ovine cockroaches. There’s nothing wrong with woolies if their coming from a shepherd that makes them work for their place in his or her flock.
@@swamp-yankee while sheering is a pain, my South Downs made such nice wool the spinners want it and it is a fun event, also allows me to inspect each sheep closely CDT to the ewes about to lamb, and when i see an issue with a missing tag or some hooves that need attention it happens all in the same movement. other than that they only get looked at through the corrals to sort out the ram lambs that we castrate at 6 months and those that are being culled or sold etc
How do you worm a sheep?
Feed it ( or inject or pour on it ) toxic poison , which then gets pooped out on the ground and kills all the worms in the soil, and whatever other soil life it can kill
These are mostly parasite resistant Saint Croix sheep. Greg Judy moves sheep every 48 hours to a fresh paddock. Sick sheep are taken to market.
Greg doesn't worm sheep. Everyone who does worm sheep gets them up in a corral and runs them through a catch and gives them usually a dose of oral dewormer, then let them back out.
Because the dewormer will also kill dung beetles and earth worms, dewormer isn't good for soil building and manure pats or manure pellets don't get decomposed quickly.
There are more natural herbs and forages that have a slight deworming effect which helps the sheep "self medicate" but only if the pasture is diverse enough to include the various varieties plus all the other favorite sheep feed of broadleaves.
In case you were wondering... Sheep gal's interpretation of Greg Judy's no-worm method... th-cam.com/video/VnIJGVSJ0u8/w-d-xo.html
This is the newer video that she mentions Greg in and is probably what he is referencing since he counter the points in the video. th-cam.com/video/tKUJ1bH15UU/w-d-xo.html starting around the 6 minute mark.
@@Herps1 Thanks. She seems like an awesome woman, but still a sophmore.
I have followed her from her start, and yes she is doing by trial and error. I Have seen her over time learn and adopt more of the holistic management practices. I want to find out if the issue of needing to worm is the Dorper breed in general. Her other approaches to her farm are well laid out in marketing, planning and looking at the cost vs benefit. I do like that aspect of her channel. i have been looking at her financial and marketing side much closer. She also hosts a weekly live with another young guy regenerative glazier and the topics are interesting and informative.
@@Herps1 Thanks for linking! I have a flock from Greg and we practice most of Greg's methods. That said, the Sheperdess has a point about smaller farms. We've got a smaller farm and adapted by learning from others like Linessa Farms on worming and hoof trimming (no we dont feed grain:)) th-cam.com/video/Bhv9tU-S7Jo/w-d-xo.html
@@raybankes7668 The dorper in my experience is just a wormy breed. I bought a few of them to try them out, and even moving them 4 times a day some of them get wormy. While on the other hand very few of my other sheep get wormy
glad to hear that sheep like ironweed; our goats strip the leaves off in the same way; our cows had not interest.
I wonder why we see so little about the sheep relative to the cattle.
IKR, Greg certainly gets many more comments on his Sheep Vids !
We spend more time moving cattle than we do sheep, the filming opportunities are greater.
Will Harris, of White Pastures Farm, in Bluffton, Georgia; has established the model that the rest of the United States must follow, if there is ever to be any hope of reducing the stranglehold that *Cargill* , *JBS USA* , *National Beef*, *Purdue* , *Smithfield* , and *Tyson* currently enforce on our domestic meat market. He took the enormous financial risk to build a FDA compliant large animal slaughterhouse, and followed that up several years later with a sister slaughterhouse operation next door for poultry. His family currently raises, slaughters, processes, packages, and ships; beef, pork, sheep, goats, and rabbits in the red meat/white meat slaughterhouse. They do the same thing for chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, and Guinea hens in the poultry facility. Both operations are located on land that the Harris family owns, and their operation is only *one of 2* family owned, large scale ranches with their own FDA approved slaughterhouse on their own land. The other is in California.
Mr. Harris states eloquently, in many interviews, that his operation, with the 6th generation living on the farms, *is not* scalable much further than the approximately 5,000 acres that he is currently raising animals on. However, and I feel that this is the key point that he emphasizes whenever asked if regenerative agriculture can *Feed the World* , his type of operation is endlessly replicatable. What's needed is tens of thousands of White Oak Pastures style animal livestock operations all across the planet, where they can serve local communities.
Modern, industrial, commoditized, vertically integrated, agriculture has kept the cost of food for the average citizen in any Westernized country where the United States's *Green Revolution* style of farming has been practiced; to the lowest percentage of a family's annual income than at any time in the history of humankind. The cost of food has been kept artificially low as a result of national governments subsidizing the costs of fuel, fertilizers, pesticides, grains, and meats. In a truly free market with no governmental interference, food costs would initially skyrocket, but eventually settle back to where they used to be prior to government subsidies. Which is to say, approximately 20%-35% higher than they have been for the past 40 years.
If independently owned, and operated, slaughterhouses were ever to be re-established all across the United States, then breeds such as the St. Croix hair sheep would be far more profitable than the heavier breeds, such as the Dorper. Nationally-owned supermarket chain stores, with their *One Stop Shopping*, in conjunction with the huge meat processing conglomerates, have destroyed rural America.
Do you vaccinate dogs for limes? We never have because our vet said don’t bother, but I guess there is a new vaccine. We had a dog we sold to some friends come down with limes who showed no symptoms except organ failure. The vet said it’s only a fraction of a percent that get limes like that and almost all dogs have limes, but I’m going to vaccinate my dogs after that experience. It was real sad. She couldn’t have been a better dog. She could guard chickens, or lambing ewes and was as gentle as they come with kids.
In SE Michigan most All Vets, no longer offer Lime vaccines. They seemed not to be concerned. Tho I take my dogs into heavily tick infested woods often. Go figure.
Did u say sheep don't drink water
When it gets below 32 degrees F and their grazing winter stockpile, they don’t drink water, even if it’s offered to them!!
More diverse forage = less parasites, disease etc.
The little lamb is doing fine. What he/she does not know is that I ate his cousin over Christmas all by myself.
Work smart.