I LOVE this.

Have you ever heard of the Ram Apron? I'm considering it. We have 7 St. Croix ewes in Central Texas and we're getting our first ram in 2 weeks. We bought the ewes last year and had a successful lambing season. I was going to keep the ram separated by a hot wire fence for about a month because I want the 2 lambs that are going to be processed to get a bit bigger. I'd really like to keep him with the girls year around which is why i'm asking about the apron. Does this sound like a decent plan? This is my new learning curve....

We have 46 acres in Laramie, Wyoming area. Do you have any suggestions on where to get some Red Devon calves in our area? Thanks for your content. Very new to homesteading and love learning from your YT site!! Also, what's the next best 100% grass feeding calf you would suggest? Thank you!

Do you ever theorize about human needs from observing your animals? I’m jealous that they know exactly what they are lacking by their cravings while I can only guess I am lacking refined sugar products.

Pretty sure we are doing the same thing!!

Great heads up. Thanks for letting us know.

I never bought their feeder, so never thought about that! I do have a container of redmond's that I add garlic to, so I guess that's my table salt. Mine went crazy for the phosphorus. Ya never know! I have another couple if containers for kelp and charcoal, as well. Amazing story about the starving cows, yeesh! I guess we're on the right track with the fancy mineral bar! Yay!!

Thanks for the enlightenment!

Now I feel guilty for using pre made . ( I have 3 Ewes)

So there’s 21 slots in the mineral trough?

Very interesting. Never would've thought! Na vs NaCl

Great video today Jason. I’d be interested to hear more about how you select for breeding. More about what line breeding is. What is ok to do and what isn’t? If you’d care to discuss, i’d certainly listen

Who do you market the sheep to? I am still not understanding the market. I like the idea but struggling to see how I can make it work in Western PA.

Truly amazing Jason. Trying to get my son to embrace his tech savviness and develop his skills.

I’m so glad I ran into your channel! I used to live in Monroe Ohio. I’m now in wabash Indiana but I’ve been digging into homesteading. I’m a fellow Christ follower and you had me sold when you quoted scripture right out of the gate. It was very affirming to find this. God bless you sir!

The what, the dairy, the this, the that, the eggs. It's the spraying and chemicals.

You mentioned that there is a spare compartment. That's not true. You have to run a cheap white salt in the 20th compartment. FCE does not supply that. Like the addition of wheels, great content. We've been working with FCE for 2 months now.

Omg where have I been! Are you going gray?! So my Bahia is starting to turn yellow ish. I wonder if I let it go too long… should I clip it or leave it and just stockpile it??

did you ever look into royal white sheep

Wise words from the Scripture. Some of the best lessons God teaches, is through a life lived. We've had >5" of rain in 3 weeks! Had to dump out my rain gauge… Congrats on the website!

We raise Katahdins. St croix is in the lifeline of a Katahdin for the parasite reasons. We do have a registered flock. And yes- there is a program to get flock papered. It takes 4 generations of breeding to a fully registered line and then an inspection for hair uniformity to be approved. Still watching your video- but wanted to share that.

Thank you. Reason 4: you probably can get a higher price for your registered stock than for unregistered when selling breeding stock. Coming from the hunting dog breeding world my best working dogs were not registered. But came from registered animals. Hybrid vigor is an amazing tool and could be easily achieved by keeping all males one pure line (heavily line bred or inbred) and all females another pure line. The offspring can potentially be bigger, stronger, more athletic, more disease resistant, smarter etc etc than either parent. It really is an amazing phenomenon. My best dogs BY FAR were cross bred dogs. I would guess the livestock application would be breeding for meat market. (Because it can be a genetic dead end since the hybrid vigor can be lost in the next generation). My own feeling toward registered dogs is very negative because they have proven inferior. But I’m trying to ignore those biases in learning about livestock.

I bought mine back in September as well. I’ve noticed the sheep have a harder time lifting up that conveyor belt flap… when I prop it open they love it, but pop up showers make that a bad idea. You have issues with that?

🇳🇿🙏🏼

Still think an easy way to apply biochar would be to put it on any manure you see, maybe 1/4 inch thick. I sift my char through a 1/4 inch screen so this seems like the easiest way to me!

Please put the link in the description! Thanks!

Please put the link in the description! Thanks!

Bjorn Johansson and Richard Perkins have a great discussion on linebreeding on youtube.

We run St. Croix mixed with Katahdin for the added parasite resistance. This was our first year lambing with great success. Love your content, and your pastures look great. God bless.

Also, as far as I know, there is no breed registry in canada for the breeds I raise. Maybe I'll get some black headed dorpers some day and register them but for now, there is no registry here that I'm aware of.

Have you ever showed your animals before? We did for the first time yesterday. My daughter entered 4 classes and I entered one and we won 4 first places and one second place! I'm hoping we can use that to market our lambs more effectively.

Another species that's high in tannins is willow. There's a hybrid that grows insanely fast, in wet conditions , and doesn't really compete with grass (because it's deeper rooted). If anything, it helps cold season grasses, by keeping the ground cool. So planting willow in all the wet places, and then chop and dropping it for animals, whenever necessary, would be another thing to try. Feedipedia recommends willow for parasite control (they're a European government site, and they only make study-based recommendations). It's also excellent fodder, in moderation (in moderation because, again, it's high in tannins). It's widely used in New Zealand, in a silvopasture system. It's often planted in rows for sheep (the rows are kept in check with one of those little buzz saws landscapers use on hedges, I assume), or pollarded (and chop and dropped) for cattle. They plant it mainly for its feed value, along with poplar, as a food source for those times of the year when grass suffers. (willow in low wet places, poplar on hillsides to prevent erosion).

I cured all my ailments(a lot) with the carnivore diet. @ 50 years old I felt like I was dieing now I'm 55 & I feel better than I did in my 20's. Eat pasture raised ruminant animals, pastured eggs, and wild caught fish, salt to taste, drink clean water, & thrive!

Please stick to the bulls, just try to keep things as God created. There is something there, i dont know what but there is something.

Iam from India,Good video

Thank you so much. Great video on the mineral feeder

Love your videos! You always have such good information. I've noticed in some of your other videos you talk about rotating with quarter acre padocks. If you are rotating on quarter paddocks with 5 acres how do you keep from returning in 30 days? Are you rotating every other day?

"I was really moved by your message about small farmers uniting. Living in one of the biggest cities in America, my wife and I are actively planning our escape to the countryside. God bless!"

I’ve raised dorpers and Dorper/Katahdin crosses in NewMexico . Very low maintenance, no deworming. Moved to De. OMG! Game Changer! Raising St. Croix. Lost my first lamb to parasites! The parasite environment in grass pastures vs arid desert raised sheep is very different. No comparison. Dorpers are Bred for Dry Arid conditions. I wanted a Dorper flock, I’m not so sure now because of the parasite resistance.

Any updates on biochar?

When I was researching breeds to raise on small acreage in North Texas, I spoke to a breeder here. She said you HAVE to deworm dorpers, even with rotationally grazing. I asked her how often she has to assist in lambing and she said 30% assist rate with her ewes. I then spoke to my uncle. He also referred to dorpers as "Angus of the sheep" but not in a positive manner. Said they have been "beefed up like Angus" and if he wasn't around during lambing, he would lose many ewes and lambs as they struggle to lamb without assistance. He ultimately sold all of his dorpers because they required constant deworming in addition to having to frequently pull lambs. We ended up with Katahdins as they are easier to come by than St. Croix in our area.

Great video on the mineral feeder. A numerous thoughts come to mind while watching, Apologize for being long winded. If you want to build something for the sheep, why not scale down the size in height and depth, kind of like food packaging shrinkflation?.... keep the proportions basically the same. So the box frame could be from 2x8's instead of 2x12's, 25% lighter. Years ago I bought a Vermont style cart made out of solid 1/4 thick plastic sheets rather than wood. It is great, easy to clean, light and should last for ever outside. Maybe you could use something like that for the partitions. That way you could just grab the container, fill it and put it back without having to move the whole thing. [think like the containers on a buffet steam table]. Or make them as self contained boxes in a frame made with angle Al or steel. You could as add custom stuff. I have heard that some people add baking soda or humates as a free choice. A few years back Greg Judy made a modification the the lid on the FCE feeder after a lamb died of a broken neck while feeding because another lamb jumped on top, something to think about.. He added supports to prevent that. It was a pretty detailed video and might give you some good ideas. One of the other comments mentioned a smaller feeder. Could you take a larger round black fortext type feed tub and build a partition that looked like a cut pie? I read that Cu works as an anthelminic for sheep in smaller doses.

What are your thoughts on tail docking? No fly strike issues?

Thank you so much. You always have fantastic information. My husband and I really enjoy watching your content. I've seen the 20 mineral buffet starter kit available from Little Avalon Farm. I think I read that they have permission from FCE to repackage their minerals so they're the same that you're using only in 1lb and 1/2 lb packages rather than 25lb bags. For your size flerd, do you know how many lbs of minerals you use per year? Thanks again and let us know how we can be praying for you.

I wish we had free choice mineral here in Hawaii. I wanted to ask what is your electric system that your using for your farm. What charger and hieght of your wires for the sheep. Sorry if you made a video already covering this subject. Mahalo.

Check out The Shepherdess. She's been raising dorpers in NE Texas for several years, no shots, no wormer. She's been able to build some strong genetics.

Without seeing it in person, making a 1/2 scale version would be doable. 5/5 instead of 10/10 bins. Use horse stall mat for the top. You could size it in such a way that when you buy the lumber you could build 2 of them at once.

Thanks for sharing your info and data from your experiences. I’m learning and looking to add sheep to our mix, this info helps.

My sheep haven’t had issues with my cattle mineral. They free range and always have access, so I wonder if it’s not high enough doses?

Your downside with carcass yield Is in your butcher/slaughter costs. With Dorper your going to have more meat to spread that cost over, vs st croix slaughter cost spread over less lbs of meat.