Just curious who else is living super frugal

[ScottnLydia]

Good Grief – you folks are setting a fire under me! I really need to get that Jersey milk cow! My property is fenced with barbed wire, but it also needs cross fencing so that I can control her grazing. Does anyone know if barbed wire is adequate for sheep? I also want a few sheep as I love that more than I do beef. Fortunately, Jennifer and I can enjoy chicken without worrying about what we are eating, that is if the feed we are giving them is not also poisoned. Jennifer wants to start growing our own chicken feed.

Hey Dennis, Aye, the fyre, it burn! IT BURNS !

I used woven wire Field fence, but my pasture is only about a half acre. Some friends of ours use 5 strand barby and they say that it helps keep out coyotes as well. Your biggest problem with barby, though, is getting baby lambs on the wrong side. sometimes they get caught in it trying to get through. If memory serves, you have a pretty big place. If sheep have enough space and enough stuff to graze on they won't challenge a fence. Lambs will stay close to mama.

You could get bred ewes and start your flock sooner. A lamb can reach a good butchering size within 6 or so months, 8 or 9 months if you want them a little bigger. Not nearly as long to wait as a beef. If you get bred ewes, save the ewe lambs for future breeding ewes, and get a ram lamb from a different blood line. he will be ready to breed when they are old enough (roughly, you may want to hold them back a few months). That's the quick-n-easy way to build your flock.

I read something about the 'Serengeti' model, where you combine large and small grazers (cows and sheep) with poultry on the same pasture. I'm not sure what the advantages are, but I think it's supposed to be good? Check it out. It's not for me 'cuz I iz skeered of the moo-moos ! Baa-baas cool, moo-moos bad.

~S

Thought for the day;
Sometimes 'real cool' is not so hot ! (June Cleavor)
And sometimes 'Totally hot' is uncool ! (Me, just to P.O. my daughter)

 

[mickey328]

Sorry, I don't have a clue about sheep...I've never tasted either the meat or the milk. If I had the room though, I'd have me a milk cow in a heartbeat! I'd breed her to a beef bull to freshen the milk, the use the calf for meat at the end of the season. Ah....dreams...

 

[ScottnLydia]

Sorry, I don't have a clue about sheep...I've never tasted either the meat or the milk. If I had the room though, I'd have me a milk cow in a heartbeat! I'd breed her to a beef bull to freshen the milk, the use the calf for meat at the end of the season. Ah....dreams...

Hey, I didn't know YOU had a beard TOO !!!

~S

 

[mickey328]

LOL...I'm a woman of "that certain age", Scott...happens to the best of us

 

[DennisK]

Hey Scott! Thanks for your reference to the Serengeti style of grazing. This is a very interesting approach to grazing on limited acreage. I looked up this subject on the internet, and I found this tantalizing pdf file: http://www.erathearth.com/Serengeti-Style%20Grazing.pdf I can’t imagine raising 30 bulls on just 6 acres! I really like the idea of replacing all of those chemicals in de-wormers with dung beetles - pure milk and clean pastures – can’t beat that!
I have seen the results of barbed wire on a young colt and wouldn’t trust any young creature around that stuff! I do have a safely fenced area 75 by 40 feet for the chickens – perhaps mama and her young-uns could share that space with the chickens. I will need to throw hay for them.. and I could enlarge the area. The barbed wire fence around the property’s perimeter is currently four wires. Turning into a 5 or 6 wire fence would be possible for the more mature sheep.

 

[DennisK]

LOL...I'm a woman of "that certain age", Scott...happens to the best of us

What I can’t understand is that lately, I have noticed the hair on the top of my head has gone thin, and it has reappeared coming out of my ears! What’s with that!?!

 

[jbirds2012]

Hey Dennis, Aye, the fyre, it burn! IT BURNS !

I used woven wire Field fence, but my pasture is only about a half acre. Some friends of ours use 5 strand barby and they say that it helps keep out coyotes as well. Your biggest problem with barby, though, is getting baby lambs on the wrong side. sometimes they get caught in it trying to get through. If memory serves, you have a pretty big place. If sheep have enough space and enough stuff to graze on they won't challenge a fence. Lambs will stay close to mama.

You could get bred ewes and start your flock sooner. A lamb can reach a good butchering size within 6 or so months, 8 or 9 months if you want them a little bigger. Not nearly as long to wait as a beef. If you get bred ewes, save the ewe lambs for future breeding ewes, and get a ram lamb from a different blood line. he will be ready to breed when they are old enough (roughly, you may want to hold them back a few months). That's the quick-n-easy way to build your flock.

I read something about the 'Serengeti' model, where you combine large and small grazers (cows and sheep) with poultry on the same pasture. I'm not sure what the advantages are, but I think it's supposed to be good? Check it out. It's not for me 'cuz I iz skeered of the moo-moos ! Baa-baas cool, moo-moos bad.

~S

Thought for the day;
Sometimes 'real cool' is not so hot ! (June Cleavor)
And sometimes 'Totally hot' is uncool ! (Me, just to P.O. my daughter)

yea, we want moo moo's and baa baa's. we ain't scared of no moo's.

 

[mickey328]

Dennis, you and DH Dave are in the same boat. He's developed a gorgeous chrome dome, but you could braid the hair from his ears if ya wanted to! LOL A different sort of "Captain Jack" look. Hmmmm....

 

[ScottnLydia]

What I can’t understand is that lately, I have noticed the hair on the top of my head has gone thin, and it has reappeared coming out of my ears! What’s with that!?!

It's just gravity pulling it out your ears. What you need to do is to grab the stubble on top with some pliers, vicelocks, etc., and pull, using a twisting-curling motion. This will not only pull the hair out of your ears, but keep it from sliding back, and give you a stylish perm to boot !

~S

 

[stoopid]

Just remember to make sure your feet stay on the floor.