Rotational Grazing

Rotational grazing has been an intention from the start but seems slow coming. Secure boundary fences are needed first. Almost there. I have been using temporary fence. Polytwine can be easily put up and taken down but it is time consuming. This has been good as I learn the lay of the land and how best to arrange padocks. I think a plan is forming, and I am ready for some permanent fences to section the fields. These will be high tensil wire anchored to a single permanet wood post on each end with plastic/fiberglass line posts. One of these posts was planted in mid November. It has not been extremely wet here so perhaps an error to start, but I wanted to get one in the ground. First 20 inches of digging, no problem. Next 16 inches, like chiseling through rock. A very slow process, but being one to finish what I start, I persevered to a three foot depth. Post in ground, not wide enough at the bottom of the hole. Post would not go in all the way. had to pull it out and do a little bit of carving out the sides.

Now I have a post hole digger for the Ford 8N. Under such conditions it tends to stop drilling at about 18 inches. With no downward hydraulic pressure, it just spins. Being I was only doing one post, the shovel was more expedient than attaching the auger to the tractor. I did second guess this decision after I hit hard clay but I also second guessed the entire decision to dig the hold in the first place. Then I wondered why I am even raising sheep. Post in the ground and satisfaction of a job done and all is good. Sheep still have a home.

So the plan is to place fencing on all the white lines. Between the woods and the pasture, that fence is up. This will privde four padocks from 1 - 2.5 acres in size. The larger ones may still be subdivided by some temporary fence. All depends on the productivity of the field and duration of the grazing period. Hopefully, no more than five days per confined area.

The next challenge, besides putting up all the fence, getting water to all of these padocks.

In case you are wondering about the map, go to http://mylandplan.org/. This is a great tool for mapping your property.

Shiitake Experience

Two winters ago I tried my frist shiitake mushroom logs.  A friend had some left over spawn and loaned me the inoculator tool he had.  I cut down a few pole sized trees.  These were trees that were not of great quality and competing with more desirable ones. Their removal gave me both shiitake logs and more growing space for the desirable trees.  I used mainly shingle oak.

This tree rarely makes a nice log, good acorns, but I have more per acre than needed for good growing condidtions.  The logs were inoculated in February, went through a summer and should have fruited the following spring.  They did not.  But the winter prior, I inocualted another set of logs 

Then this fall, I was excitted to see mushrooms on my first set of logs. Picked two one gallon icecream pales full.


The picture is suposed to be portrait so lie on your side as you look at it. Something about this program will not allow me to import it the way it is suposed to be. Tried several times. Shiitakes on the grill with some balsamic vinegarette is prety fine. Cook them to a desired tenderness with the stems removed. My wife is not a mushroom fan and out of three kids, I have one daughter that now devoures them.

If you are interested in producing mushrooms, check out the Forest and Woodland Association of Missouri. A workshop is planned for March 1, 2014 in central Mo. Go to http://www.forestandwoodland.org/ for details.

Fall Seeding?

This past August, I tried my hand at a fall seeding of turnips. I am a minimal equipment person with time being more minimal. I broadcasted about 5 pounds of turnip seed to an acre. Also applied about 100 pounds of dap fertilizer. The field was overgrazed fescue. My hope was to get some turnips for fall grazing since the fescue had been heavly abused this summer. This was done during a week when much rain was forcasted. The rain was minimal as well. I did get some germination of the turnips but the only large plants are in areas where I previously burned some brush so no grass was present.

The fescue has responded a little with some cooler weather and some added rain. The turnips however, not much to brag about there.

In previous years, I tried a fall broadcast of winter wheat. Again into some abused overgrazed fescue. This was then harrowed in. Once again the fall rains illuded me and the germination was minimal. So what next. Stop abusing the fescue would be the best option. Rotational grazing is planned but slow to put in place. Cereal rye maybe. Folks say it established easy and puts on good growth. Frost seeding of lespedeza would be nice but the price tag the past few years has been crazy. A frost seeding of alfalfa is an option but I would need to better manage my sheep to avoid bloat. Would also like to have a seed drill and get away from broadcasting. That may solve some issues but the cost rules it out at this time.

I will provide additional updates as the month progresses. Always an optimist when seed is in the ground.

Introducing the Ram





Welcome to the honeymoon shack. 

   On September 8, 2013 we sorted out the lambs and introduced the ram to the adult ewes. We purchased a new ram from Fahrmeyer Farms. We also retained a ram from our breeding program and introduced him to one unrelated ewe. The Fahrmeyer ram was put in with 15 quality ewes.

The web link below is a useful tool for calulating the potential lambing date based on the date exposed. http://animalrangeextension.montana.edu/articles/sheep/Flock%20Handbook/Gestation.htm February 1 is the earliest due date we would anticipate based on 147 day gestation. The soonest lambing date we have typically seen is February 5 with this introduction date.

Midwest Preview Show

Matthew and Emily did well at the Midwest Preview show in Sedalia.  Mathew's ram was the Grand Chmapion for the Katahdin class. This ram has gained faster than any other we have raised.  From birth to weaning he averaged 0.8 pounds per day.

Emily was excited as well when her ram recieved the honor of Reserve Grand Champion.  this young ram is the spitting image of the sire, Vortex, from Birch Cove Farm near Fulton, Mo.

Welcome to Foxtail Farm. It all started with 4H and a friend. Sheep production began in 2008 with two katahdins from Michael Seipel of Hickory Hollow Farm. "These are not pets" we told the kids. A lesson they quickly learned when offspring wound up in the freezer. The offspring were shown at the county fair and the ewes bred to a borrowed ram for the next year. Two more ewes were purchased from Michael and bred to Sam the ram, our first ram from Fahrmeier farms served for two years. The flock slowly grew by keeping the ewes and rotating in another high quality ram. The third from David Copeland of Birch Hollow Farm. We chose genetic sources that were proven to gain on grass and have parasite resistence. We are growing to are target number of 20 ewes for our ten acres of pasture. This is a conservative number for fair quality pasture. As we improve the pastures, we can consider moving up to 30 ewes.

About the Farm. We are situated in Callaway county just off of Hwy 54 between Fulton and Jefferson City. Our 17 acres consists of 10 acres of pasture, 5 of woods, 1 of pond and the rest yard. The business model is simple. Raise quality Katahdin sheep that perform on grass. It is important to do this at a reasonable price. The pedigree will contain many well known breeders stock but is not the focal point. This allows us to catch the genetic traits that make them a popular source and also capture the diversity of other genetic sources for a diverse gene pool.

Gaining on grass is critical. We only supplement with corn/protein ration during late pregnancy and while nursing. This is critical to consider if you are looking for grass fed breading stock or lean grass fed lambs for meat production. We sell breading stock rams and ewes along with slaughter lambs. We prefer selling direct to consumers wanting a whole lamb for the freezer.