Turning Noxious Weeds into Money

[Foothill Rancher]

Strange about the horses and thistle. Our would always eat every thistle before eating anything else.

I hope those aren't star thistle.

 

[GBeck]

did you catch dirty jobs last night? damm near made throw up. but apparently with these sheep of yours you after you cut their tail, you have to rip out their balls with your teeth

 

[charlz]

So what were the mistakes?

 

[Iplayfarmer]

So what were the mistakes?

Biggest mistake: We bought Medicine. If sheep want to die, they are going to die and there is nothing you or I or anyone else can do about it.

We started with 5 bumb lambs and 4 of them died. We may have been feeding them too much, but we were following the recommendations on the Merrick's milk replacer as to frequency and volume. A few of those that died had to wait until they'd already eaten most of a $50 bag of milk replacer.

We went back and got 5 more lambs from the same place and paid them what they had already put into them for feed. I'm doing that from the beginning next time.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

did you catch dirty jobs last night? damm near made throw up. but apparently with these sheep of yours you after you cut their tail, you have to rip out their balls with your teeth

Apparently Mike Rowe hasn't heard of rubber bands. Handy little inventions.

Funny thing about the tails thing... Now that I've gone through the lamb thing, the full text of Little Bo Peep all of a sudden makes sense.

 

[WarrenF]

Apparently Mike Rowe hasn't heard of rubber bands. Handy little inventions.

Funny thing about the tails thing... Now that I've gone through the lamb thing, the full text of Little Bo Peep all of a sudden makes sense.

Out in your country, when sheep were big business, the ripping the balls out of the sheep was standard operating practice. The old Basque's swore that they would heal up quicker than those "cut" with a knife. However it did take three people to do it....or so I am told. One to grab the sheep and roll him up....the second would make a slit in the sack....and the third would lean down and pull the balls out with his teeth....and then spit them in a bucket.

As I understand the lore and story....plugs of tobacco were in high demand among those who did the de-balling

 

[Eaglebait Ranch]

For 30+ years I have had a small flock of grass maggots. I started out with two. Their job was to eat down the spring grasses so I wouldn't have to worry about grass fires on our property. I named them........ Briggs and Stratton. At the end of grass eatin' season, they wound up in the freezer. You can't make that kind of claim with a weed eater!

Now, my wife and I have about 6 acres in pasture grass around our house and out buildings, and our small flock (and two guard llamas) keep the grasses down. I am responsible for keeping them fed, healthy, and sheared. Susan takes the sheared wool, hand processes it, and either knits or weaves things with the wool.

We have two neighbors who have to get out the weed wacker each spring, and spend 3-4 hours a day for almost a week, sucking exhaust and wackin' weeds. All I do is open/close pasture gates every 3-4 days, keep their water troughs full, give them shots when they get sheared.

If you have any questions about raising a small flock, don't hesitate to send me an email, or whatever. I would be happy to help out with ideas, suggestions, or whatever.

 

[rox]

Sheep work fine for keeping my neighbor's prune plum and olive orchards tidy.

There are several guys around here who rent out their goats for pasture and orchard maintenance. My neighbor had them in his 8-acre hayfield recently and they did a nice job on the stubble and left him a poo present to boot.

I would worry about the manure getting on the fruit. Soon my husband and I will start a huge composting operation on our olive farm using horse maneur from our neighbor. It is safer I think to use the manuer (how do you spell that?) in composting rather than having animals grazing. Course if it was early in the season the manuer would proba bly dry out and not be a problem. I really don't know the answer. When we start our composting operation I'll start a topic. Fresh maneur in fields growing fruit for human consumption... I don't know about that, it seems dangrous to me.

 

[charlz]

I would worry about the manure getting on the fruit. Soon my husband and I will start a huge composting operation on our olive farm using horse maneur from our neighbor. It is safer I think to use the manuer (how do you spell that?) in composting rather than having animals grazing. Course if it was early in the season the manuer would proba bly dry out and not be a problem. I really don't know the answer. When we start our composting operation I'll start a topic. Fresh maneur in fields growing fruit for human consumption... I don't know about that, it seems dangrous to me.

As long as the 'ground splash' from rain or irrigation doesn't get on the fruit it would be fine. The problem is when people are throwing fresh manure down in the vegetables and the water/manure is splashing on the veggies. In this scenario they recommend manure application and harvest are at least 3 months apart.

How 'huge' is huge? I have been taking in horse manure from a stable down the road for a while now. I compost it using the tractor and then apply it to my gardens, wife's flower beds etc. He brings it up by the dump trailer load, usually 2 or 3 at a time. It is generally pretty dry stuff. I have an 1.5 inch hose off my pond that I use to wet it down which makes pretty quick work of it. You would be out there all day with a garden hose.

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

will sheep escape out of the fences like goats will......everything i've heard about goats, is that they'll escape...

also, some neighbors had some goats in the field one time to clean it up, the goats killed all the trees......at least that's what they said...