Keep making more videos of the multi species rotational grazing. I really like to see the chickens scratching the cow pats!

@birchfieldfarming

6 ай бұрын

Will do, thanks Eric!

What a neat addition with the deer feeder!!! So peaceful to hear them munching away, and very grateful for the learned lesson on the lush grasses. Sorry again for your loss, and thank you for the update!

Hey Jason. So glad the deer feeder worked. That was my husband’s suggestion. We loved watching your girls run to the feed when it activated.

@birchfieldfarming

Жыл бұрын

What a great idea…Thanks again!🤠

Jason, great episode my brother, how peaceful as every returns to order. Looking at what the cattle and sheep did to paddock two and the chickens did to paddock one is awesome, the system works and the lessons are many. Great water, and chicken, setup and definitely something to be copied at our place. Our only issues lie with the steep hills and so we must make modifications when it comes to anything placed or moved across the ground. May the good Lord give me the creativity he has blessed you with, cheers Dan and Elle.

@birchfieldfarming

Жыл бұрын

Thanks guys🤠. I am jealous of your mountain views down there though!

If you sprinkle a bit of chicken feed on each poop pile it encourages the chickens to scratch thru the poop!

@birchfieldfarming

Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

New sub here. I really like the deer feeder idea it clever!

@birchfieldfarming

Жыл бұрын

That feeder idea came from a subscriber. It’s working out well. Welcome to the channel!

That IS such a great idea! To take it just a couple steps further, I'd weld a tripod onto a heavy base with a couple of wheels to make it mobile. Then I'd choose the seed mix so it's something I'd want to grow there to feed the chickens, moozers or whatever else is going to graze there in the future and move it all around too so that it doesn't wear a bare spot and spreads seed all over the place. Gotta pile the functions up on every strategy, eh? I just started a book by a guy who won't accept anything less than 7 functions from every element he introduces! Can't imagine how he could possibly do that but I guess I'll find out. I hope I like the book and it's not just hype! (The Bio-Integrated Farm by Shawn & Stephanie Jadrnicek) Cheers!

@birchfieldfarming

Жыл бұрын

Sounds interesting. Something heavy yet mobile could be good. We’ve discovered the concept of multi-functional becomes challenging when trying to limit inputs, specifically labor. For instance, we could move the deer feeder around to a new place everyday to avoid bare spot, but then we’re defeating the purpose of why we bought it - to not be out there everyday. There’s a balance there somewhere, but I agree that it’s great when you find it!

@3Sphere

Жыл бұрын

@@birchfieldfarming Yeah, It's easy for me to be the one talkin' when you're the one doin' the walkin'.... :)

@birchfieldfarming

Жыл бұрын

@@3Sphere Honestly, I think it all boils down to what the individual farm goals are. I really enjoy all the ideas folks throw out on here though! Keep them coming!🤠

Before bringing in chickens do a thin layer of char on manure pats ?

@birchfieldfarming

3 ай бұрын

Certainly could. There’s a guy in Australia who feeds his cattle the char, so he inoculates it thru the rumen then it passes out the back end. His dung beetle population is so high that they then bury the char along with the dung. Farm goals!🤠

I heard you wait 2 or 3 days Do the cow pats have time to get fly larvae and worms in them . That way cows don’t have much flies on them etc

@birchfieldfarming

Жыл бұрын

That’s what we were aiming for. I’ll be able to tell for sure this coming grazing season, so stay tuned!

Are the black chickens austrolorps?

@birchfieldfarming

6 ай бұрын

Yes, good eye!

i thought chickens would be killing the dung beetles?

@birchfieldfarming

29 күн бұрын

That’s the big question! Still seeing beetles, so must be the population is growing underground.

No predators kill the chickens?

@birchfieldfarming

11 ай бұрын

We keep them in electronet, so no ground predation as of yet. Here’s the interesting thing on the aerial predators: When we keep chickens in one place over the winter, the aerial predation is pretty significant, but when we keep them on the move thru the paddocks (about every3 days), we have no problems. Harder to hit a moving target, I guess🤷🏻‍♂️

I always thought why don’t more people do that Instead of a regular one You save on feed

@birchfieldfarming

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, it’s worked out for us!

might want to give your dung beetle a chance to hit those pats man. 2-3 days behind your cattle. Then again if you are the only organic/low drinch guy you might not have a dung beetle population. You should setup a dung beetle nursey and see what you got.

@birchfieldfarming

Жыл бұрын

US farming is so deficient in this thinking, but I know the little creatures would happily go to work for us. Can you point to any info on starting a nursery?

@MistressOP

Жыл бұрын

@@birchfieldfarming I really think you should contact your ag college. You can also check out some aussie stuff. It's kind of cheating in cali because so many farmers in cali are organic farmers. So, we have dung beetles for most of the season. Those dung beetles where there before I got there. BEcause so much large scale ranching on the west coast. plus, tule elk. Biggest thing is to let some poop sit then scoop it up after 4 days and you clean the poop looking for beetles. I take a picture of the beetles I find and then contact US Davis ag dept. They tell me what I got and I ask around for what im looking for. Wait for that to be inseason on there farm grab some poop bring it back to my place. Put it into a nursey. (bathtub without the bottom and wire so cow birds can't get to it) then i keep adding more poop and relase later after it's gone through a few cycles. hope the beetles stay. again I know nothing about midwest, and what people might be doing near you. So, you might be starting from near 0. But to find out you gotta give your cow pats 2-3 days for the dung beetle to at least show up. Contact your ag, look up your fly cycle. So setup some fly sticky tape and see what flies you get during your season. You can figure out the real rotation.

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