Learn practical yet extraordinary information on how to create your own independent farmstead from husband and wife farmers and authors, Shawn and Beth Dougherty. They offer in depth information on their 30 years of experience growing soil, biodiversity and nutrient dense food with grass-fed animals and intensive pasture management. They share their inspiring journey to help new homesteaders make better decisions and fulfill their farming dreams while enjoying a happy family life. For complete details, read their in depth book, “The Independent Farmstead.”
VIDEO: Reviving the Independent Farmstead Part 3
Learn practical yet extraordinary information on how to create your own independent farmstead from husband and wife farmers and authors, Shawn and Beth Dougherty. They offer in depth information on their 30 years of experience growing soil, biodiversity and nutrient dense food with grass-fed animals and intensive pasture management. They share their inspiring journey to help new homesteaders make better decisions and fulfill their farming dreams while enjoying a happy family life. For complete details, read their in depth book, “The Independent Farmstead.”
Watch from 43:10
If you watch nothing but the last two minutes of this one, that would be beneficial. Really think about what they are saying. "The water was coming into our place dirty and leaving clear." Really think about the significance of that statement.
This series is awesome!
Does the shape of the Paddock matter?
I've heard that long skinny ones are better than more squared off ones.
Opinion: Mowing a field wastes all the organic material and nutrients to the air. The grass needs to get incorporated into the soil. It is a waste of time and money to mow. Better to get more animals to do like you are doing on the rest of the farm. See Greg Judy and Allan Savory examples.
at 42:20, Shawn talks about a video of Greg Judy sabbatical year, does someone have a link for at…sounds very interesting
Great speakers, thanks a lot for putting this up. This is really encouraging me to start farming beside my day job. Looking forward to the next part!
Have you tried your goats with the three strand electric fencing? I'm using electric netting right now, but would love to be able to use the three strand and graze them with cows, etc…
Can't wait for part 4. Thank you for such great info.I was great to see here explain rotational grazing as we were view their farm from satellite.
"The weed that's trying to grow up" is what the soil needs. They're called Pioneer plants when they are the first plant to grow on disturbed land. They're usually fairly succulent in that, they're tender(even if thorny or hairy) and they have lot's of moist mass and have most likely brought up nutrients to the top where other future plants can benefit from them.
Whoever designed this planet is a badass but if we try hard enough, we can probably screw things up. We humans are good at that..
24:30 I have heard to let the growth stage of grass in the first paddock of the year determine when you return to that paddock, so that’s what I’m doing. That way you don’t have to stress about getting the whole way round your farm each year. In the Spring when grass is growing fast, you don’t get very far before you have to return and your paddocks will be smaller. In the Summer as grass slows down, it will take you longer to return and your paddocks will be larger. As fall approaches, the growth picks up a bit and the paddocks size shrinks. The ungrazed portion of the farm then becomes the winter forage. It has super deep roots so next Spring it will come back strong. Start paddock one there and work around again. Next time you might end up somewhere else. But it really doesn’t matter. In fact, that’s exactly what you want. All that matters is the condition of the grass in the initial Spring grazing paddock and the condition of the animals. Return just after the grass starts to send up the flower stalk but before it starts to flower. If you have over-seeded your cool season Spring forage with a warm season Summer cover crop, then the quality of your Summer forage will not suffer because the C4 will kick in as soon as the C3 slows down. Set out buffet style minerals and plenty of fresh water. The only other thing to watch is for signs of protein deficiency and disease. If you find that you have more winter forage than you need, then you might consider reducing the size of the pasture or adding more animals. Alternatively, you can bail some hay and store it, just in case you need it. Rotate out the unused hay for mulch, etc. If you want to improve the diversity of pasture forage, you can overseed with a mixed forage cover crop just after the animals are moved.