Grazing Acres Farm

Part of any good grazing management plan is knowing how to monitor livestock performance. Below are 3 very simple things we can do as farmers to monitor our livestock. As we adjust the grazing program with these tips the livestock will start showing great benefits. Fresh Water Fresh water is one of the easiest things to supply our livestock with. It's absolutely a major contributor to livestock health. If your livestock are not getting clean water daily it will effect their overall performance. I am a firm believer than we as the farmer should be able to drink what we are giving our animals. If you would not drink it, don't force your animals to do so. Go out in your pasture with your herd, watch them as they drink. Do they smell the water before drinking? Do they lick at the water? Or do they just simple drink it down without hesitation? If they are drinking without hesitation they are telling you the water is good. But if you noticed them doing any of the other things ment

To grow seed sprouts for my chickens I use ice cream buckets. I use 2 buckets per batch. The first bucket (inside bucket) I have drilled several 1/8” holes through the bottom to act as a strainer. Then I place the strainer bucket inside the 2 nd bucket (which has no holes). The bottom bucket helps prevent big water messes if you do this work inside the house. Next I cover the bottom of the inner bucket (strainer bucket) with about ¾” of seeds (I use oats). Afterwards I fill the buckets with water until seeds are covered with the water. Let them soak for a couple hours. Then remove the inner bucket and let water drain from seeds. Don’t be afraid to shake the straining bucket to help excess water to drain.  Also dump the water from the bottom bucket. Then place buckets back together. Now place the bucket in a warm area.  Sun is not needed until seeds germinate. After 24 hours separate straining bucket from bottom bucket

Over the winter of 2014-15 I started seeing Joel Salatin videos on YouTube as suggested videos to watch. If you haven't heard of him I would now suggest you do a search on him. He made it seem so easy to raise a batch of broiler chickens and turkeys (meat birds). Really everything I seen that he raises seems so simple at least using his method. The best part is it's all natural. No hormones or antibiotics. Animals living naturally like it used to be. I personally think natural food is what we should all be eating. There is to much crap added to our food today. So this triggered a interest and before I knew it I was knee deep in broiler chicken research. First I wanted to compare them to other meat birds. So I contacted a few people that had experience with different varieties of meat birds to get my answers. The first thing I was told is the Cornish Cross (CC) does NOT forage on the grass/bugs. They are very lazy and pretty much stay at the feeder all day. Then I had other