TBF 007 :: Sheep vs. Cattle, a Rainy Week, and Mud Lessons

Before moving to the farm I had a lot of ideas about what I wanted my farm to look like. As you can tell from the previous episode I read a lot of books, and after reading all of those books I thought I knew just want I wanted for the farm and how everything would work. I had done a bit of market research for the area, I had studied various breeds, and I had even began to purchase cattle before I even had to call my own! Now that I am almost five years of running the farm though I have found out that my initial plans are really what suits the farm or the farmer the best. All of that means that now I am headed a different direction than I had planned and that I’ve learned the need to continually evaluate things.

Dexter cattle where what really made me interested in farming. We had researched grassfed beef after finding out about my high cholesterol and I thought instead of just buying the beef I might as well raise my own (at my dad’s place to begin with and then eventually an acreage of my own). What began as an idea to raise a cow and her calf eventually blossomed in my mind into a full-blown farm. After reading books like Salad Bar Beef by Joel Salatin and Grass-Fed Cattle by Julius Ruechel I was convinced that cattle could and should be the centerpiece of my future farming operation.

Now my tune has changed ... I’m beginning to realize the real limitation of only owning about 20 acres of pasture even if my cows are smaller in stature and I’m also finding out about the intense competition for rental grazing ground. There is one other thing I am learning though that is encouraging ... my Katahdin lamb is a very popular thing at the farmers’ market and there are a lot of people interested in purchasing whole lambs.

With all of that and more on my mind I sat down for todays show and shared some of my “thinking out loud” thoughts on changing the pasture focus for my farm. It has also been raining a lot on the farm lately meaning the big projects have come to a stand still and the mud has appeared just like it does every spring! Which leads me to my hard lesson learned for the week ... learning to defeat mud!

I also wanted to thank you so much for everyone who has taken the time to listen and leave a review on iTunes. I am learning and growing as a “podcast producer” with each episode and I hope that there are little nuggets that you can learn from in each show because one thing I love to do is share my passion for farming!

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As always, I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with The Beginning Farmer and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

TBF Show 007 :: Play in a New Window | Right Click to Download

(if you are interested in the music in this episode check out my brother's record label, Historic Records)

Virtual Farm Tour :: Katahdin Hair Sheep

Let me just say this ... our Katahdin Hair Sheep flock is really a work in progress ... but, with that in mind I do think that they will eventually become a slightly bigger part of our operation than I envisioned. Lamb and beef are two things that I only have a few times throughout the farmers market season at this point, but I would say that are at least as many or even more people that ask for lamb each week! Plus, I think they fit well with our grazing system and on our farm.

Now, why do I call them a work in progress? Well ... let me just say that they are not exactly trained to the electric fence yet (including the electric netting). This is our second year with the sheep and I can't exactly say that we have been rotationally grazing them, but I can say they cover the acres very well and do graze on different species of forage than the cows normally do. From reading other people's accounts on raising sheep I think I just need to really focus on getting them used to the hot wires.

As I mentioned the demand has been fairly high for lamb meat and we have not had any problem selling what few cuts we have. In fact I've had quite a few people interested in ordering whole lambs and that will probably be something we begin in the next year or so, but for now I like the idea of getting as many people hooked on our lamb meat as possible! The downside though is that the way we raise our lambs it is very seasonal market. With our spring born lambs and fall processing we really only have them available for a couple months each year.

One option to spread the availability out a little bit would be to have fall born lambs and winter them over on hay, but I'm not sure if I like that idea because there would be extra hay costs incurred that don't exist with spring lambing. Which makes me think that selling whole lambs and taking reservations throughout the year for the fall would be the best possible market strategy for the farm.

I am pretty sure that there will be sheep and lambs on the farm for years to come (as long as we get all the wrinkles ironed out), but there are a few things I would like to try/explore. As I mentioned I may try some different breeding schedules, but I would also like to look more closely into the St. Croix breed if I can find some. I will also admit that I need to learn quite a bit more about the different cuts and how to prepare them! All in all though I'm pleased with the sheep.

Sheep Shearers...

In the March, 18th issue of the "Iowa Farm Bureau Spokesman" there was a front page article titled, "For Iowa sheep producers, a good shearer is hard to find". It was a pretty interesting article that pointed out that there are only 14 sheep shearers listed on the Iowa Sheep Industry Association's website. Many sheep farmers are finding that 14 shearers just aren't quite enough for the 9th-largest sheep producing state in the country. One could even venture a guess that with some people switching to hair sheep that there are less people practicing the art of shearing wool. Nevertheless, the article made me think...

I know that people across the country are always looking for ways to stay "on the farm" or even close to agriculture and maybe sheep shearing is one of the ways to make it possible. The man that was chronicled in the article said he will shear about 800 sheep in one week and travel between 1,000 and 1,500 miles! That is a lot of sheep and a lot of driving and I think it says that if you know what you are doing you could possibly add a nice cottage business on the side to your farm.

Of course if you were to think about becoming a sheep shearer there is always this to consider, "I've heard an eight-hour shearing day can be compared to running a marathon". This may contribute to the reason why there aren't as many sheep shearers and that there are a few that have semi-retired because they just can't handle the long days and traveling anymore.

As I see it there are two things that could come out of this article. First of all, someone could learn the craft/art (that's what it is) of shearing and and another dimension to their farm (on a part time basis). Or secondly, this could just be another reason for some farmers to switch to hair sheep ... then they don't have to shear!

An Apology and Sheep...

First of all let me throw out a quick apology to all those people who have e-mailed me with encouragement or asking about pricing/pork/beef/eggs. I have a bit of a backlog in the e-mail inbox and I am slowly going through it, but I haven't had much time as I have been working roughly 7:00 AM until 10:00 PM everyday this week on the house and then on church work. It is a crazy time, but it is very fulfilling!

Secondly, I know I have talked about sheep multiple times on this blog, but while we were at the Iowa State Fair (the greatest) I picked up a brochure from the Midwest Katahdin Hair Sheep Association. They had some sheep on display in the Avenue of Breeds, so I was also able to see them in person (I may have noticed them before, but without much thought).

As I read through the brochure a few things popped out at me. I'll list those below, but if you have any experience raising Katahdin sheep or even better marketing them or other sheep I (and probably others that read the blog) would love to hear your thoughts. Here is what I found interesting:

• The bred was devolped my Michael Piel in Maine (After a little more searching it looks like he used some African stock to get started and part of his growing flock also ended up at the Heifer Project International farm.
• They have good flocking instincts and work good from Canada to the Equator (I had worried about their lack of wool in Iowa winters).
• The flavor of the meat has a "mild lamb" taste. I'm no lamb expert and I've only had it once, so could someone explain a "mild lamb" taste?
• Most are white in color, but they can be red or brown (I would like some red or brown sheep to go with my dun Dexters!).