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Just in time hay delivery

We underestimated how much hay we had to make it through the holiday season, and got this delivery with only one days worth of hay to spare. Hay is the largest input we have on the homestead and we make sure we get the most out of it not only feeding animals but simultaneously using the waste hay as mulch. This year since we have our Katahdin sheep and East Friesian dairy sheep in two groups there is more wasted hay. The hope is that even though we are wasting more hay that the extra attention to the dairy sheep will yield us more milk overall next season.

When I say wasted hay, what I mean is that the sheep aren't eating all the good hay and only leaving the stems. Even though some good hay might go uneaten, we place the hay in an area in which hay mulch would be beneficial. In the example of the dairy sheep, their paddock is very close to the food forest, so we will only have to move the manure packed hay a short distance to use when growing our potatoes this spring.

#permaculture #permies #homesteading #selfsovereignty #meshtadel #grownostr #sheep #hay #foodforest #forestgarden

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Discussion

dern 2y ago

how are hay prices out your way? lack of precipitation on this side of the lake has been really bad for prices (over last several years).

also, bitdevs this week??

rev.hodl 2y ago

Hay has been pretty consistent, we've actually been able to find cheaper and cheaper hay the more people we get to know. Quality is all over the place though.

No bitdevs.

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 2y ago

this is one of the reasons i'm really keen on goats

they nibble at everything, grass included but not mandatory

if i was running dairy sheep i'd be looking at what ways to make feed into the freeze times for them... not something i need to think about here when i get my goat dairy/ranch happening

rev.hodl 2y ago

This is exactly what we shoot for every year, growing a nice stockpile of winter feed for the sheep. We have had success a few years and failed just as much. This year we thought we finally found someone to cooperate with by planting turnips after the barley harvest. Unfortunately, the barely didn't grow well and they planted corn as an emergency replacement. By the time we found out, it was too late to work a new deal with someone else. We scrambled and tried to plant something on a couple acres here at the homestead but we didn't prepare the ground well enough and ended up with nothing. Fingers crossed next year the cooperative plan comes together.

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 2y ago

yeah, i see the complexity of the issue there crystal

this is why the goat wins as an animal because it will eat anything so you can probably scavenge the weeds to make into hay and they'll deal

the sheep copes with the cold (assuming it's wooly) but what's it gonna eat in the snow anyway?

hay has a shelf life so i think the best strategy is to have a target for each month of stashed hay and it should cover you for your intended head count

AU9913 2y ago

This is way over simplified. Even hair sheep do just fine in the winter. They also don't need water if you're not feeding them hay AND will dig through the snow to get grass AND they also eat forbes. Every goat farmer I've seen still creep feeds hay in the winter. Add in parasite resistant breeds and sheep win.

Also, try keeping a sheep in on a single strand on polybraid, you can't.