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Farm Visit: During a week of Wisconsin’s -10° F weather we enjoyed a visitor from Bamako, Mali, West Africa. Drissa visited Wisconsin to learn how to produce value added meat products and to work with a chef as part of the Common Pastures project. Although we generally have lambs and kids in the spring a few […]
GPS tracking of livestock is being used more frequently by U.S. farmers to monitor the movements of their animals as they evaluate land utilization and improvement through grazing. GPS tracking data helps farmers understand a great deal about how pastured animals interaction with the land. This is important for land preservation and recovery activities. In […]
We are often asked what our sheep and goats eat in the winter. Northwest Wisconsin is a cold and snowy place. Turnips and some types of grasses such as rye and wheat can be grazed throughout the winter if the snow cover is soft and sparse. Grass that is young and growing in the fall […]
Fall is Breeding Time: Delicious pie pumpkins are fun to eat but also highly nutritious and prepare ewes for breeding. Ewes that are provided higher nutrition before breeding are more likely to conceive and successfully carry multiple lambs. Extra pumpkins are easy to find after Halloween and the ewes love this addition to their diet. […]
Visiting the farm in October: Usually autumn in Wisconsin is sunny with a brisk wind blowing colored leaves that crunch on the dry ground. This year the summer was very dry slowing the growth of native grasses. Then in October it seemed to rain everyday. The ground was so dry the rain did not soak into […]
Customer Question: What do your sheep eat? (Part 2: Late summer diet) As summer turns to fall the growth of warm season grasses slows, seed heads develop and the previous tender stems become tough. A field may look full of grass but the nutrient content is often very low as in the photograph below. Whereas, the […]
What our sheep and goats eat depend upon the season. In the spring the new grass growth is eagerly anticipated after their winter’s diet of harvested grass and alfalfa hay. If the opportunity presents itself a eager sheep may test the gate latches and often manage to release a chain, open the gate and bellow […]
Waiting for grass! Lambs and spring go together. The long winter melts into long sunny days encouraging native grasses to grow. The ewes gaze longingly towards their pastures and escape to them if possible before the grass is long enough to endure grazing. This morning a group of 14, very pregnant ewes, rejected their hay […]
Sheep, goats, and their shepherds in the Highlands of Ethiopia. During the wet season, children from the age of 4 are often responsible for moving the livestock to pasture in the morning, staying with them during the day, and returning in late afternoon. These children take on their responsibility seriously. When they return to school at […]
The remarkable Bali-Bali is a hair sheep native to the Mali and Niger boundary and highly desired for breeding stock across Western Africa. It has a noble appearance due to their distinctive foreheads, lopping ears, elegant legs and body structure. The long straight tail also differentiates it from fat tailed sheep. Rams display a long […]
Why is improved goat and sheep production in Guinea important? The average protein intake in Guinea is 5.9 g in contrast to the standard American diet of 101.9 grams for males and 70.1 grams for females (National Health and Nutrition Survey). This low level of available protein makes goat and sheep production an important agriculture focus of […]
Confinement livestock practices are often associated with large factory farms and overcrowded conditions. The photo of a successful working farm in Egypt demonstrates that this does not have to be the case. Although grazing land is not readily available in this part region the livestock are allowed to graze produce residue seasonally. When they do […]
Why are grass-fed sheep running to the field! Sometimes sheep with their lambs do escape from their field into something more interesting. When one goes through the gate the rest are sure to follow (see picture). We have had knocks on our door in the middle of the night or phone calls asking if we […]
We plant acres of turnips and other brassicas but not to harvest for the market. Our lambs love turnips and turnips are a great food for growing lambs even in early winter. Lambs do a great job of harvesting turnips without the use of petroleum powered equipment. They start with the greens. If managed so […]
Lofiné, Mali is approximately 100 km south of Sikasso and 30 km from the Ivory Coast border. This is traditionally a poor region of Mali but not because of encroaching desert or arid conditions. The rain is heavy from May through September and continues through December. This heavy rainfall results in a wet, humid environment […]