Posts by Ulf Kintzel
I get many questions about equipment needed to raise sheep – be it electric fencing, hay and mineral feeders, panels, or the chute. While all these items can be purchased, many of them are in my opinion overpriced or at least not affordable for a smaller sheep operation like mine. A couple hundred ewes don’t…
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Various legumes and clovers, especially the red clover, are said to cause temporary infertility in female sheep when grazed during breeding season. If grazed for a prolonged period of time, red clover can supposedly cause permanent infertility in ewes. The cited reason for that infertility is an estrogen-like substance called phyto-estrogen. If you are…
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“The perfect is the enemy of the good.” Voltaire In a sheep farming operation that relies on grazing alone without feeding any grain, the pasture is of utmost importance. If the demand is such that the lambs should be finished in a time as short as possible, the pressure is high. I am in that…
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In past decades it was common wisdom to lamb in the barn during the winter months in January and February. It was heavily promoted as the right thing to do. The wisdom was that farmers had time to give their flock the attention they needed during winter months, before the busy spring planting season arrived.…
Read MoreIf you are raising animals and are looking for an additional option to sell your product, consider selling it through a buying club. I do. While this method is the most involved and also the most nerve-wracking, it is also one of the least vulnerable options of all my sales, only second to my direct…
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The case has often been made that a diverse farm is less vulnerable if the market for one product, say pork, collapses. The other products produced on the farm will compensate for the lost income, so goes the theory. It is “hip” again to speak up for the diverse farm like we knew it from…
Read MoreIt occurred on a spring morning in the mid 90s in New Jersey. I had lambing season. I drove out to my flock to the pasture I rented from the state. When I arrived I discovered a devastating scene. The flock was clearly disturbed. The field was littered with dead lambs. A couple of sheep…
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After being in the business of raising wool sheep of various kinds for two decades, I decided in 2005 to start with hair sheep. It was a fairly bold move at the time since it meant giving up on the customers who bought breeding stock from me, and since I also didn’t know how well…
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For a sustainable grazing system, one should have legumes in the pasture. Legumes have the capability of fixating nitrogen from the air and thus reduce or even eliminate the need for nitrogen fertilizer. To accomplish this, the pasture must contain at least 30 percent of legumes. I prefer 50 and up to 70 percent…
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