Regenerative Agriculture | Rotational Grazing Grass Fed Beef Cows on Small Acreage

[@izzgal7]

That was fantastic! I did not realize that rotational grazing would impact the resistance of parasites so greatly, but it surely makes sense. Beautiful family farm!

[@HeirloomBuilders]

iza dorable thank you! We love it

[@kiarakeeper2154]

Alot of great information. i appropriate all the time and effort you put into this video, but thats not why i choose to comment. i just wanted to say your kids "Hey mom" cracked me up so much, Love the cute kiddos out there in the field with you. and While it was hard to hear some of what you said since i have a napping little one in the room with me, I will be comming back to rewatch to catch anything i may have missed.

[@HeirloomBuilders]

Kiara Keeper 😁thanks! Liz did a great job keeping focused while Amelia and Murray kept trying to steal her attention! Thanks for watching!

[@conradhomestead4518]

New sub here. KZbin recommended your video, while searching grazing techniques. We have an 8 acre homestead also , so this is a great comparison. Thanks for sharing. I will be following closely to see your future progress.

[@HeirloomBuilders]

Conrad Homestead 👍 welcome aboard! We just installed 3200 ft of water line for the cows watering situation. Thinking about putting together a video to summarize our strategy for rotational grazing and watering specifically.

[@yahsomeacres7816]

We are on 7 acres and are trying to figure out if we can have one than a cow calf pair. Currently we only have chickens and are looking to expand into cattle, goats and sheep.

[@riflebear1711]

Audio needs work. Wife needs a mic. But great info, regardless.

[@jonathanwilson5351]

I like that you let your cows dress up like Kiss if they want. :D Thanks, nice video--looking into pasturing on small acreage myself.

[@HeirloomBuilders]

🤣 we call him 8 ball. Glad the video was helpful!

[@jojof1433]

What size are the paddocks and how long do you leave areas between grazing. Just started reading Joel Salatin Polyface micro. We have 2 horses and a 2 sheep on fenced 4 acres.

[@HeirloomBuilders]

@@jojof1433 depends on a variety of factors like the quality of grass, the season, and the animals. I would start with small paddocks and increase the size when the animals let you know they are hungry

[@kjperez83]

Thank you! It was very helpful!

[@TheHonestCarpenter]

Awesome video! Didn’t know any of this 😄

[@HeirloomBuilders]

The Honest Carpenter glad you liked this one! I had fun putting it together

[@RustySprocket]

"hey mom"

[@vh2337]

Do you clean up the manure and save it for the garden? We're on 4 acres and are considering getting animals. I'm not sure what we have enough land for though. Maybe one beef and 1 pig. We have 15 chickens in the garden area.

[@HeirloomBuilders]

We save ourselves the energy and run the cattle through the garden to eat the cover crop and add fertility directly to the garden beds we plant the next month. If you are tilling, don’t put cows there: they will compact the soil. We do no-till. Watch Gabe Brown for more info integrating cattle and gardens.

[@great0789]

I just moved onto an almost 8AC last year. Setting things up and getting the pastures going for animals either this year or next. How many head of cows do you have on your land? I want two Dexter with calves.

[@HeirloomBuilders]

We figure about 1 cow/calf pair for every 3 acres. You should be good with two dexter cow/calf pairs on 8 acres, if you have 5-6 acres of good grass.

[@great0789]

@@HeirloomBuilders Thank you. Is that the same rules for 1/2 sized cows? We will have one acre of dry pasture up on the hill in the woods to let the grass rest if we have to during wet times. It will be about five good acres of green lush grass… and another 1 to 1.5 to harvest hay from. I am establishing some species of grass/clover that will grow year round in my area.

[@HeirloomBuilders]

@@great0789 dexters are probably closer to 1 cow/calf pair per 2acres.

[@great0789]

@@HeirloomBuilders Awesome! Should be able to grow enough beef for us then. Thanks Again…

[@nathansexton5668]

Great video! And I caught the Saladin shout out! Love how brilliant and yet simple this all is. What’s the name of your farm?

[@HeirloomBuilders]

Thanks, Nathan! Good question! Our farm is unofficially called Simmon Ridge. We only grow enough food for ourselves and friends, so we don't have a market garden or even an official website yet. Hopefully it will be coming soon! Cheers.

[@johangerber5477]

What delightful music is that at the start please???

[@HeirloomBuilders]

It’s the “playful” tune in iMovie editing software

[@yamanakakimberly]

Thanks so much for this! About to buy our first piece of land and hoping to steward it back to life in a regenerative direction. I’ll check out more of your vids and playlists. Very interested on where you recommend people start. We have one regenerative farm in our region and I am starting to volunteer with them soon so that should help :). Will stay tuned to your channel! Thanks again.

[@HeirloomBuilders]

You are on the right track! Volunteering with other farms is the best way to learn what works in your area (the soil, climate, buyers market, etc). Start by assessing your natural resources (water, sun/exposure, soil, trees and wild food, terrain). Start with perennials and get them in the ground as soon as you have a basic layout of uses for the land. Study permaculture. Best of luck!

[@yamanakakimberly]

Awesome thanks so much :)

[@matthewg9205]

Thank you! I'm just starting to learn. I'd like to raise a couple three beef cows!

[@HeirloomBuilders]

You should do it! Cows are pretty easy and good eating

[@matthewg9205]

@@HeirloomBuilders I'd like to. Looking at small plots of land. Do you seed specific grass for them? I'm literally just starting to research this, so I basically know nothing at the moment. I know they need good pasture on which to graze (that much is obvious lol). Also, I'd only be looking to raise 2 or 3. Maybe sell one of em. I'd do it for the high quality meat. Thank you again for the video and helping!

[@HeirloomBuilders]

We drill leguminous (nitrogen-fixing) seed like clover into our predominantly fescue pastures. That helps with fertility and biodiversity. Ask your local county ag extension office about best practices for your area.

[@matthewg9205]

@@HeirloomBuilders Thank you very much!

[@baller10231]

Looks great! Looking to get about 2-3 as well on similar acreage. Couple questions You said you kinda mix it up with size of plot for each day, but just a ballpark idea of the size plot they are on each day? Also, how many days are you doing this until processing? Did you prep the pasture at all with any seeds? Thanks!

[@randymaylowski2485]

Thanks for sharing! But one thing I noticed that you guys don't have hilly pasture it's all flat land..lol

[@HeirloomBuilders]

Sure makes things easier!

[@randymaylowski2485]

@@HeirloomBuilders well you guys are lucky..lol we have hills. But thanks for replying back.

[@kl1958]

Looks like you have Irish Dexter's and maybe a crossbred?

[@HeirloomBuilders]

You got it! We have mostly South Poll x red angus now.

[@kl1958]

@@HeirloomBuilders OK. I have heard that South Poll are very tame and gentle animals. They would be a great family milk cow if they produced a little more milk than just enough for their calf.

[@hectorvillarreal3676]

Great video. Have a question regarding how much acreage you're working with for those five cows I mustve missed it. Thanks in advance.

[@hectorvillarreal3676]

Nevermind got it rewatched it good job on video again.

[@HeirloomBuilders]

hector villarreal thanks! typically 3 full sized cows per acre is a good rule of thumb. We have dexters right now, which are much smaller

[@hectorvillarreal3676]

@@HeirloomBuilders nice so they average about 700 lbs more or less at slaughter? Do yo u all sell them privately or at a auction type setting? I appreciate your time sir.

[@HeirloomBuilders]

hector villarreal we have them processed and packaged and usually sell as half and quarter cows. Haven’t processed a dexter cow yet, but they are supposed to weigh about 750 lbs. and will probably each put about 270 lbs of packaged meat in the freezer.

[@coziii.1829]

Run your chickens behind the cows to stir the poop and stuff

[@flowercollector9013]

How big should a seperated patch be?

[@HeirloomBuilders]

We give them about 800-1000 sq ft per cow per day, and move them every day to a new patch. This number can vary depending on how big your animals are, and the quality of forage they have on that space.

[@flowercollector9013]

@@HeirloomBuilders how much time does the land have to be left alone before you can return the cattle to the same spot? 1 year?

[@HeirloomBuilders]

@@flowercollector9013 aim for 40-60 days of rest after the cows graze on a section. That will give the natural predators enough time to kill/eat all the parasitic larvae in the cow manure and allow enough time for grass to grow back.

[@humanbeing2144]

Watch out for clover and too much grains.

[@Goodellsam]

Would have been a great video. Couldn't hear her though.

[@colatrl.damg3167]

Horrible audio. Everything is loud and clear except for the woman talking.

[@HeirloomBuilders]

Sorry about that. It ain’t easy raising kids and filming and farming at the same time. Did the closed caption work?

[@stephenpagett2848]

Great little video but you should make more effort to edit the kids out.

[@matthewmeekhof4551]

Can't hear shit

[@HeirloomBuilders]

Sorry about that.