Well, the new year started off with nice weather and I was able to graze all my sheep up until Jan. 6. As long as they were grazing stockpiled forage they didn’t drink much water, but as soon as I started feeding dry hay they went right to drinking water. I got all the winter lots set up, they have water and electricity ran to them and the three breeding groups each have their own lot.
I started bringing hay home from a pole barn a mile and a half away and am core sampling it to have hay tests done on the six different lots of hay. The first lot of hay I’ve fed came from a drainage ditch and road ditch and it’s very mature and the sheep don’t like it too much.
I made hay wherever I could and it varies a lot in quality, so I’m testing it to know what to feed at early pregnancy or late pregnancy, but hopefully not lactation time. I’m planning on grazing one month before they start lambing. By my records, this year would be the third year of dry weather and I’m really hoping it’s not dry.
It’s cold outside, so it must be meeting time. Besides the meetings I talked about last month — the 13th annual Driftless Region Beef Conference, Jan.23-24, Grand River Convention Center, Dubuque, Iowa; the GrassWorks Grazing Conference, Jan. 23-25, Chula Vista Resort and Conference Center, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin; and the Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition’s Annual Grazing Conference 2025, March 11-12, Northfield Inn, Suites & Conference Center, Springfield, Illinois — there is the Northern Indiana Grazing Conference on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at the Michiana Event Center in beautiful Shipshewana, Indiana.
Next is the 12th annual Southern Iowa Grazing Conference, Feb. 14-15, in Bloomfield, with one of AgriNews’ contributing writers, Trevor Toland, talking on “Economics of Grazing.” Also speaking will be Joel Salatin from Swoope, Virginia, and Kit Pharo from Cheyenne Wells, Colorado.
The last one I have is the 2025 Southern Indiana Grazing Conference on March 26 at the Shiloh Community Center in Odon, Indiana. Its featured speakers are Ray Archulete, “The Soil Guy” — very good, I’ve listened to him several times speaking on soil health — and Russ Wilson, owner of Wilson Land & Cattle Co., who has a YouTube channel under his name and invents a lot of cool things. Hopefully, you’ll learn a lot this winter while you try to stay warm.