The Shepherdess

Resources for Beginner Sheep Farmers, Dorper Sheep for Sale in Texas!

Videos

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The Basics of Raising Sheep on Pasture: A Book for Beginners in Sheep Farming

The Basics of Raising Sheep on Pasture: a Book for Beginners in Sheep Farming.

Buy the Book here

About the book: The Basics of Raising Sheep on Pasture

In 2017, my family and I moved to the country. Shortly thereafter we bought a flock of 36 sheep. We had no previous experience in raising four-footed livestock. Our first few years as beginner sheep farmers was incredibly rough. Over the course of five years, we earned a hard and fast education on animal husbandry. We learned through losses, trial error; you name it, we probably went through it.

In 2020, I personally stumbled upon the concept of regenerative pasture management. It was a combination of an education on basic husbandry principles and regenerative pasture management that took death rate on our sheep farm from 40% in our rookie year to less than 5% three years later.

Industry average death rate for sheep farms nationwide is 15%, so this drop is absolutely astounding.

For the past six months, I have been working to condense everything that allowed us to so dramatically increase productivity on our sheep farm.

The result is a rich resource for beginner sheep farmers.

That resource is a book that I am so thrilled to announce: the Basics of Raising Sheep on Pasture. What sets the Basics of Raising Sheep on Pasture apart from any other book on raising sheep is that it is a photo-educational book. As much as it tells you what to do, it shows you what to do.

The pictures in this book are vivid and show you step by step how to implement the basic principles necessary to raise and rear a healthy sheep flock. What’s more is that sprinkled throughout the book are a series of QR codes. Should you choose to pair technology with the use of this book, you can scan those codes to be taken straight to videos that further expound the processes explained on the page.

While this book was not necessarily written for children, the easy to understand framework makes it ideal for a young audience. The videos that are accessible through these codes are hosted on a child friendly platform and free of third party ads.

This book is being launched exclusively through shepherdess.com and will not be found on Amazon.

Thank you all for your support to this point! I wouldn’t be doing this without you.
-the Shepherdess

“And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.” Psalm 90:17

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BUILDING 7 STREAMS OF INCOME ON MY SHEEP FARM | Sheep Farming for Profit (with PDF)

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Today I am going to walk you through seven sources of income that I generate on my sheep farm for profit. A lot of people talk about the concept of having multiple income streams, and it’s usually presented in a very abstract way. Today I’m going to take you through these seven sources of income and how I generate them without leaving the farm.

“Most successful family economies over history involved a mix of trades rather than just one. The village blacksmith also farmed his own land. Our first president was also a distinguished orchardist. Ben Franklin was a courier, author, publisher, statesman, and inventor. So it will be today successful enduring family economies will most likely need to be diversified and cross a range of durable trades.” (Durable Trades, Pg. 41)

Number one source of income is livestock. I run both sheep and a cow herd. The cow herd is a break-even enterprise. I sell the grass fed beef on a local level and it really allows me to satisfy my desire to produce a local food source for my community. The sheep are a profit center on my farm.

My sheep are purebred Dorper sheep. The demand for my sheep is such that all of my sheep are selling on the hoof. They are selling as breeding stock to other small farms. Managing the livestock end of my farm takes about two hours per day. I know a lot of you probably have a job that you need to keep as your primary income source and wonder if it’s possible to run a farm on the side. It is definitely possible.

Being able to finish my farm work in just 1-2 hours per day came down to having the right tools for both my grazing system and my watering system. Here is a free P D F download that lists all of those tools I use.

The second source of income for me is a result of the fact that I have more demand for my sheep than I’m able to supply with my own farm.

I launched a pasture-based breeder directory at shepherdess.com. Pasture-based sheep farmers can join this directory and I will do the marketing for them. You can check this out at shepherdess.com/breeders.

Income source number three is not tied to farming at all. It is a line of leather work and creative products that I produce myself.

This was the bulk of my income before my work in agriculture really got off the ground and started generating income. I have not completely phased the leather work business out. I understand that what I’m experiencing right now with the ability to generate enough income to support myself through agriculturally related means may not last forever.

So I have put the leatherwork/craft business on a side hustle basis. In the case that things slow down on the farm I can expand my capacity for taking orders.

The fourth source of income is Sheep Care supplies kits at Shepherdess.com. What has really made this popular is that I actually assemble kits for beginner sheep farmers.

What I found as a beginner shepherd was that there were just a few supplies that kept situations from becoming emergencies. I sell those products in kits at shepherdess.com. I run Shepherdess.com out of my garage. It is something that I’m able to do right from the farm.

Income source number five is podcasting and videos. Now, this is a very, very small income source. YouTube ad revenue is very small for me, surprisingly enough. I guess the farming niche that is a very low ad revenue generating niche, but the sheep farming videos I create for youtube generate a lot of traffic to shepherdess.com where I sell products for profit.

Income source number six really ties back to my time in the apparel industry. I really have a love for creating unique and beautiful things to wear, and so periodically I will update shepherdess.com with merch and apparel that has an agricultural theme. The neat thing about this apparel also is that my sister is an amazing artist and she’ll actually collaborate with me to create a lot of the designs that are applied to this merchandising: whether it’s shirts or note cards or stickers. This is a really fun project that we can mutually collaborate on here at the farm, and you guys have been so generous to support that.

Income source number seven is something I’m so excited to tell you guys about, and it is the launch of my very own book, the Basics of Raising Sheep on Pasture. As beginner sheep, farmers going into Sheep Farming with no previous experience in four-footed livestock. Our first few years was really rough.

But we adapted management principles, which I outline in this book, and death rate went from above industry average on our sheep farm to one third of industry average within just two seasons. Pre-order opens on August 15th, 2023, and I would so appreciate your support for the launch at Shepherdess.com.

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3 THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE BUYING SHEEP | Sheep Farming for Beginners

📚FREE Sheep Farming E-book
🔸CLEMSON UNIVERSITY SHEEP DEWORMER GUIDE
🌾ROTATIONAL GRAZING SHEEP PLAYLIST

BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO RAISING SHEEP on PASTURE SMALL SCALE

IN THIS VIDEO I am going to give you the 3 things you will need to consider as a beginner looking to get start with sheep. I am going to share with you the difficulty we had as a result of being under-prepared for these 3 things when sheep landed at our farm 5 years ago. Spoiler alert: we lost 1/2 of our initial flock.

I am going to call on the sheep owners watching this: Drop in the comments what breed you are running and give one piece of advice based on what you have experienced with sheep so far. I asked this question on my last video about sheep vs. goats and you guys left a GOLD MINE of information for viewers, so I hope you will share your knowledge in the same way on this video!

If you are just jumping into sheep farming I have a free 1 hour class that I highly recommend you take advantage of. It is going to take a deep dive into raising and grazing sheep. I have linked that free resource for you below.

Parasites are #1 on the list of challenges as a beginner sheep farmer.
When you bring a healthy sheep to your farm, you will probably not have a whole lot of trouble with parasites initially. Beginner sheep farmers typically have a 1-3 year grace period before a land base reaches a saturation point. What this means is that your land is initially a clean slate and untainted by sheep manure, and subsequently the parasites that hatch out and multiply through that manure. As your sheep graze across your land base, parasite loads will slowly build. Unless you are proactive with the right strategy up front, you will hit a tipping point and begin experiencing an increase in Parasite problems, even if you are running a “parasite resistant” breed.

Here are 3 ways to be proactive about parasites:

1: Put rotational grazing practices in place at the start. For parasite management it is ideal to move your sheep to fresh pasture every two days, but at minimum try to move to a new paddock once a week. I do this by using electric poly-tape to section off my 30 acres into 40-90 different grazing paddocks (one at a time, of course). Resting a paddock for 45 days will cause a majority of the parasites that are left behind in the manure to die off naturally.

2: Try to avoid penning your sheep up at night, but if you do make sure it is a dry lot and there is no way they can nibble on grass while they wait for you to lead them back to pasture. The parasites from the manure build up in that pen poses a serious threat to your sheep. I keep my sheep on pasture 24/7 as much as possible. This even means at night. I do not use a shed unless it is an emergency, or predator pressure is heavy. When I do house the sheep in a shed, I make sure it a dry lot where they cannot graze.

3 Probably most importantly: if you are going to use dewormer, be aware of correct dosage rates. The rate provided on the package is a maintenance dose and not a treatment dose. Maintenance dose is about 1/2 of what is necessary to kill all of the parasites within an infected sheep. What will happen is that you will use the maintenance dose on the package which kill the weakest worms, and leave your sheep full of blood-sucking super bugs. I am going to link the CORRECT DOSAGE RATE for dewormer down below. This chart is put out by Clemson university and backed up by Rhode Island State University and guides on proper usage for all types of dewormer available in the United States.

How did we get it wrong when our sheep were dropped at our farm 5 years ago and what happened?
We had no rotational grazing system in place.
We housed the sheep in a shed.
And we had no clue about proper dosage rates when it came time to deworm.

What happened: 18 months into sheep farming we hit that saturation point I mentioned previously. We faced the devastating loss if 1/2 of our adult ewes and most of the lambs from our first year. We finally got it under control and brought our death rate from way above industry standard to way below industry standard through good grazing and good deworming practices

I was very recently reminded of how critical that rotational grazing management is for sheep. This year I took a 6 week break from my grazing program in peak parasite season. In the 6 weeks that followed I lost 9 lambs… more than we have lost in one season since launching our rotational grazing program in 2020. While I’m not proud to admit that, I want it to resonate on how important it is to move your flock to fresh pasture as frequently as possible… I have a dozen videos about grazing sheep, and I will link the playlist below so you can binge watch once you are done with this video :).

Containment is #2:
Sheep are difficult to contain. Not as bad as goats, but way worse than cows. 5-strand barbed wire is not effective for containing sheep. At our farm we overlayed our existing 5-strand cattle fencing with 6” woven Wire field fencing as a perimeter fence. We bought this field fencing at our local farm store on 330 foot rolls. And Within this perimeter fence I use polytape to create the small grazing paddocks for my daily rotational grazing program.

If you cannot afford this expensive perimeter fencing upfront, don’t let it to keep you from getting started with sheep, but I would strongly advise the use of portable electric netting over electric poly tape or poly wire.

When I give this advice, I have Greg Judy followers call out the fact that he runs his sheep on a single strand of electric fencing. However what needs to be kept in mind, is the fact that Greg Judy is working on hundreds of acres in a relatively unpopulated pastoral area. In such a setting, a sheep will jump out of the paddock and enjoy 50-100 acres of grass before becoming a nuisance to anyone.

When farming on small acreage with neighbors close by, your sheep will likely jump out of that paddock into either the neighbors yard, or onto the highway. Best case scenario: you are driving your neighbors nuts, worst case scenario you get the sheriff up your driveway because your sheep are on the highway (don’t ask me how I know that, but it’s true).

Keep that in mind and make your own decisions accordingly.

How did we get it wrong 5 years ago?

We thought 5-strand barbed wire was enough. And it was for about 30 days, until the grass was greener on the other side. Which happened to be our neighbor Debbie’s yard. My apologies Debbie.

Our sheep were perpetually in her yard or on the highway causing us major embarrassment within the community.

We also had a lot of predator losses because coyote and wild dog could slip in and out of the barbed wire.

We ultimately upgraded our fencing to the field fencing I showed you. We did it in small sections as our budget allowed. Perimeter fencing was the biggest and best investment we made for our small scale sheep farm. If it is maintained it will last for 50 years or more.

Predators are #3 on the list of things to have a strategy for before you buy sheep.

Predator pressure is going to vary from farm to farm: but it will be an issue. Whether from wild predators, or the neighbors German shepherd.

Livestock guardian dogs are the gold standard for flock defense.

That said: I myself do not. Have a livestock guardian dog. I mentioned the perimeter fence. Once we installed the tight fencing, our losses abated. We have two large pet dogs that roam the perimeter of our property and bark at anything that approaches the fence line. We have only had one predator loss since we installed the fencing, and it was due to a hole in the fencing.

Predators are pretty serious, so have a defense plan in place.

Watch this video next where I walk you through the 15 things you need to start a sheep farm with cost for each:

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Raising SHEEP vs GOATS: WHICH IS A BETTER HOMESTEAD ANIMAL?

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Interested in purchasing my Dorper Lambs for your own farm? Join my wait-list below!

One year ago I purchased a small goatherd to add to the farm. The does were French alpine (a milk breed) and the billy was a Boer.

I bought them knowing there would some differences between sheep and goats, but assuming (even if I didn’t admit it) that they would be basically the same as sheep.

One year later I am going to share from my perspective

If you are trying to decide between sheep or goats for your farm or homestead am going to share my opinion on a situation in which goats are a hands-down a better for your farm or homestead and a situation in which sheep are a hands down better choice for your farm or homestead.

4 ways that goats have been a more pleasurable animal for me than sheep than sheep, and 4 ways that goats have been a less pleasurable animal for me than sheep and what role they will play on my farm from here on out.

If you are trying to make the decision for your homestead, this video should be chock full of info. Please note there will be exceptions and caveats based on breed, etc so I would like to ask goat owners to leave a comment below with their breed and how their experience has differed or been similar to mine over the past year.

This video is brought to you by shepherdess.com, where I provide beginner sheep owners with the resources they need to get off the ground, including sheep supplies kits and free ebooks and articles. The unique thing about sheep and goats is that there are so many similarities in the healthcare arena that the supplies and resources I offer for sheep crossover into the goat arena.
I’m also going to be launching a book in August that I want you to be watching for: the Basics of Raising Sheep on Pasture: a photo-educational guide to raising and grazing sheep on 30 acres or less.

First up, when we think of bringing an animal back to the farm it is really important to define your goals for that animal. This is going to help you to avoid burnout when the challenges associated with that animal present themselves.

When people talk to me about raising animals on a homestead they are raising them for one of twos reasons: self-sufficiency and food production or Land management

If I am speaking to the self-sufficiency, food production homesteader, I would advise sheep.

Here is why:
At my home, I would a tremendous amount of difficulty convincing my family to make goat milk a regular part of their diet. Lamb, however, slips into the menu and replaces beef in most of the recipes we use it in. Lamb is very easy to integrate into already established eating habits. Until we are starving in some apocalyptic situation I will have to find a secondary use for my goats milk: feeding it to pigs or chickens, or making soap.

Another primary difference between goat and lamb is in the eating experience (should you raise meat goats). Lamb has the capacity to marble and create a similar eating experience to beef, whereas excess fat stores in goats does not become marbling in the meat. Instead it centralize around the vital organs and abdominal wall, and not in the meat. This makes goat a very lean eating experience. This isn’t bad, just different and something that would prove a bigger adjustment for my family at least.

If I am speaking to the homesteader who is managing a very brushy or poor quality forage resource: Goats win.

Goats are extremely aggressive browsers. As I watched this goat herd eat, I at one point watched them work together to tip over a small evergreen tree and then proceed to peel the bark off with their teeth and eat it… all while there were acres and acres of pasture grass at their disposal.

Sheep are 50/50 in their grazing-browsing habits. They are a hybrid between a goat and a cow in that they will eat weeds and brush, but if there is open pasture in front of them, they will opt for it first, then eat away at the brush.

If you have extremely brushy land and very little grass, goats are going to make amazing use of that. The interesting thing I have heard about goats is that within about 5 years they will eat themselves out of a habitat because the brush that they go at so hard is really not used to such heavy grazing impact and will eventually die out of a pasture, making room for grass.

Ok here are 4 ways goats have been a more pleasurable experience for me than sheep over the past year:

Prolificacy: The twinning rate on my goat herd was better than my sheep flock. My goats were supplemented with feed and my sheep were grass only. So please note that could have had something to do with it.

Personality: Goat kids have a way better personality that lambs. The two are equal in cuteness… but goat kids will literally hug you… it’s weird. And it is literally one of the most fun experiences to take your coffee out to the goat pen in the morning and watch them use anything as a gymnasium. Lambs re adorable, but goat personality wins. (Sorry sheep)

Commodity value: Consistently here in the DFW area, goats are pulling stronger prices at sale barns and public auction houses.

Browsing ability: I mentioned this before, but if your land base has more weeds than pasture, goats have an advantage.

4 ways that goats have been a less pleasurable experience for me than sheep over the past year:

Containment: This is the biggest challenge. I had really gotten a good system in place with my sheep. I operate on 2-strands of polytope and a 12 Joule AC charger. This keeps my sheep in at a rate of 90% (which is good enough for me). The goats pretend the fence doesn’t exist. They are super agile and can either jump or muster the bravery to slip through. As I’ve watched them get hit with the electric shock of the poly tape, their instinct seems to be to continue bounding forward, rather than to retract, so whether they are hit with a shock or not, they leave the paddock. I’ve discussed the issue with other goat owners and the concession is that electric netting is the best portable fence option for goats, so invest in a set of that and. You are good to go.

Copper: Goats need more copper than sheep. This isn’t a huge deal, but something to be noted. Twice this year I have administered a copper bolus in the back of the throat for each goat and that was all they needed.

Climbing: It may be the breed, but my alpines climb-climb-climb in ways that my stalky Dorpers never could. They climb out of my handling system and I have to chase them around the corral and manually provide their drenches and treatments. In fact last year they collaborated with the sheep. They climbed to the top of the hay pile, and kicked several bales to the bottom, where the sheep feasted heartily on what was supposed to be winter reserves.

Hooves: I was treating more goat hooves than sheep hooves this year. Now it was an abnormally wet year so I am not certain this is a fair estimate, but I’ll include it anyway and let you agree or disagree in the comments section with the point that goats are more sensitive to hoof issues than sheep.

I noted they were about the same as sheep with respect to parasites… However I did not loose any goat kids to parasites this year and I did lose a few lambs, so they did gain the win there. However I was raising a lot more lambs than goats this year, so it’s not really an even match.

So what am I going to do?? Will goats stay on my farm. Yes, they will. I have been told by my little sisters, who adore the goats, that I must keep them. They will not be a for-profit enterprise.
I am going to keep 2 does for personal enjoyment. One of the does I am keeping is a great milker and allows anything to nurse off of her. I believe she will come in handy for orphan lambs.

I hope this video helped you and please give it a thumbs up if it did. I look forward to seeing you in the next one.

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A rough month on the farm.

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It’s been a rough month on the farm. In this video I talk about the anemia that hit the flock and what caused it for me. I also share about a common denominator in all of the losses. You can find the products referenced in this video at Shepherdess.com

I hope this video helps you! Keep on pushin’ forward.
-the Shepherdess

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EMAIL: shepherdess (at) shepherdess.com

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About this Channel: This channel chronicles my journey as a sheep farmer from the very beginning. My primary occupation is in business management. In 2020, I discovered the principles of regenerative agriculture and embarked on a journey with the end goal of building a profitable small farm on 23 acres by 2027. Thank you for joining the journey!

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Running Hoof Care for My Sheep and Goats

🔹HOOF TRIMMING PDF

This video outlines my annual hoof care process. I cover two ways that you can care for the hooves of sheep or goats: manually or with a handling system. I share some of my favorite hoof care supplies for sheep and goats, as well as what hoof trimming day looks like for me at my farm.

Thanks for watching!
-the Shepherdess

*Minor correction, the grass-fed yearling did have a small grain ration during the winter following 2022’s drought. Very short term.

🔹FOLLOW THE FARM ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/harmonyfarms.dorpers/
🔹FOLLOW THE FARM ON FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/HarmonyFarmsDorpers

🔸FREE 1 HOUR CRASH COURSE on Sheep: https://bit.ly/Sheepx3Webinar
🔹Join my NEWSLETTER: http://bit.ly/ShepherdessNWSLTR
🔸FREE SHEEP FARMING WORKSHEETS: https://bit.ly/FarmWorksheets

In this Video:
Sheep Farming
Sheep Care
Hoof Trimming
Goats
Foot
Hooves

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HOW I BUILT A $100K SHEEP FARM BUSINESS IN 3 YEARS (Sheep farming for profit)

“11 QUESTIONS” Business PLANNING WORKSHEETS

In 2020 I decided I wanted to become a farmer for profit. I had no idea what I was up against, I just knew I wanted to generate $100K per year off of my 23 acre sheep farm with a net profit minimum of 30%.


I had:

  • no farming background.
  • no industry connections.
  • no land.

But what I did have was knowledge.


I knew:

  • Our food system is broken.
  • Our farmers are dying.
  • We need more people growing groceries.

And I knew how to market…
While I had never built a farm business, I had built and marketed several other business… mostly in the retail apparel industry.
So I shoved everything I knew from marketing shoes and clothes in the direction of marketing sheep:
Branding, content creation, email marketing, live launching, product stacking, and diversification.
It’s all I had, and gave it all I had.
1000 days after launching my farm business, it earned just shy of $100K within one calendar year.


WITHOUT:

  • Youtube Ad Revenue
  • Sponsorship deals
  • Course sales
  • Speaking fees

In a year by year format I am going to show you exactly how I built my farm brand and a concept that rapidly increased gross revenue. We are talking going from $10k to $100k within just a year. That $100k gross is split between three distinct products that fit within a similar category and all appeal to the same person.
What I am getting ready to outline transcends industries, so no matter what business you decide to build you will more than likely pull something out of this video.
I know this because the same methods I used to sell sheep were the same methods I used to sell shoes.

HOWEVER, while this pattern is simple (if you are like me)… the hard part of the whole process will be sticking with it and not quitting.
Here’s why:


Year 1, I worked about 1000 hours to build my farm business and grossed about $0.


Year 2, I worked another 1000 hours to build my farm business and grossed about $10,000. That’s like a dollar an hour.


Year 3, I worked about 1000 hours on my farm business and grossed about $100K.

There were a lot of times I wanted to QUIT. It was very discouraging to work so hard without any immediate return.

If you are in it for money you will quit, because there are thousands of easier ways to make this kind of money. You have to farm for deeper reasons.

Here is a year by year look at the marketing that went into building the Shepherdess Brand:

Year 1:
I set a solid foundation. Mindset and otherwise.

  • I decided I wanted to make $100k per year farming 23 acres, with a minimum net profit of $30k.
  • Decided I was going direct to consumer. No sale barns, no middle man, whatever farm goods I sold would be sold through my own website or straight from my farm to you.
  • I penciled out a business plan with beef. I couldn’t achieve a net profit of $30k with beef on 23 acres. Even with the fanciest beef I could only pencil out about $8,900 on 23 acres.
  • I pivoted from beef to sheep as my primary enterprise. I still run beef, I still sell sides of grass fed and finished beef, but just in a much smaller ratio to sheep.
  • I built my website (Shepherdess.com). I published 3 long-form, SEO optimized articles to the website that would rank in Google search.
  • I setup a newsletter.
  • Created a solid brand name, logo, and slogan.

Year 2:
I worked ahead of time to build my newsletter list with people who might be interested in buying my sheep.

By the beginning of year two my flock was lambing and I was almost ready to sell my first lambs. 6 months before launching my first sheep sale, I doubled down on building my newsletter list.

I used social media to find people for my newsletter. I chose Instagram and Youtube to find people for my newsletter. I chose Youtube because Youtube and Google are both search engines. I created videos with the goal of ranking in Youtube search engine in the same way that I wrote the blog posts. With my videos I answered specific questions about sheep farming.

In prep for my first livestock sale, I listed some small merch at shepherdess.com. My sheep weren’t ready yet, but I offered Gateway products: Stickers and shirts. I didn’t make a lot of money off these products, but it was a way that people could connect and purchase something small to support my work.

I held my first livestock sale at Shepherdess.com on August 11, 2021. I advertised my sheep through my newsletter and sold all of them through either Shepherdess.com or through Craigslist.


I did not make a ton of money in year 2 at all… but I had prototyped all of my ideas on a small scale and found viability.


I heard it said that when, starting a new business, the hardest money you will ever make is your first $1000. If you can survive that process, know that it won’t take much more effort to make $100k.


I have found that to be true.

Year 3:
Go big or go home.

My newsletter list was growing really strong around the topic of sheep farming. I hosted my 2nd livestock sale in April of 2022, marketed it through that email newsletter, and sold out of all my sheep at shepherdess.com within 15 minutes.

I was elated… And then I thought: “Wait, that’s all my sheep for the year… what else can I sell?”


There were two FAQ’s that came to me again and again.

1: What books did you read as a beginner in raising livestock on pasture?

2: What kind of supplies do you use to take care of your sheep?

So I took these questions as cues and put the 5 books I read as a beginner in livestock at Shepherdess.com.


And I worked super hard and acquired distributorship for the 32 products I use to take care of my flock on an annual basis. It was something I had never done before, but the Lord opened doors.


I made both of these things available a Shepherdess.com, and by God’s grace, revenue tripled overnight… Because I found more than one way to meet the needs of the people I had spent two years connecting with…. through my email newsletter.


And that is the secret sauce. Listen to the people. Take your mind off of what you want to sell and listen to what they want.

I hope this summary helps you market your own farm!

-the Shepherdess

“So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” 1 Cor. 3:7

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61 JOBS THAT ChatGPT WON’T REPLACE? | Durable Trades Interview With RORY GROVES

In a world where ChatGPT is pushing millions of jobs into obsolescence, Durable Trades is a roadmap for establishing yourself in a job that will last.

Durable Trades outlines 61 occupations that have stood the test of time and technological advances.

(Spoiler: Shepherding is #1 on the list!!!)

Shop the book →

AI JOB REPLACEMENT

The AI Revolution is taking the world by storm, with the release and rise of ChatGPT on November 30th 2022.

ChatGPT is a first of it’s kind Artificial Intelligence chat-bot made available to the public.

In the 5 short months since ChatGPT was released it is positioning itself to replace the jobs of millions of coders, data analysts, software engineers, paralegals, teachers, accountants, graphic designers AND MORE.

Conservative estimates cite that 300 million jobs will be replaced by Artificial Intelligence software such as ChatGPT.

For perspective, the United States population is 331.9 million. This means that by the very lowest estimations, the equivalent of the entire US population will be without a job, thanks to this revolutionary AI technology.

But are there AI-proof jobs that we can establish ourselves in right now, to avoid obsoleteness in an onslaught of the Artificial Intelligence?

This is an interview with Rory Groves, Author of Durable Trades. Rory Groves is a software developer who saw the merit in diversifying his portfolio with a 10 acre food production enterprise.

The book Durable Trades outlines 61 occupations that have stood the test of time and an era of technological advances.

Enjoy the interview, and as a spoiler: Shepherding is #1 on the list of the world’s most historically durable trades.

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THE RISE (and fall?) of the US DOLLAR | History of the US Currency 1914-2023

Historically, Global Reserve currencies have a lifespan of about 100 years and The dollar as we know celebrates it’s 110th birthday in 2024…

Is the US Dollar facing a collapse in 2023? Are we facing a currency crisis? Is dedollarization a threat?

In this video we will look at 5 critical dates in the life of the US dollar, from it’s birth in 1914 to present day.

These dates that may provide you with insights on what kind of time remains for the leading Global Reserve currency.

1914

Our first stop is in 1914, with the birth of the US. Dollar. While the use of paper Currency in the United States dates back to Colonial America, the Dollar as the currency we know today was first printed in 1914. This was one year after the passing of the Federal Reserve Act and the simultaneous establishment of the Federal Reserve as the Nations central bank.

“the dollar as we know it today was first printed in 1914. Printing began a year after the establishment of the Federal Reserve as the nation’s central bank with the passing of the Federal Reserve Act.” -Investopedia.com

At this point in time, the US dollar was backed by the gold standard, meaning each dollar was tied to a certain amount of gold, thus anchoring and stabilizing it’s value.

1933

In 1933 President Franklin D Roosevelt transitioned the dollar from the Gold Standard to a Limited or Quasi Gold Standard.

“The Thomas Amendment to the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 granted authority to the President to alter the gold content of the dollar, with power to reduce it to 50% of its previous value.” (Fas.org p. 10)

What happened was that after FDR’s initial and immediate inflation of the price of gold from $21 to $35 per ounce the government did not allow the price of gold to budge from $35 per ounce… thus stabilizing the value of US dollar for another 40 years.

1944

In 1944 the when Bretton Woods Summit took place in New Hampshire. It was here that the US dollar became the World’s Primary Reserve Currency.

“The [Bretton Woods agreement] was reached by 730 delegates, who were the representatives of the 44 allied nations that attended the summit.” -corporatefinanceinstitute.com

The International Monetary Fund was Established, alongside what is now known as the World Bank.

“Under the Bretton Woods system, the dollar was pegged to gold and most other currencies were pegged to the dollar. As a result of this arrangement, dollars were used as the main intervention currency and, hence, reserve currency.” -treasury.gov

1971

By the late 1960’s, the Gold Standard was becoming difficult to maintain. As previously mentioned, the government held the price of US gold at $35 US dollars per ounce. This fixed price worked, because from 1933-1974 it was not legal to own gold of any significant amount or exchange dollars for gold from the Federal Reserve. This prevented a US population from making a run on gold at that bargain price of $35 US dollars.

However, it did not prevent the international community from doing so. It was at this point in time legal to exchange gold for US dollars in the international, “free market”:

“Although there was no private market for gold in the United States, such markets did exist
abroad.” (FAS.org Pg. 13)

“Foreign central banks were willing to hold US dollars because, at the time, they were readily convertible into gold upon demand. If the free market price rose above $35/ounce, central banks had the incentive to redeem US dollars for gold to then sell the gold for a higher price in other markets. Throughout the 1950s, the US Treasury experienced a continuing drain on its gold holdings.” (libertycoinservice.com)

In light of this problem, in 1971 the Nixon Administration eradicated the Limited gold standard and by 1976 “the definition of the dollar it terms of gold was removed
from statute. The monetary system officially became one of pure fiat money.” (fas.com)

Fiat Money refers to a currency that is not backed (or anchored) by the value of any physical commodity (Investopedia).

At this point, with no anchor, the dollar was left to “float”. And float it did: the price of gold went from $35/oz in 1970 to $875/oz by 1980 (vaulted.com).

But why did the US dollar not crash completely back in 1970?… and not only not crash, but it still remains the world’s leading currency 60 years later?

What took place in 1973 is a lesser known fact about the US dollar. And that was that president FORD settled the Petro Dollar agreement with Saudi Arabia:

A simple summary of The Petro-Dollar Agreement: Is that that US promised safety to global suppliers of oil (Saudi Arabia and ultimately all OPEC members), in exchange for the promise that that oil would be sold in NO OTHER denomination than the US dollar.

The nations of the world were required to exchange their local currency for US dollars before they could purchase the oil they needed.

As a result, the demand for oil has stabilized, in a large part, the value of the dollar for more than 60 years.

“the American currency now contributes to almost two-thirds of the international economy. It is the reserve currency for most central banks worldwide” (www.wallstreetmojo.com)

“That pace would generate annual global petrodollar supply of more than $3.2 trillion a year…” (investopedia Petrodollars: Definition, History, Uses)

2023

In present time this stimulates the demand for nearly $3.2 trillion US dollars annually as world nations flock to exchange local currency for the US dollar in order to satisfy a growing demand for energy.

2023: China and Brazil Abandon the petrodollar standard.

2000’s: US Debt Spiral

For 20 years the United States has been printing US dollars to cover for an unprecedented debt spiral. National debt skyrocketed from $9 TRILLION in 2000 to $31 Trillion in 2022. Stability being a key to maintaining face on the international stage, things are not looking good.

2022: Inflation and Interest Rates Frustrates the International Community
In 2022 this debt spiral culminated in historic levels of inflation. Which the Federal Government attempted to control through the raising of interest rates. However, higher interest rates make it more expensive for other countries to do business in the dollar… paving the way for what we witnessed on March 29th. 2023.

“The deal, announced Wednesday, will enable China and Brazil to carry out trade and financial transactions directly, [in local currencies] exchanging yuan for reais – or vice versa – rather than first converting their currencies to the U.S. dollar.” (FOX NEWS)

There is little or nothing to back the value or authority of the dollar unless the petro-dollar standard is upheld. What happened with China and Brazil on March 29th, 2023 will only propel the dollar down an already dismal trajectory.

By all appearances the dollar is in it’s final days. The timeline, no one knows, And in all reality it would be better for you and for me if the process took 10 years rather than 10 days. Prepping for a shift away from a major world currency will take time. And realistically, we could be looking at a slow burn…

If you want some insights on the decisions I made in light of a currency crisis >>> Watch this video next.

Citations:

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex-currencies/092316/how-us-dollar-became-worlds-reserve-currency.asp

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/economics/bretton-woods-agreement/

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/206/Appendix1FinalOctober152009.pdf

https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2015/12/09/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-gold-standard-in-the-united-states/?sh=24cae08e6dec

https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R41887.pdf
(Brief History of the Gold Standard in the United States
Craig K. Elwell)

https://libertycoinservice.com/news/the-failure-of-the-1960s-london-gold-pool/
https://libertycoinservice.com/news/the-failure-of-the-1960s-london-gold-pool/

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fiatmoney.asp

https://www.macrotrends.net/1333/historical-gold-prices-100-year-chart
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/petrodollars.asp

https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/brazil-china-strike-trade-deal-agreement-ditch-us-dollar

https://www.wallstreetmojo.com/petrodollar/

Wall Street Mojo, Petro-dollar

Gold Reserve Fiat Currencies
History of the Gold Standard in America

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Why I Used Sheep (not silver) to Avoid Inflation

In this video I am going to give you 5 reasons why I bought sheep instead of silver, why 3 years later I am glad I did so, and #3 I am going to tell you why I am going to spend the next few videos encouraging you to find alternative means to the USDollar of storing your wealth.

In 2020 I was debt free with 6 months worth of expenses saved back and $11k leftover to invest free and clear.

I was watching as the government began to print it’s way out of a national crisis.

Within just 3 months, our national debt increased by $3 TRILLION, a previously unheard-of spike in such a short period of time.

Stimulus money flooded the nation to “rescue” a flailing economy, but it does not take a genius to understand that that was not free money, it is a dilution of existing wealth… but only for those who chose to keep their wealth stored in the form of US dollars.

So I seized a window of opportunity to escape that fate.

While it was not a lot, I began to search out ways to invest this $11,000, and invest in a way that would not only hedge its value, but increase it.

Long story short, instead of silver. Precious metals, or some up and coming tech stock, I spent $11k on sheep and began the intensive process of learning how to care for a flock in such a way that would enhance the health of the soil they grazed. (( BTW )) If you are looking at sheep as a means of hedging wealth… please know that if all of your sheep die you will lose all of your money. It almost happened to us, so I want you to click the link below for free beginner level training that covers some of the mistakes we made at the beginning that cost us A LOT of money.

Here are 5 reasons why I bought Dorper Sheep instead of silver:

  1. Livestock is a dynamic asset, silver and precious metals are static. What this means is that in addition to appreciating and cycling in value as silver does, sheep also replicate themselves at a rapid rate. If you put two sheep together, given the correct gender, you will have 4 sheep next year, 6 the year after that, and 10 ands so on….
  2. Sheep are among the top 3 most Historically Durable forms of wealth: Land, Livestock, and precious metals have since the beginning of time been a consistent measurement of personal wealth. To take it to ancient, Biblical history, the wealth of the most prosperous men was measured first in terms of sheep, followed by various forms of livestock and in some cases precious metals. It is important to understand that many of the things we measure wealth by today did not exist 100 years ago. Whether it be crypto currency, tech stocks, etc. These things that we attribute value to on such a high level are exceptionally fragile. They are a blip on the radar of world history and I believe we will ultimately revert to what has been most historically durable. (Burned by the Curley headed guy. Silicon Valley crash)
  3. Agricultural investments are severely undervalued. Agriculture is in shambles, and those who can enter the arena with ingenuity, and an emphasis on the restoration of soil health, will be future corner pillars of an industry we rely on for 3 meals a day.
  4. Soil is among the most undervalued assets in our culture today. Soil health is a barrier between a nation and starvation. Civilizations have risen and fallen in relation to the capacity of the soil to produce a viable food source. Sheep well managed are a tool to increase soil health acre by acre, thus compounding the wealth building component of your investment, should the land you are grazing belong to you.
  5. Bullion (gold and Silver) is heavily regulated. Nearly every piece of precious metal you purchase is registered and reported to the government by the brokering agency. The reason this is significant is because 90 years ago during the Great Depression, President FDR signed an executive order that made the ownership of **any form of gold over $100 illegal. Citizens were required to turn in all gold coins, certificates, etc to the federal government in exchange for US dollars, and they did so at a volume that totaled $700 million in 1933… or $16.3 BILLION in today’s money. To think we are past such a confiscation in 2023 is not wise, especially considering the fact that bullion is regulated and tracked to an even greater extent today than ever before. I do not by any means negate precious metals as a valid way to hedge wealth, and should we hit something like we saw during the last Depression, you will receive fair dollar exchange for your gold, but given what we have seen historically, precious metals are more vulnerable. What’s more is that in times of true economic crisis bartering becomes a thing. Practically speaking, 10 sheep are more barter able than one gold coin.

Since I made the personal decision based on #1 prayer and #2 the realization of these 5 facts, economic leaders have begun pushing agricultural ETF’s, localized food systems have gained traction, and there is rumor that the BRICS nations (which are the eastern nations of the world) are formulating plans to launch an alternative currency that is backed by gold, rare earth metals, and… wait for it… SOIL. While this alternative currency is still just a rumor, the fact that soil is listed among precious metals and rare earth elements further exemplifies its value as a legitimate commodity.

Sheep instead of silver is not going to be everyone’s answer.

A lot of you watching this with a back ache from working sheep all day and you are going to make the accurate observation that this is by no means a passive investment. It takes work, and sometimes it takes more work than is fun. You have to be ready and able to put in the work.

A lot of you are also going to how about both sheep and silver? Which is is a great option as well. Diversity is my anthem.

I am not really here to tell you what you should do

But I do want to bring awareness to the fact that it is critical to find alternative means to hedge and grow wealth if you have it.

Since 2020 alone the cumulative rate of inflation has been 15.1%, meaning that should I have left that $11,000 in the bank it would only have $9,500 worth of buying power today. Instead, that $11,000 went to work. I have flock that is twice the size of when I bought it and I have consistent income through the sale of excess lambs. (Which, by the way, I am selling my 2023 lamb crop on April 26th, so check the link below for info on starting your own flock with lambs from mine).

I am convinced that the USD is on death row. In the coming videos I am going to present the facts that will tell you why… when they are available, I will put those videos right here… until then diversify, and be watching your flocks.

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(Final Notice) Giveaway + Livestock Sale Details!

Flock Giveaway:

To qualify for the Flock Giveaway (1 ram and 2 ewes) you must fall under one of these categories:

You have completed the course Raising Sheep 101 with a score of 85 or higher on all 5 quizzes. In addition to this, you need to provide proof that you have land suitable to raise 3 sheep and the lambs they produce (2+ acres recommended).

or

Successful sheep owner for 12 months or more. You must have experience with at least one lambing on farm and an annual mortality rate of 15% or less. Winner to be announced on April 24th!

​

April 26th Livestock Sale Details:

  • The sheep sale is ONLINE at Shepherdess.com. It will be first come, first served at the website. Local pickup will be scheduled after purchase.
  • Genetic sets will be color coded (orange and yellow). Make sure you have selected a ram that is the opposite color of the ewes to have a set suitable for breeding.

Reply with any questions!

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Cost of Building a 10 Acre Sheep Farm From Scratch.

PDF RESOURCE LIST

Today I am going to walk you through what I would use to make 10 acres of raw land suitable for raising and grazing sheep. I am going to outline what you need to install and give you a ballpark figure of how much this infrastructure will costs. I will explain the various options for water and electricity, even outlining some options for land that has neither water nor electrical access yet.

Fencing:

Fenceline Clearing: $500-3000

In my area of Northeast Texas, a forestry clearing machinery kit can be rented for $3,000 per week. For light brush, a brush hog costs about $500 per week to rent.

Perimeter Fencing Material: $3824

I would install the same fence that is on my farm right now. This fence is a woven wire field fence and costs $478 per 330 linear foot. The cost covers a 6×6″ woven wire field fencing that comes on 330ft rolls. You will need to factor in the cost of corner braces if you do not have the lumber from clearing the fenceline to do so.

Corner Braces: 5 each 8’x6″ treated post ($30 each). $150 per corner post x 4 $600.

Gate: $313

2 Gate hinge kits at $18 each

1 Utility Tube Gate for $217. Two 8’x6″ treated post for either side of the gate = $60

Fencing Total: $4,637-7137

Water:

If you already have a spigot access point, you can simply take water to your paddocks using a 500′ length of UV resistant Poly-tubing. That’s what I do. The 500′ length of pipe cost me $200 and I have water in all of my paddocks.

#1 Pond: In my region, it costs $1200-3600 to dig a small pond. That said, I would not dig a pond, but haul water instead. Sheep drink very little water. On the hottest days I observe they only drink 1 gallon per head per day.

65 Gallon Tank: $280

Sheep drink about 1 gallon of water per day, so if you are considering a flock of 20 sheep on 10 acres, a 65 gallon water tank will service your flock for 3 days.

Water total: $200-$3000

Housing/shelter:

There are a lot of options when it comes to sheep shelter! Feel free to leave yours down below.

I am currently working with a company to purchase a 10×20′ structure that will be a miniature replica of the 2-sided structure that I currently have.

With the modifications this structure will cost around $2,200.

A 2-sided shelter is all I have ever needed here in Texas. The closed side is facing the north, which is where the cold wind blows in from. As long as there is plenty of dry bedding, the sheep are just fine in this shed!

Shelter Cost: $2,200

Rotational Grazing Infrastructure:

Charger System:

Assuming no electrical access, I would utilize a 5 joule solar system for 10 acres. $800

Total: $800

Rotational Grazing Supplies:

Here are the supplies I would keep on hand for rotational grazing:

6 reels. $90

6 rolls of polytape. $240

40 Step in Posts. $87.60

2 sets of tri-jumper cables. $20

2 Reel stands with brackets: $250

Total: $687

Buffering for Incidentals:

I would put a $1,500 buffer into my budget for this project for incidentals. This will cover the cost of the unexpected. If you don’t spend it, you can put it toward the cost of breeding stock… but it is that it is better to come up with extra than to fall short.

How many sheep on 10 acres?

In a good rainfall area (40″+) with land that has 70% grass cover or more, 2-3 sheep per acre is possible.

That said, I would start with 1 sheep per acre. Buy 8-10 of the highest quality ewes you can find and pair them to the best ram you can afford. Starting small is my anthem. It will keep you from burnout: both financial and emotional.

What’s more is that sheep reproduce really fast. Within 8 months your flock size will double. You can save back your best ewes every year to increase your flock size from 10 to 20, and so on.

Please share this article with a friend if it helped!

-the Shepherdess

“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish…” Luke 14:28

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BASIC SHEEP SUPPLIES I USE | Deworming, Tail Docking, Shots, and more!

DIY Sheep Chute

Lakeland Handling Systems

I am going to show you what kind of products I use in my Dorper Sheep flock with detailed info why I use them.

I am going to address how the new regulations on livestock antibiotics affect my sheep farm.

I am going to talk about how I keep records on my sheep flock.

I am going to talk about handling systems for sheep.

Where to find the products I am using:

With exception of the prescription only products, all of the products I use to work my flock are part of the Shepherdess Complete Starter Kit at Shepherdess.com.

What you will also find at Shepherdess.com is a HUGE amount of free training for beginner sheep farmers, in fact I would highly recommend you start with my free 1 hour class on the basics of raising, grazing, and marketing sheep.

Every 30-45 days I will give the flock what I call a “quick look”. I’ll check eyelids for anemia and, if someone is limping, I’ll figure out why. This typically takes an hour or less and I will just pile them all into the nearest small or use some of the portable Lakeland panels to create small enclosure wherever the flock is grazing.

Today, however, was one of my biggest working days of the year, which only happens 2-3 times per year. I performed about 7 different tasks… and those tasks are as follows.

Tasks I Performed Today!

  • CDT: Vaccine (vet only). CDT is a vaccine for sheep and goats that you can purchase through your vet. It guards against tetanus and overeating disease (bloat). I avoid giving the shots to the meat wethers that I raise, but prioritize them for my breeding animals. The two issues they guard against are ones you will likely encounter if you are grazing. Clover dense pasture can cause bloat and tetanus is a risk where rusty fencing, or horse manure is present. (yes, horse manure carries tetanus)
  • Cydectin: Dewormer for Barber’s Pole Worm. I treat the Barber’s Pole Worm with Cydectin.
  • Toltrazuril: Dewormer for Coccidia. I use Toltazuril as Coccidia prevention and treatment. Coccidia is another parasite that eats holes in the gut of your lambs and can stunt growth. For the most part rotational grazing and culling has taken care of this problem in my flock, but I don’t mind running the occasional treatment, especially if it has been a really wet month. Symptoms include a pot belly, slowed growth rate, and/or persistent diarrhea. This treatment works really quickly. Lambs under 8 months are most vulnerable. This coccidia treatment is available in the Shepherdess Essentials Bundle!
  • Vitamin B and Anem-x 100 Iron Supplement: Immune Boosters for Stress. These two supplements are something I’ll give to mature ewes that seem stressed. As an example of why I used it here: 3 of my ewe were stressed and/or in poor body condition from lambing In December and raising lambs in sub-optimal conditions. These two supplements and the needles you need to administer are available in the Shepherdess Essentials Bundle!
  • Ear-tagging: New lambs and moms that have lost there eartags throughout the year will receive a fresh orange tag. You need 3 things to eartag: A non-fading eartag marker, an eartag applicator, and of course the tags. You want to make sure the tags are small for sheep. These eartags are not in the Essentials bundle, but are available separately at shepherdess.com For the new lambs I will put the name of their sire (dad) on the back as well as their dams (moms) number. The fact that I can look at a lamb and know which mom it belongs to betrays the fact that I spend way too much time with my sheep. Another way to keep record on moms and babies is simply to eartag on pasture shortly after the lamb is born.
  • Roll Call: With the help of my mini-shepherdess I ran a roll call on the entire flock. My flock is not huge, but it is growing and with them spending a majority of time on pasture, I wanted to make sure no-one had escaped the farm, or was abducted. Thankfully everyone was present, accounted for and looking great!
  • Weighing: I weighed a cross-section of the flock to get an idea of where everyone was at, and to keep tabs on some of the ewes that had lost condition due to lambing in December. The scale I am using is also from Lakeland.
  • Tail Docking and Castration: The same tool is used for both tail docking and castration. You have the castration pliers and a small rubber band. You just have to stick different parts through this rubber band and leave it there.

How do the new regulations on Livestock Antibiotics affect my farm?

They don’t. I use antibiotic maybe 3-4 times per year. I have a relationship with my vet, so will buy a bottle when I buy my CDT. It stores it in the fridge and keeps for the whole year. I’m sad that there are more regulations in place, but this one is not affecting me too severely.

Handling System:

Deluxe Handling Package for Sheep and Goats by Lakeland

What I actually use to do the bulk of my sheep work is a Lakeland Farm and Ranch handling system, which I love. It takes the muscle out of working sheep and is allowing me to grow my flock as a single female owner/operator who is 5’3′ with sheep that outweigh her. When I did not have this sheep handing system, I needed 2 big guys to help me on days like today. With this system, I can work the flock by myself with the help of two little girls who I can pay in cheeseburgers and cherry limeades rather than $20 per hour.

When our flock was smaller, we would just use a small pen and a homemade chute, which I will link below to that DIY chute. Just make sure it is a small pen and the sheep are tightly packed together. Do not leave any room for them to run from you… or it will be a very long day.

Simple Record Keeping for the Flock:

I use a simple Google Sheets to keep tabs on the flock. I create a column for each year and file the ewes according to the year they were born. Our flock goes back to 2017, so I have 7 columns.

On that Google Sheets I will create new tab down below for huge working days like today. I have a 10 year old secretary on site to write down notes for each ewe with respect to what kind of treatment she received, how much she weighed, etc. Once we are done, I will take that piece of paper and add notes to my Google sheets for each animal. I do know there are services that help with flock record keeping, I just have not taken the time to jump into any of them yet… maybe someday!

We are almost finished with lambing, and I actually timed my lambing to be earlier this year. I did this for several reasons, but one of them was so that I could do this kind of flock maintenance in cooler weather. It is really uncomfortable to work sheep when the Texas temperatures kick up in may.

I hope this walk through a day of working sheep helped you!

-the Shepherdess

“Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” Psalm 100:3

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ARE REGISTERED SHEEP WORTH IT? | Registered vs. Commercial Sheep Farming

Are registered Sheep worth the money?

I am going to give you the answer I received when I asked this same question 3 years ago.

I am going to tell you why I do not recommend beginners start a flock with registered stock.

I am going to add some pragmatism to the discussion by explaining why I do have registered animals in my flock.

First a definition of terms: Registered vs. Commercial Sheep

In the Dorper world, a Registered sheep is one that has a paper trail all the way back to South Africa, where the breed originated. Both the ewe an the ram must be pure Dorper and have the same paper trail back to South Africa. A registered sheep comes with papers from the American Dorper Sheep Breeder’s Society and the owner of the sheep is a member of the society. Registered sheep are often raised as show animals for 4H, FFA, etc, with the meat market being a secondary consideration.

A Commercial sheep is a sheep that is not registered and has no papers. Commercial sheep are raised almost exclusively for the food supply chain. Quality commercial operations that sell breeding stock are doing so to other farmers with the same intent: to raise animals for meat.

Registered Dorper Ram Lamb at Harmony Farms

“Should I start my flock with registered sheep?”

When I first jumped into livestock, my goal was to raise an animal that produced good meat on grass.

One of the first questions I asked my friend Karl Ebel was: “Should I start with a registered sheep?” (I was actually asking about cows at that time, but the advice holds true no matter the animal)

The experienced cattleman shook his head and said: “You can’t eat papers.”

That is pretty much the long and short of it.

If you are raising animals exclusively for the meat market, papers are almost entirely unnecessary. As a meat producer, your operation will be performance based and not papers base.

Commercial Dorper Ram Lambs at Harmony Farms

2 Reasons I do not recommend beginners buy registered sheep.

#1: You could get caught in a money trap.

Registered animals will be more expensive than commercial animals, but they won’t always be better.

#2: As a beginner, you are probably going to face some losses upfront. It will feel a lot better to lose an animal that cost a few hundred dollars rather than $1000 or more.

Commercial Dorper Lambs at Harmony Farms

What is a good animal?

Before you buy a papered animal, you want to make sure you know what a good animal looks like. Research productive body types. Research the best selling cuts in the meat case and make sure the sheep you are looking at has got the goods.

Leg of lamb, for example: Look for chunky thighs.

Lamb chops, and lamb loin: I want to make sure the sheep I am raising has a long, thick torso.

When it comes to breeding, I want: fertility, sound udders, good maternal instinct, and the ability to lamb on her own… for the most part.

When it comes to feed inputs, for me personally, I want a sheep that can thrive on pasture only, so long as there is enough of that pasture in front of them.

I can almost guarantee you that if your sheep has these qualities they will be profitable with or without papers.

the shepherdess at harmony farms

3 Cons to Buying a Registered Sheep:

Most registered sheep are being bred for the show ring. The only thing they select for in the show ring is a pretty face and prize-winning body… And that body type that is actually biologically counter-productive. Show ring animals are notorious for birthing complications.

Most registered sheep rely on year round grain inputs to maintain body condition. Unless you buy from a pasture base registered operation, it’s a gamble as to whether they can maintain body condition and support lambs on pasture only.

Most registered sheep are not being culled like they should. It is easier to make excuses for an expensive, papered animal. Many commercial flocks will send hoof issues, mastitis, birth complications, etc to freezer camp. It is not so easy to do that with an animal you paid $1500 for. Or at least I have to be honest and say that it wouldn’t be for me!

These lambs are 50%, meaning their dad is a registered ram and their mom is commercial.

The Pros of Registered Sheep:

MONEY.

Right now, a registered Dorper sheep brings 2-3 times the price of a commercial Dorper sheep.

People looking for registered animals are often buying for the show ring. Show animals bring more than meat animals.

Why I added Registered Sheep to my Commercial Flock:

MONEY.

I do have the marketing and demand in place for breeding stock. I realized I could really boost revenues by adding a small registered operation alongside my commercial ewes. And it panned well. In 2022 I sold my quality commercial rams for $400 and my registered rams for $1000.

My goal is to earn a net profit minimum of $1000 per acre here at the farm. With the price I am pulling on my registered stock, I would only need about 30 ewes to do that.

All that said, I am still running primarily commercial sheep. I am primarily in the food producing business and not the show sheep business… though I don’t have any problem diversifying to make some good money off the latter.

And yes, you can find the best of both worlds… you can find a Registered sheep with all the right qualities… but it starts with knowing what a good sheep looks like and going from there!

“Know ye that the LORD he is God: It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” Psalm 100:3

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What is a Recession? (and how to prepare)

What is a Recession?

When will the next one take place?

How can we prepare ourselves to not just survive, but thrive in the one oncoming?

In the coming weeks I am going to discuss how recessions impact various farming sectors, but to lay the ground work today we will start with a general definition.

What is a recession?: 

The U.S Bureau of economic analysis a recession is “a marked slippage in economic activity.”

This slippage has been historically understood as 2 quarters of negative Gross Domestic Product 

However, The Bureau proceeds to state this is:

“not an official designation.” 

(https://www.bea.gov/help/glossary?title_1=All&title=recession)

https://www.bea.gov/help/glossary/gross-domestic-product-gdp

Given the unsteady nature of the NBER’s definition, keeping an independent eye on economic activity is important.

The reality is that recessions are not something to be feared or even evaded, but rather embraced as a part of a healthy economic cycle.  

To put it into an analogy, a healthy economy is like a healthy set of lungs that requires both expansion and contraction (recession) to function.  If lungs were only to expand, they would explode.  If lungs were to only contract they would collapse.

And healthy economies function similarly.
Recessions help the long term economy in two ways:

#1 they clear the economic landscape of what might be referred to as “business mushrooms”: which are those businesses or services that have popped up solely as a result of extravagance brought on by prosperous times.  Recessions also prune the landscape of businesses with poor management and spending practices that are being covered for, again, by the excess of prosperous times.

Alternately, recessions deepens the roots of business models that are truly sustainable, both by means of serving legitimate needs, as well as those businesses that are functioning under very wise management strategies.

Recessions only segue into calamities for the individuals who build lifestyles or businesses around the concept of continual expansion.  

Which segues into perfectly into…

Who does a recession impact the most severely?

Simplified, recessions most severely impact individuals or businesses that fall under one or both of these categories:

(A) those operating beyond their means with no concept of risk management or budgeting, or (B) those whose primary income is from products or services that fall under the category of “discretionary spending”.  

Discretionary spending simply a fancy way of referring to things that people can live their daily life without; things like vacations, fancy coffee, fine dining, and so forth.

While debt free is ideal, if you do have debt you need to be operating within a budget that allows you to make your monthly payments with 10-15% leftover. 

This 10-15% is a hedge, should you be out of work for 10-15% of the year: either through layoffs or a job transition.

If you are a business owner, should your existing business see a 12-15% decrease in sales volume, you will be able to make decisions without panic compromising your ability to make responsible ones.

An important thing to keep in mind is that recessions do not create problems, they reveal problems. 

When the tide goes out, you find out who has their backsides covered and who does not. 

When will the next Recession happen?

The honest answer is nobody knows.  The realistic answer is probably soon. An article by thebalancemoney.com tells us: 

“There have been 11 recessions since 1948, averaging out to about one recession every six years.”

(https://www.thebalancemoney.com/the-history-of-recessions-in-the-united-states-3306011)

However, “good times” between these periods of recession have varied greatly throughout history.

One thing I can say with certainty it there will likely be at least one more Recession before your life is out, and if you are under 30, you’ll probably see anywhere from 5-8 recessions before you die.

How can we prepare ourselves for it?

I can only sit here and give you my recession plan on both a business and a personal level… an I invite you the viewer to share your wisdom in the comment section.

 #1, I’m taking a hard look at my expenses and making sure that my income outpaces expenses by a minimum of 12-15%.  This means cutting some discretionary spending, which is bad for the economy, but good for me personally.

#2. As a business owner, I have 3-6 months of operating expenses underneath my business at all times.  While most of you know me as the Shepherdess at Harmony Farms, I am also co-owner of a collection of retail apparel brands that have been in operation for 15 years.

The concept of stashing away capital for economic upsets, or simply seasons that are slower than others has saved the companies I own from succumbing to panic driven decisions and/or completely folding during prolonged downswings.

#3.  I encourage the concept of a developing side hustle that falls under the category of a DURABLE TRADE. To do so, I recommend choosing one of the 63 trades outlined in the book DURABLE TRADES which is available at ShopShepherdess.com (orders there greatly support me as I continue making these videos) 

But use your weekends, use your free time in the evening to build a side business that may be a safety net in a season of economic crash.

This is what I did in 2008, one of the worst recessions in recent history.  As a 14 year old  I started a side business that I worked and grew while I was in high-school.  That business thrived and by the time I had graduated it was a full time income for me and several other people.

When I became a farmer in 2020, I did so under this same concept of establishing a DURABLE SIDE HUSTLE.  I had no experience in agriculture, but I had the resources and saw the value in adding investing in flock of sheep to my investment portfolio to add a truly durable form of wealth to my existence.  Over the past 3 years, the Lord has lead me in ways to grow and diversify off my farm and what started as a side hustle is now a full time income. 

So do not negate any opportunity to start small in a durable trade (even if it is not within the realms of your current skill set).  Start small, and use this book for ideas on trades to start with.

And as a spoiler, you will find that shepherding is listed as number one on this list of history’s most durable trades.

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THE 25 SUPPLIES I USE ON MY SHEEP FARM

15 products are what I call my ESSENTIALS BUNDLE (I talk about them in this video), the remaining 10 products are important to have on hand for the long term (scroll for what they are). Enjoy an overview of all 25!

Supplies I use for my sheep.

I farm a small flock of Dorper Sheep on a pasture based system in Northeast Texas. I am running approximately 50 head of purebred and registered Dorper sheep on 23 acres. At lambing 50 breeding ewes will swell to around 100-150 sheep in total.

When my family and I started farming Dorper sheep, we had just moved from the suburbs. We had no farming experience beyond a few chickens. Our first 2 years of sheep farming were very difficult. In short: we had a lot of dead sheep.

Our biggest death losses were with lambs. Our lambs would be born healthy, bouncing, and beautiful; but between 12 and 16 weeks many of them would get sick and die.

It was a very discouraging 2 years, but in 2020 three things turned our sheep farm from dead zone, to profit center. Those three things were:

  1. Learning how to apply the right care at the right time.
  2. Practicing good pasture management.
  3. Learning how to market sheep.

When we got the hang of these three things, the death rate on our farm dropped to 1/3 of sheep industry average in just 18 months and we began generating significant revenue through the sale of surplus lambs!!

This video is going to cover part 1 of this 3-part improvement with a list of the 25 supplies I use to administer the right care to my sheep at the right time. If you want to go deeper watch my FREE 1 Hour Class on the Basics of Raising, Grazing, and Marketing Sheep.

Extra Label Disclaimer:

A few of the products I use are FDA labeled for farm animals like pigs, cows, and goats. I use them all for my sheep under “extra-label” application. This means I have a good relationship with my vet who oversees my use of these supplies on an “extra-label” basis.

As a disclaimer, be sure you have the same vet oversight and approval when you are using products for sheep that are not FDA labeled for sheep.

25 SUPPLIES I USE ON MY SHEEP FARM:

(Each photo links to a product page for ease of purchase!)

  1. Cydectin Dewormer: *Culling for parasites should be a top priority as dewormers lose effectiveness the more you use them. The goal at my farm is to cull in such a way as to use them less and less of this every year.

2. Toltrazuril for Coccidia (extra-label): This is a product for horses. I use it for my lambs when they display symptoms of coccidiosis (symptoms typically look like persistent diarrhea and/or pot bellies with skinny hind quarters) I use Toltrazuril at a rate of 1 CC per 5lb body weight.

3. Drenching Gun: This is a tool for administering dewormer or other liquid supplements into the mouth of sheep.

4. VITA JEC B-complex Fortified: This is my most used vitamin shot on farm. I use it any time a sheep has been through severe physical stress (stressful lambing, high parasite load, etc).

5. ANEM X IRON (extra-label): This is a product for pigs. I use it on my farm for ewes that are very anemic. In instances of parasite overload I will follow up the deworming with both vitamin B and Anem-x to fast track the rebuilding of red blood cell count in the sheep.

6. Disposable syringes (with matching needles): These syringes are for the vitamin shots I just referenced. The two different sizes I use are 3 mil and 12 mil. The syringes also work great if you are giving an oral drench to a lamb that has a mouth too small for the drenching gun.

7. Colostrum Replacer: Colostrum intake is a life or death issue for young lambs. I always keep a high quality supplement (linked) on hand for orphans or lambs whose moms are not making enough on their own.

8. Tube Feeding Kit: This is for feeding lambs straight into their stomach. I like to use this for getting formula into the lambs stomach and will transition to a bottle once I know the lamb is for sure orphaned.

9. Lamb Bottle: This is a must for orphan lambs.

10. Nutridrench for Sheep: This is a great oral vitamin. I have not found it to be as potent or fast acting as the vitamin shots I just mentioned, but I have still found it effective, especially if you are not comfortable with giving shots yet.

11. Selenium Gel Oral Supplement (extra-label): This is a product for goats. I use it for sheep when I detect a selenium deficiency. This usually displays itself in weak legs in young lambs or white muscle disease.

12. Rubber Gloves: Important sanitary precaution.

13. Arm Sleeve Gloves: For internals at lambing.

14. TODAY (extra-label): This is a product for cows. Inter-mammary infusion for mastitis.

15. VETERICYN PLUS® WOUND & SKIN CARE: I don’t use it too often, but it is good to have a wound care product because wounds to happen sometimes.

16. VETERICYN® HOOF CARE: This antibacterial spray is a quick way to treat hooves. Limping is often not foot rot, but foot scald. However, the bacteria that causes foot scald can develop into foot rot. Quick treatment of a persistent limp is advisable.

17. Hoof Trimming Shears

18. Paracord (Lambing rope)

19. Mineral Oil: Hand lubricant for situations of assisted lambing.

20. Eartags

21. Eartag Markers

22. Eartag applicator

Prescription Only Products:

These are 3 products I use that are available through a vet only.

23. General Antibiotic: VET ONLY. Antibiotics used to be available over the counter, but as of 2023 they are prescription only. Because I use antibiotics so infrequently and have a good relationship with my vet, the recent changes to prescription only have not made a significant difference on my sheep farm.

24. CD/T: VET ONLY A shot to guard sheep against bloat and tetanus.

25. BO-SE: Selenium-Vitamin E Shot.

I hope this info helps you!

-the Shepherdess

“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20-21

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4 REASONS BEHIND THE “EGG CRISIS” IN 2023



The price of eggs in the United States has skyrocketed by 543% in some regions with reports of an 18 count carton selling for $12 in Nampa Idaho.

Four primary factors are affecting this price spike: Residual supply chain issues from 2020, Culls from Avian influenza, Cost of feed Inputs, and seasonal production dips.

As we look at prices on the grocery store shelves, it is important to realize that the prices we see today reflect supply chain issues from not last week, but rather last year. It takes roughly 8-12 months for the full effect of a food crisis to make it from the front end of the food supply chain to our wallets.

In Light of this we go back to April and May of 2022, when enforced culling of flocks nationwide was taking place in an effort to eradicate avian influenza. In 2022, 50.54 million birds were culled from the US food supply chain and according to the USDA 43 million oft these were laying hens.

According to United Egg Producers, the total size of the US Laying hen population is roughly 328 Million hens. Which means that 12.35% of the total number of laying hens nationwide were eradicated.

An important note is that not every bird culled fro avian influenza was a carrier. According to the following quote by Reuters:

“Birds often die after becoming infected. Entire flocks, which can top a million birds at egg-laying chicken farms, are also culled to control the spread of the disease after a [singular] bird tests positive.” -reuters

TheGaurdian.com reported that in April 2022 Rembrandt Foods, “one of the World’s largest egg factories” “begun slaughtering more than 5 million chickens using a gruesome killing method after detecting a single case of avian influenza.”

While this is not the first time Avian influenza culls have swept the nation, what makes the situation in 2022 far worse than ever before is that the international food supply chain is still in recovery made from 2020. In 2020, we saw many farmers to euthanize massive flocks of laying hens rather than continue to feed them under supply chain disruptions and crashing demand there from (star Tribune).

According to the “Chickens and Eggs” released monthly by the USDA, egg production was down a cumulative _ in 2020. In 2021 production was beginning to recover, only to be hit again by the culls in spring of 2022 which caused another cumulative __ in production deficit. According to the USDA’s Economic Research Services “As a result of recurrent outbreaks, U.S. egg inventories were 29 percent lower in the final week of December 2022 than at the beginning of the year.”

All at a time when US per-capita egg consumption is on the rise. (https://unitedegg.com/facts-stats/)

A secondary factor is the skyrocketing cost of feed inputs. Grain prices in ’22 were triple in some categories from previous years. According to a study by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Science: “Feed costs often represent more than 70 percent of the production cost of a dozen eggs”

A third factor, and likely the one responsible for bringing the former issues to such a severe head is the biological nature of laying hens causes a seasonal crash in production (USDA chart). This significant dip is not a result of national crisis, but rather the natural biological-rhythm of a laying hen, which involves highest production points in correlation with the Summer Solstice, and lowest production points in line with winter Solstice.

Given the unsteady nature of poultry production over the past 2 years, and increased consumer demand for eggs, and increased export demand, US production has not been able to amend for the seasonal deficit. Severe shortages and subsequent price increases are the result.

While those raising backyard flocks are in a much better situation, chances are that even backyard flocks are not producing very much at this point. As mentioned, the bio-rhythm of the laying hen, backyard flocks are also experiencing seasonal production slumps.

The good news is that rapid reproductive rate of chickens and their swift timeline to maturity will make the “egg shortage issue” a faster fix than many of the other food supply issues on the horizon. My estimation is that within 6 months, eggs will one again be within normal range… but you will likely never see eggs at the prices they once were.

At my local Aldi, eggs were $.79/dozen in 2022. The price is now $4.29/dozen. It will be the same as fuel and lumber: if we settle somewhere within 30-40% of normal range society will be happy.

What will be a more pertinent issue to prepare and watch for is the price of red meat over next 6-9 months. And if you want an look at the crisis from 2022 that is setting us up for a crash in 2023, please watch this video next. (Ranchers rush)

Links for image credits and Citation:

ERS USDA
REUTERS
UNITED EGG PRODUCERS
UCANR
STAR TRIBUNE
THE GAURDIAN
AP NEWS
USDA CORNELL EDU
NASS USDA

https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=105576

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/avian-flu-outbreak-wipes-out-5054-mln-us-birds-record-2022-11-24/

https://unitedegg.com/facts-stats/ https://www.nass.usda.gov/Charts_and_Maps/Agricultural_Prices/pricewh.php

https://ucanr.edu/sites/placernevadasmallfarms/files/102990.pdf

https://www.startribune.com/egg-demand-shifted-and-61-000-minnesota-chickens-were-euthanized/569817312/?refresh=true#4

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/apr/28/egg-factory-avian-flu-chickens-culled-workers-fired-iowa

https://www.nass.usda.gov/Surveys/Guide_to_NASS_Surveys/Chickens_and_Eggs/index.php

https://apnews.com/article/health-business-bird-flu-flu-animals-189a7c08d848047f00b3f7b5bec39e67

https://usda.library.cornell.edu/concern/publications/fb494842n?locale=en#release-items

https://www.nass.usda.gov/Surveys/Guide_to_NASS_Surveys/Chickens_and_Eggs/index.php

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“$1000 CALVES ARE HERE.” Cattle Market Update for 2023

FULL 35 MINUTE PODCAST: https://bit.ly/CorbittWall23

Corbitt Wall:  @cattlemarketsummary8392

Here is a summary of the Beef Cattle Market in 2023 after extreme drought and input costs caused a crash in July 2022.

Join my Newsletter: http://bit.ly/ShepherdessNWSLTR

BUY THE BOOK HERE: http://bit.ly/ShepherdessMERCH

EMAIL: shepherdess (at) harmonyfarms.blog

the Shepherdess: All right. Joining me now is Corbitt Wall of National Beef Wires Feeder Flash We are speaking to those who follow the cattle market which crashed in July. Could you kind of give a month to month summary from basically where we left off in July to where we are now?

Corbitt Wall: Well, it came through July with extreme drought. in some of your biggest production areas. Mainly central Texas but also in the, in the northern plains and slightly in the Midwest too in your big cattle areas of, Missouri and Arkansas and places like that. A lot of producers had to cull their herds a lot more than they had planned to, a lot more than they wanted to.

Hay has become extremely high and not affordable to people that are just having to feed hay to keep their cows. So a lot of people had to get rid of their cows, which is resulting in lighter numbers. And our market has come to us in a big way.

In the last six months and is as high as it has been since 2015, and that’s when it was retreating from the all-time record highs of 2014.

the Shepherdess: So going into fall, has there been a category that’s pulled stronger?

Corbitt Wall: Our fat cattle market has, come up a bunch. We’re right in the $1.55 to $1.57 range right now, historically the highest your cattle market has ever been on direct basis is $1.72.

We’re nearing that. I have my doubts if we’re going to hit that. Our, our light calves are, are selling very well and they’re selling very well early. We normally see your grass grazers come into the. early in the year, maybe in January and February because they wanna avoid the rush of the March and April market.

And so they’ve already come into the market because they know that numbers are gonna be tight. They just have to find something to keep those calves alive until the grass turns green. And that’s basically what they’re wanting to do.

Our cow numbers are probably the tightest right now. And then that will lead to our calf numbers being extremely tight. We’re just gonna be a lot lower on our spring born calves than we have been

the Shepherdess: Has there been any behavior in the market from either the producer. Or the Packer side that has people scratching their heads within this last six months.

Corbitt Wall: I haven’t seen as many people looking to take advantage for the big demand that there’s gonna be for replacement stock, for breeding stock. We are just now in the last few weeks, Starting to see more producers keeping heifers back, but a lot of ’em couldn’t afford to, you know, they needed to sell those heifers to, to pay bills.

And the markets come up a little bit affording some producers the option to, to keep more heifers back to rebuild their, their cow herd.

But I thought that a bread heifer or replacement quality open heifer would be higher now than, than what it is. It’s just taking longer. And most of that’s due to your input and, and, and lack of feed. But normally we would see that.

I think our high market may last three years we might have a better window to make some money for a while because your producers weren’t able to reload as quick.

the Shepherdess: In your opinion with that longer window, are we just gonna see a continuation of pretty good prices rather than what we expected… you know, short blitz.

Yeah. within the last six or eight months people say, how good’s this thing gonna get, you know, how high is it gonna get? I think we’re in it now, you know, a a 500 pound steer calf, which is what a lot of people try to raise is bringing you.

$2.25 a pound. That, that’s pretty good. A lot of top quality 600 pound calves are bringing $2 a pound. As a rule of thumb, producers usually want to yield a thousand dollars ahead from their calves. they’re doing it now. But like we said several times already, the input costs and the lack of feed is, is taking fun out if it.

the Shepherdess: And a thousand dollars today would be. something like, you know, $800 two years ago with just the cumulative rate of inflation. Yes, exactly.

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Answering your questions about the Shepherdess Masterclass!

ENROLL HERE!

Here are some of the questions coming through about Monday’s Launch of the Shepherdess Masterclasss: a video led course for beginners on raising, grazing, and marketing sheep! I am excited to see you then!

How and where do I enroll?

Enrollment opens on Monday at 8 am CST at  Shepherdess.com . At that time you will see a HUGE “ENROLL NOW” banner at Shepherdess.com… it will be hard to miss :).

Are there early sign up bonuses?

YES. First 20 students to enroll will receive 2 hard copy books on animal handling and husbandry. Temple Grandin’s Guide to Working with Farm Animals and Storey’s Guide to Raising Miniature Animals.

My schedule is busy, are these one-time only live classes?

No, these are on-demand classes. You can learn in line with your own schedule and replay each class if you need to. There are 3 student-only livestreams that I will be hosting at set times, but the classes are accessible 24/7.

Why limited enrollment?

I want to ensure a high quality experience. This enrollment window will close after 7 days. I plan to launch another enrollment cycle once the first round of students are taken care of!

I already have sheep, how will this help?

This course has a lot of marketing and business building info in it that will help you transition into a for-profit flock. Also, a lot of struggles emerge when your flock begins lambing. This Masterclass covers how to care for ewes at lambing and how to avoid common causes of death in lambs from birth to 8 months.

What does the Shepherdess Masterclass teach?

Alot. Here is the run down!

•LAMB FOR LIFE: How to avoid common causes of death on sheep farms. (With hands-on tutorials on how to give shots, medicine, etc)

•GRAZING SHEEP 101: How to setup a grazing system that only takes 1 HOUR PER DAY to maintain. (With Hands on tutorials on how to install charger systems, ground rod systems, what fencing to use, etc)

•MARKETING SHEEP+: How I market sheep (and more) for a full time income without leaving the farm.

6 Farm on the Web Marketing classes:

•How to setup a Newsletter for your farm.

•How to setup a Website for your farm.

•How to sell products on your website.

•How to advertise on social media without paying for ads (3 classes for Youtube, Instagram, and Facebook.)

In summary you receive:

9 One-Hour Masterclass Video Sessions

3 EBOOKS (80 pages each)

14 hands on TUTORIAL VIDS (average of 5 minutes each)

2 Supplies Lists (with links to best-price sources)

5 Worksheets

1 Shepherdess Photo Filter for professional quality iPhone shots.

Enrollment BONUS:

First 20 Students to enroll receive 2 hardcopy books.

All students will receive 3 student-only LIVESTREAM Q+A’s with the Shepherdess.

… a $985 value.

What are you charging for the Masterclass?

I am offering this info at a special price of $425 next week.

Will you offer a payment plan?

Yes! The payment plan is 4 monthly installments of $110.

What if I have already bought some of these classes from you in the past?

You can purchase the ones you don’t own  a la carte on this page .

I’d like to share about your courses on my social media, do you have offer affiliate commissions?

Yes!  CLICK HERE  for info.

-the Shepherdess

“Know ye that the LORD he is God: It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” Psalm 100:3

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A Sheep Farming (and marketing) Course for ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS

What is the Shepherdess Masterclass?

9 video-led training classes

(1 yr. access with e-books and worksheets):

•Raising Sheep (LAMB FOR LIFE)

•Grazing Sheep

•Marketing Sheep+

•Farm on the Web Class Bundle (6 step-by-step marketing tutorials for using Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Newsletters, Websites, and E-commerce to sell products.)

-the Shepherdess

Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.” Isaiah 48:17

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2022 RECAP | SHEEP FARMING IN THE USA

1 HOUR SHEEP FARMING WEBINAR: https://bit.ly/Sheepx3Webinar

2021 LAMBING VIDEOS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qhe6…

By popular request, I am giving a full recap of Lambing in 2022. Most of my lambs were born in March and April, but I had a few surprises born here in November and December.

I am going to talk about how I prepare for lambing, the complications that popped up this season and how I addressed them, and then at the very end I am going to give you a complete look at my cast of characters for 2022 (this may or may not include a lamb with a strong resemblance to Barney Fife).

The Supplies I use for my flock at Lambing. (Click on the photo for purchase)

I am hosting a free webinar in January on the basics of raising, grazing, and marketing sheep. Spots are limited so reserve yours using the link below. If you are watching this after the live workshop, you will be able to watch the replay through that same link :).

I did a lot of prep in the two weeks leading up to my official lambing season. First was to make sure I had all of my supplies on hand. I am going to share with you the various supplies that I used throughout lambing. Some of these products are not easy to find on local level. In light of this problem, I spent some time getting distribution rights for these supplies and have bundled them all into what I am calling The Shepherdess Essentials Bundle which is available at Shepherdess.com. Having these supplies on hand is going to save a lot of money in vet bills and maybe even a few lives so no matter what phase of the game you are in, make sure to order this bundle of products on hand.

Second was to prep the lambing shed with fresh bedding, and run a pre-lambing inspection on all my ewes. Here I am primarily checking for parasites and deworming any ewe with a notable parasite load. A ewe’s immune system dips at lambing and during lactation so parasite loads left unchecked can become a major issues.

Issue #1 that cropped up this year was a need for assisted delivery. I assisted about 8 ewes and 6 of 8 were a result of malpresentation. A lamb presenting correctly will have two hooves pointing forward and the nose resting right on top. The problem that kept recurring was that my lambs were coming out with only one foreleg forward. This added a lot of bulk to the shoulders.

Now this is a pretty common malpresentation. Sometimes a ewe can birth a lamb that presents this way just fine, however there were two factors that did not make that the case for these 6 ewes. First, many of the ewes were first time moms and the lambs were very large singles, not the moderately sized twins that you want. For this reasons the ewe would pass the head and the foreleg but those big shoulders would get caught. Despite pushing for an hour or more, the lamb would not pass.

In assisting these ewes, I would give them some time to attempt to deliver the lamb on their own. Once it had been about 45 minutes with no progression I’d go in to assist. When I could, I would push the head back in to the birth canal and draw both of the legs forward. Most times however, the lamb was too far delivered to push it back. In such cases, I would take the leg that was coming forward and pull it out as far as I could (this frees up some space for those broad shoulders), then I would pull the lamb by the neck and leg in a sort of c-curve toward the udder.

If the ewe was still contracting, I’d pull with contractions, otherwise I just went for it.

For 2 of these malpresentated deliveries, the ewe went into labor overnight. When I did my check in the early morning I found the first ewe in some significant distress. I was able to deliver her lamb, but the ewe was really non-responsive as a result of exhaustion. I gave her a shot of Vitamin B, which is a great means of replenishing energy after a stressful situation. (Vitamin B and the needles and syringes to administer it is going to be in the Shepherdess Essentials Bundle I have linked below) She came to and followed the flock out to pasture, before realizing her maternal duty.

The second ewe had also been laboring overnight. The lamb was badly hung and had been for several hours. “Hung” means that the head had been hanging outside of the birth canal for a pretty long time. This typically results in the lamb being strangled. I caught the ewe and helped her pass this limp lamb with an extremely swollen head. I was so disappointed because to this point I had not lost any lambs. I pulled the lamb assuming it was dead. I put it up by the moms head so that she could at least see it and I just turned and said ” Thank you, Lord I am so sad this one died, but—” Then, all of the sudden the lamb let out a huge sneeze.

It turns out I issued a premature death sentence… and I have never heard a more beautiful sound than that sneeze.

She had a huge welcoming committee.

Again, I followed this birth up with a Vitamin B shot for the ewe as she was also pretty well paralyzed with exhaustion. Within just a few minutes she was up on her feet and nursing her lamb. It took a full 24 hours for the swelling in the lamb’s head to go down, but thankfully it didn’t keep her from nursing.

Beginner sheep farming course

When it came to the mastitis I had 2 cases of mastitis I treated differently. Mastitis is an infection of the mammary glands that can inhibit the function of the udder and compromise the new lamb. The first case of mastitis I caught before the ewe gave birth. The udder was feverish and lumpy, it had a reddish-purple tint, and was almost sweaty to the touch. I made the decision to give the ewe a 3 day antibiotic regimen before delivery.

I want to make a note here about my opinion on the use of antibiotics, shots, modern medicine on the farm. When I start to talk about shots I sometimes get comments from very well-intended individuals who will say things like “healthy flocks don’t need shots” or “don’t baby your sheep”.

I welcome any opinions, but I’ll also feel free to be bold with mine: I hold to the principle that the judicious application of modern medicine within flocks is good animal husbandry.

This antibiotic regimen was finished about 9 days before the ewe gave birth. Once she raised and weaned the most beautiful set of twins. This ewe did die shortly after weaning. She was old and the mastitis was likely just a symptom of aging out. But she raised an amazing set of lambs before she left the farm.

The second case of mastitis was much more severe. I did not catch this case until the lambs were born. Her udder was rock hard on one side. For this ewe, I did an inter-mammary infusion. (which again, will be in the Shepherdess Essentials Bundle available a Shepherdess.com)

This process was really unpleasant, because I had to flip the ewe on her back and put this tool up her—- and squeeze the solution directly into her udder and then massage her udder for 60 seconds. She hated it, I hated it, we all hated it. But this allowed her to regain enough function to feed her offspring. Now this ewe was culled, but I did provide her with what she needed to get past this issue.

I also want to talk about my portable lambing jug. This little unit was a life saver! During lambing I continued my rotational grazing program. At certain points the rotation put me out of range of my main shed. The portable jug gave me a confined area to treat any issues that popped up. If I needed to treat a mom (such as in the case of mastitis) I would simply put her lambs in there and she’d follow me in for treatment. It was a little bit heavy, but I could pull it a short distance with my body weight, or an atv if the distance was longer.

Excellent maternal instinct is a Dorper breed characteristic, and the ewes in my flock are really living up to that. Once a lamb is born healthy, the ewes will do the rest.

One thing I did make sure to do this year was have supplemental colostrum ready as well as a lamb feeding tube with me at all times. (you guessed it, the feeding tube and colostrum replacer is in the Shepherdess Essentials Bundle!)

Colostrum or not really is life or death for a young lamb. If I have a ewe that is producing a surplus of colostrum, I will milk her and freeze that colostrum for a future need. Otherwise I use a good quality powdered colostrum replacer.

While a feeding tube can be intimidating, it is my go-to over a bottle. I can fill the lambs belly in 3 or 4 minutes. Once I am done the lamb hops straight back to it’s mom and resumes nursing with no problems. If you are supplementing because a ewe does not have enough milk, something to keep in mind is that the more the lamb suckles, the more milk the ewe will produce. We have found that bottle feeding can cause what is known as nipple confusion. The bottle’s will alter the sucking reflex of the lamb in such a way that it will have difficulty latching back on to the mom. The feeding tube allows the ewe and the lamb to maintain that nursing bond. I will use a bottle once I have deemed that the lamb is going to be a bottle baby for life.

The final issue I had was with a lamb that was born wobbly, weak, knock kneed, and had a curved spine. These symptons are commonly linked to selenium deficiency. I went ahead and administered .25ml of BOSE under the skin. BOSE is a selenium-vitamin E shot. The following week, I gave the lamb one more .25ml shot. BOSE is available by prescription only through your vet, so I have not included it in my Essentials Bundle, but have referenced it on the pamphlet inside of the bundle. This will give you the exact product to request from your vet.

Now for the cast of characters. As much as I try to play professional shepherdess, I always end up naming a few lambs. This year was a B theme. We ended up with… get ready for it: Bruce, the giant ram lamb. Betsy, with the black spot. Bandit with the masked markings, and Barney Fife. I’ll let you decide if there is any resemblance ;).

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Why I’m BUILDING WEALTH WITH SHEEP.

FREE Sheep Farming E-book: https://bit.ly/SheepEBOOK

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Today’s Livestream is intended to kick off season 3 of the Shepherdess.

THIRD LENSE:

Over the past two years I have used my videos to share my story through different lenses. In my first season I shared my day to day routine through the lens of a first time sheep farmer. In Season 2 I shared with you the data behind my decision to pivot from beef cattle to sheep as a primary enterprise for my micro ranching enterprise.

In season 3 I am going to share with you the real economics behind my decision to use sheep as a means of building wealth.

I am getting ready to share with you real information on how my sheep are a wealth building tool, but none of it is true unless you can keep a sheep alive. That free e book is going to walk you through basically the 13 things you need to hedge your investment in sheep.

As I kick off season 3 with this livestream, I am going to share a story.

THE UNTOLD STORY:

I have told you before that I am a digital marketer by trade. In May of 2020 my team and I had just finished one of our largest marketing projects ever. With the money I made there, I paid off my car, I put 10 months of rent and living expenses into savings. After I had done that, I had $11,000 leftover.

At the time, I was watching the US spend it’s way out of an economic crisis. I watched the government issue consent to put TRILLIONS of dollars into the economy through various means of stimulus.

I am not an economist, but I knew that under such conditions, money in the bank would quickly lose it’s value.

So I prayed. I asked the Lord if He would show me a way that I could invest this $11,000 and have it hold it’s value, or even increase.

Specifically my prayer was “for eyes to see an undervalued asset”.

From what little I knew of investing, I knew that the most successful investors were ones that saw value in something before anyone else did and took a risk by investing in that thing before anyone else.

Being from the digital industry, being that my jobs was in an office, I naturally expected the Lord would direct me toward a company to invest in, or precious metals, or possibly even real estate.

But He didn’t.

Instead He directed my attention to agriculture… and more specifically low-input agriculture with an emphasis on soil health.

This unyielding interest was a shock to me, this was a shock to my family, but it was something I could not shake. That interest segued into open doors. The Lord provided me with the education I needed to walk through those doors.

So long story short, I took that $11,000 and instead of buying silver or crypto, I bought 26 sheep and the fencing I needed to contain them on 30 acres.

If you are interested in what happened after that, the 100+ videos on this channel are chapters chronicling various aspects from that moment in 2020 to today,

but….

Since that moment in 2020 when I prayed for an investment opportunity for that $11,000, the United State’s cumulative rate of inflation hit 15.1%, US National debt increased by 30%.

Should I have left that that $11k in the bank it would only be worth $9,500 today. 

But by investing it in sheep and zeroing in on my marketing of them, that $11K has seen an increase of roughly 40%.

Through the sale of surplus ram lambs I have sold enough livestock to cover 1/2 of that initial $11,000 investment all while my flock size has increased by 40% through the ewe lambs I have retained.  

While some are pushing silver, or gold, or real estate; it is my goal in my third season of content to encourage you through what I have seen firsthand THE VALUE of using livestock as a means of building wealth.

You have to be wise about how you build your farm and you have to know how to care for sheep, or you’ll end up like everyone who invested in FTX last year.

But the dollar alone is no longer a valid measurement of wealth. We all need to be considering alternative means of storing our wealth. Even if it is small. $11,000 is not a lot of money, but I want to encourage you that even if you only a small

If you have debt, you don’t have wealth; so do everything you can to pay it off. But if you have any cash, you need to make sure you have enough in the bank to cover 6mos-1 year of expenses, and pray for ways to invest whatever is leftover.

HISTORICALLY DURABLE FORMS OF WEALTH:

Land (REAL ESTATE), Livestock, and precious metals.  Sheep are DYNAMIC, precious metals are static.

One thing I want to bring to light is that modern America has severely undervalued agriculture. In fact we have shot ourselves in the foot with this.

America is about to lose 1/3 of it’s farmers.  The average age of the American Farmer is 54 years old.  1/3 of farmers in America are over 64 years old. Within the next 15 years we will lose 1/3 of our farmers through either retirement or death… UNLESS.

UNLESS people like you and like me take up this mantle and on whatever scale we can and begin growing food.  First taking responsibility for our families needs, then branching out into our community, and beyond.

IF you have no land, find your local farmer.  Eatwild.com is a good place to start. You are going to pay more with your local farmer than you will at the grocery store where all of the food on the shelves is the product of industrial agriculture, but view the extra money as an investment in your future, your children’s future, and food security.  You do not have to buy all of your food local, but try and replace one item on your grocery list with a local source.

I want people to understand that agriculture is a historically proven means of building wealth.

I want people to begin investing in it with the same energy and innovation that we give to tech startups Silicon Valley.

Because our need for real food is growing faster than our need for software development.

Our reliance on GMO’s and industrial agriculture is killing our bodies and depleting our natural resources.

We are self-destructing and I believe that those with eyes to see agriculture as an undervalued asset, and the bravery to invest in it when no-one else will will be greatly rewarded.

THERE IS SOMETHING THAT I UNDERSTAND HERE:

I UNDERSTAND A VALUE IN WHAT I AM DOING THAT GOES BEYOND DOLLARS AND CENTS. And this is what you need to get into agriculture… because there will be months and years where you make very little of either one. We need to diversify as farmers, we need to be extremely creative with the revenue streams we build on farm, and the markets we pursue and establish ourselves in.

While I intend (should the Lord allow) to make a significant amount of money off of what I am doing, I would do this whether I made money or not. I know too much to do otherwise.

We need more farmers.

-the Shepherdess

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Season Finale (and reminder!)

Free Sheep Farming E-books and Worksheets.

Join the Shepherdess Newsletter.

I want to remind you that the first LAMB FOR LIFEⓒ workshop is tonight!

Here is what you’ll get out of LAMB FOR LIFEⓒ:

  • 1 hour of video training.
  • 30 minutes of LIVE Q+A afterward.
  • Lifetime access to a replay of the class!
  • Step-by-step on how to raise your lamb from 0-8 months.
  • How to care for your ewe at lambing.
  • How to treat some of the most common problems on a sheep farm.
  • A list of the most effective sheep care supplies on the market.
JOIN ME!

“He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young.” Isaiah 40:11

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A TOUR OF THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS FARM | Polyface Farms with Joel Salatin

Link to receive 1 hour interview with Joel Salatin

Link to the Book Salad Bar Beef

2 years and 4 months ago I decided I wanted to raise grass fed beef beef and I wanted to make a profit at it.


I had zero experience with livestock, zero agricultural background, and to top it off my full time job was at the opposite end of the occupational spectrum: I was a digital marketer in the retail apparel industry.


Despite all of this I knew I had to do something.


So I went shopping for a book about how to raise grass fed beef and found Salad Bar Beef by Joel Salatin. At that point in time I didn’t know Joel Salatin from the next guy… but because there were cows and dollar signs on the cover (two of my primary interests) I immediately fell in love with this book.

Books about Regenerative Farming and Agriculture Salad Bar Beef


And I started reading Salad Bar Beef:
Not knowing anything about farming.
Not knowing anything but that I had 23 acres of grass and I wanted to raise cows.


It was Salad Bar Beef that introduced me to the concept of rotational grazing and regenerative agriculture for the first time.


But Salad Bar Beef appealed to me more on the basis of economics than ecology.
What caught my attention was that this was a system of raising and grazing beef that I could launch with just a few hundred dollars in electric fencing supplies.


I read about a direct marketing mindset that made a way to earn an income off a small herd, despite nosediving live cattle prices.


I read how that with a small amount of money, and a little time every day I could earn 300% more than the average rancher by way of increased feed production on pasture… essentially turning my 23 acres into 69 acres.


So I put these methods to the test. And what you have watched on my channel over the past two years has been me, as an absolute beginner, just doing it.

And it has worked!


Two years almost to the date of reading the first chapter of Salad Bar Beef, I was in Virginia moving cattle with Joel Salatin. I was seeing firsthand the fruit of 40 years of consistent stewardship, unconventional marketing methods, and radical diversification within a farm business model.


I met his staff and his stewards and was so encouraged by both.


There are a lot of people that don’t like Joel Salatin.. and I’m not here to make you like him… But I am here to say that what he preaches in that one book works for me. His model encouraged me to start small… And his model allowed me to go from never owning livestock, to harvesting 1000lb of my own grass fed beef in just 18 months.


I met so many of you at the Polyface Stockman Grass Farmer event. It was such an incredible joy to look into the faces of a lot of the names that have been just names on a screen for the past two years.

The best thing was just seeing in your eyes the way I feel about this work.


I also want to thank my friends Bill and Judie Croft at Meadowcroft Farm for hosting me at the Meadowcroft Inn while I was at Polyface. The Inn at Meadowcroft is just 7 miles down the road from Polyface. Meadowcroft is hands down one of the most beautiful Inn’s I have ever stayed at.

Cindy and Aletha were the amazing chefs at Meadowcroft and served us fresh fruit parfaits and a hot breakfast (made with farm sourced ingredients) every morning. Chicken lady got really spoiled… like we came home and she was demanding yogurt parfaits and bread pudding every morning.


In addition to the Inn, Bill and Judie raise a large herd of grass fed beef cows and meat sheep that are organically raised and marketed through a unique supply chains. As if that wasn’t enough diversity, Bill and Judie run the Meadowcroft Cannery and I am going to link to the sandwich spread, the German pickles, and apricot jam that were my favorites… I actually bought 12 cans of jelly and spread cans before I left. All of the ingredients are organic and they are made with pure cane sugar no synthetic flavors. Their cannery website Website is linked HERE and you get free shipping when you buy 12 or more cans!

Thank you for “traveling” with me!

-the Shepherdess

“A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.” John 3:27

Books about Regenerative Farming and Rotational Grazing Cows and Sheep