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King of the Marsh

@KingVelesI37,874 subscribers

Cattle and sheep herder. Natural bodybuilder. I post while I herd my livestock. Married to @QueenMokoshI.

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IT'S ALL ABOUT THE HERD Back when we moved here, and started grazing our small herd over the surrounding area, our farm was, well, not a farm at all yet — it was nothing but a sea of thorny brush, completely unfenced, and lacking any infrastructure except the cabin we live in. As there was so much work to do on the farm to get it off the ground, taking the herd on grazing walks felt like nothing but a chore keeping us from more pressing work. Now, years later, I realize how misguided that view was. The herd is the foundation of the traditional farm. Not the farmhouse, not all the other infrastructure, not even the land itself — the herd. Provided you have enough free pasture nearby, you can build a huge herd while owning little land (pretty much what we're doing here), but what use are thousands of hectares of pasture without a herd? The herd feeds both you and your other animals, it gives fertility to your fields, gardens, and orchards with its manure, and it makes you money as well — it is the bedrock upon which the whole system is built. "But what's the big deal? Isn't herding just standing around livestock as they graze?" Think again. Put a herd in the care of an inexperienced or lazy herder for a few days. Then, take note of the amount of milk you're getting from it. Next, put the herd in the hands of a skilled, hard-working herder and watch what happens to the milk output in just a few days — the difference will be enormous. Naturally, all the other, less immediately visible, aspects of a herd's performance will be equally dramatically affected by the better management. The females will exhibit higher fertility rates; their young will be born strong and healthy, and have high survival rates; they'll grow fast, reaching slaughter weights quickly, and mature and produce their own offspring sooner, accelerating the growth of the herd; and when an epidemic strikes, the weak herd managed by the bad shepherd will end up decimated, while the good shepherd's strong, healthy herd will suffer minimal losses. A good herder can grow his herd at an exponential rate. A bad one will struggle to keep his from shrinking. Therefore, never regret the time you spend grazing your herd. Just like a great physique is built one workout at a time, a great herd is built by consistent and diligent herding, twice a day, every day, rain or shine. Each grazing walk compounds, and delivers a greater return the longer you do it, and the more your herd grows. And now, back to building the dream — one grazing walk at a time. :)

King of the Marsh

43,331 views • 9 months ago

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Our new Podolian calves are finally here! Seven heifer calves and a bull calf, one of them purchased with the money donated by the wonderful people of X. Thank you, folks! Your generosity kept one of these beauties out of the slaughterhouse and brought her here, where she'll help us revitalize this beautiful and critically endangered ancient breed. With this addition, our cattle herd is now at nineteen head, and I can't wait for the new arrivals to join the others on our daily grazing walks. However, we must be patient with that — these calves had minimal human contact until now, and are still very scared of us. I really dislike keeping animals tied down, but that's how it'll have to be for a little while, until they get accustomed to my touch and become easier to work with. After we untie them, they'll still stay in the corral for a month or two, before finally joining the herd on grazing walks. We even bought hay (which is not something we normally do) to facilitate this slow acclimation. Last year, when we bought our first three Podolian calves, we attempted to rush this process, and ended up narrowly preventing a disastrous escape, so no more fooling around — this time we're following the old-timers' advice to the letter. I think a little celebration is in order now. The more hectic part of the job is behind us, and we've made a big step towards our ultimate goal — converting this whole area into a sanctuary for this amazing and unjustly neglected ancestral breed.

King of the Marsh

29,086 views • 9 months ago