Baymule
Herd Master
Handsome ram lamb! I see why he has captured your wife's heart! That is interesting about the bees. $200 a hive could turn into a nice sum of money, I hope you can work this out.
How many days until we can wean the lamb off the artificial milk?
- Thread starter soarwitheagles
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babsbag
Herd Master
I guess it is good that there was no poison and no disease in your herd. We have to learn the lessons the hard way sometimes, for me it was with chickens. It is great if you can figure out how to grow your own quality feed for sheep and this year with no rain (again) it will probably be especially important. My soil is so lousy that growing my own livestock feed is pretty much a no go. Did I mention the Tree Lucerne to you? If not, you might look it up and see if it is something that would work for you. If I can get a way to grow the seedlings it is something I would like to try here.
That is great about the bees. How will you transport them? And is there really a shortage of pollination hives? My neighbor has a friend that winters his hives here, about 20 of them, and I noticed that there were gone. I am sure that they went to the almonds. Hope it works out for you, sounds like it could be profitable.
That is great about the bees. How will you transport them? And is there really a shortage of pollination hives? My neighbor has a friend that winters his hives here, about 20 of them, and I noticed that there were gone. I am sure that they went to the almonds. Hope it works out for you, sounds like it could be profitable.
Mike CHS
Herd Master
I was watching a documentary last week that had a piece on hives pollinating almond orchards and theft of the hives was evidently a big problem. They caught one outfit that had over 2000 hives at their place.
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- #14
soarwitheagles
True BYH Addict
Yes, she really loves this lamb Baymule. Yes on the nice sum of money. My wife's friend runs over 2000 bee colonies. He makes well over $250,00 year just on pollination alone, not including his honey and nuc sales. So it can be a lucrative business.
Babs, thanks for sharing about the Lucerne tree. I did some reading on this tree. The cytisus proliferus, tagasaste or tree lucerne certainly is beautiful and I especially like how it can be used to feed sheep. Not so sure if it would grow here though...do you know of anyone growing them?
We transport the bees via a flat bed trailer, secured with ribbon tie-downs. Yes, this year there is a substantial shortage of pollination bees and this shortage has driven the price up in our locale.
Yes, more and more professional thieves are targeting the bee colonies. Presently we are researching the best methods and options of installing hidden GPS systems within select hives.
I only have one thought toward bee thieves...hang em' high!
Baymule
Herd Master
A thief is a murderer of your labors.
- Thread starter
- #16
soarwitheagles
True BYH Addict
Babs,
I found some growers a little north of us. Sonoma county. But the pics of the "trees" do not look very appealing. I have a feeling this may be a long term endeavor?
https://redwoodhillfarm.org/the-farm/tagasaste/
I found some growers a little north of us. Sonoma county. But the pics of the "trees" do not look very appealing. I have a feeling this may be a long term endeavor?
https://redwoodhillfarm.org/the-farm/tagasaste/
babsbag
Herd Master
I knew that they were growing the trees in Sonoma, that is where I learned about them...a friend of a friend. The goat world is pretty small. I think climate wise the trees would do well here and soil wise it would depend on the locale. I have very rocky fast draining soil so there are no wet feet here, I have to water everything with very slow drip to get water to stay where I want it. There trees have an amazingly long tap root and once they get established they are pretty drought hardy. You can either cut the tree branches or actually let the animals graze on the trees and they are supposedly as high in nutrients as alfalfa.
They are a good flower for bees too, so an added bonus. When I get ready to order seeds I will probably get them from here...
https://lucernetreefarm.wordpress.com/seeds/
I have chatted with them via email and they seem to really want to help answer my questions. My biggest hesitation is finding a place to start the seedlings and also the pots to start them in since they have crazy long tap roots, it does not appear to be a quick and easy project, but worthwhile I think.
I think that you need LGDs for your bees. Of course the orchards would have to be fenced so maybe the GPS would be better. It is just sad that we have to go to so much work to keep what is our ours. Hope that yours stay safe.
They are a good flower for bees too, so an added bonus. When I get ready to order seeds I will probably get them from here...
https://lucernetreefarm.wordpress.com/seeds/
I have chatted with them via email and they seem to really want to help answer my questions. My biggest hesitation is finding a place to start the seedlings and also the pots to start them in since they have crazy long tap roots, it does not appear to be a quick and easy project, but worthwhile I think.
I think that you need LGDs for your bees. Of course the orchards would have to be fenced so maybe the GPS would be better. It is just sad that we have to go to so much work to keep what is our ours. Hope that yours stay safe.
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- #18
soarwitheagles
True BYH Addict
Babs,
Have you ever been able to locate any seeds or seedlings for a decent price?
Have you ever been able to locate any seeds or seedlings for a decent price?
