Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Baymule]

There are auction barns around here, but they mostly do cattle, one in Elkhart that is a horse auction and one in Sulphur Springs that is for dairy cattle. San Angelo is the spot for sheep and goat sales, but that's a LOOOOONG ways off. How fortunate you are to have a auction barn so close. I like the prayer before starting the sale.

 

[Mike CHS]

Really glad that Teresa wasn't injured....sorry the sheep was, but he did it to himself....just hope it didn't affect the price too much for him....sounds like ya had a pretty good day....

He actually brought a pretty good price for his age and this time of year. We have a unique situation this year in that we actually brought more $ in than we spent.

 

[Mike CHS]

There are auction barns around here, but they mostly do cattle, one in Elkhart that is a horse auction and one in Sulphur Springs that is for dairy cattle. San Angelo is the spot for sheep and goat sales, but that's a LOOOOONG ways off. How fortunate you are to have a auction barn so close. I like the prayer before starting the sale.

Sheep and goats are getting more popular in Tennessee than is reported and I'm not sure why. We have several markets available. Columbia is only 20 miles away. Manchester is the highest dollar and is 55 miles and then we have the Nashville markets which are 60 miles away.

 

[Baymule]

He actually brought a pretty good price for his age and this time of year. We have a unique situation this year in that we actually brought more $ in than we spent.

What does that feel like?? I wouldn't know...….

 

[Mike CHS]

We feel fortunate.

 

[Mike CHS]

We moved the 12 ewe lambs into the shop paddock so we can check them out and put those that we will breeding in with Ringo and his ladies. You work sheep for several years and when you think you have a decent idea about how they are going to react you create a situation where you make it harder to move them to where you want. I have been taking feed out to the lamb herd to feed them in the same spot where they have their water. It never dawned on me that that routine was going to make them harder to move. They come when called but it's to the spot where they are used to getting fed. I moved their troughs to the intended paddock this morning and called them over to the feed and they just looked at me and headed out in the opposite direction to graze. We have this paddock cordoned off with netting so we can control where they go so we can more easily follow them around to get some samples to run fecals.

Anyway, Lance needed some more herding time so the ewe lambs are where they need to be but lesson learned.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Until we started dealing with more and different animals I never really noticed just how "routine oriented" they really are....now we joke and carry on about them....tho, I think the goats and ducks are a bit more geared for it than cats and chickens.....Gabbie only has 1 routine....Go!!....she is non-stop until bedtime.....

 

[greybeard]

Sheep and goats are getting more popular in Tennessee than is reported and I'm not sure why.

Because of the same reasons the cattle, beef, swine, poultry and goat numbers aren't 100% accurate either. Most hobby farmers don't meet the threshold requirements of receiving and filling out the US Ag Census, and most don't report any kind of Ag financials on their income taxes either, so there is no process available for them to be 'counted'.
To be considered a 'farm or ranch' by USDA/NASS, (National Agricultural Statistics Service) the property and person owning or operating it must sell a minimum of $1000 of product during the year. Having a pickup truck, a few chickens and a pet goat guarded by an LGD and a big ol "EL RANCHO GRANDE" sign over the driveway of their 6 acre spread don't meet the minimum requirements.

Currently, the hobby numbers are being extrapolated by the amounts of retail lamb and goat meat being bought, and the market reports of the sale barns and slaughter houses, but again, when a hobby farm doesn't report in any form or fashion that they sold a goat or sheep for meat, the numbers are inaccurate.

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahms/downloads/Demographics2014.pdf

In addition, what we see driving down the roads, or interacting with like minded friends is not a very accurate way of guaging any increase or decrease of any kind of demographic either.

But, look at the map of your state, compared to the states surrounding it...
(map is for livestock and poultry only--doesn't include crops of any kind)

 

[Mike CHS]

I put Maisy back in with the older girls and Ringo this afternoon. When I went out to feed her this afternoon she didn't budge from her perch overlooking the girls. When I called she didn't even turn her head to acknowledge it. I'm pretty sure that she remembers the last time I was in that same location and when I called her in I put her out of that paddock and away from her herd so this time she wasn't budging.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Possession is nine tenths of the law...right?....