TBF 071 :: Guardian Dogs, Rotational Grazing, Agricultural Degrees, Updates, and a Hard Lesson

From a distance everything looks great … up close we are one belt short and a shot bearing away from finishing the job!

How do you know it’s time to rotate the cows? Can an agriculture business degree be helpful to the independent farmer? Are Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs good with kids and family? Those great questions (and more details) came in from listeners (all The Beginning Farmer Show listeners are awesome blossom) over the past week. Below you’ll find some links related to each of the topics that I touch on in today’s episode. Plus, if you listen to the show you’ll get to hear me ramble (because I’m a bit stressed) about the county fair. More on that next week …

:: Livestock Guardian Dogs ::

• Livestock Protection Dogs by Orysia Dawydiak – The way more intelligent approach to train your LGD.
• Livestock Guardian Dogs Website – Links to more articles than you can shake a stick at!

:: Rotational Grazing ::

• Geared Reel for Polywire – In my mind a must have for rotational grazing.
• Polywire for Rotational Grazing – Holds up in the weather fairly well and is easy to set-up and take-down. I don’t have any connection with Powerflex other than I like their poly wire.
• Grass-Fed Cattle by Julius Ruechel – One of many books that helped shape my rotational grazing ideals.
• All Flesh is Grass by Gene Logsdon – My favorite farming author and small-scale implementation.
• Quality Pasture by Allan Nation – If you want to get serious then get this book!
• Comeback Farms by Greg Judy – In my mind this is the best plan out there if you want to follow a plan.

:: Agriculture Economics ::

• I wish I had some great links on this topic, but I don’t … What are our thoughts? How can having a degree in Agriculture Economics degree benefit the independent small farmer?

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I’m thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don’t forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!