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When Fire Isn’t an Option
What happens when an ecosystem that evolved with fire doesn’t burn? There are places where fire is the right tool—and places where it simply isn’t available to us, even when the ecology is practically begging for it. Regulations, neighbours, smoke risk, volatile weather, liability, proximity to infrastructure… sometimes “prescribed burn” is not a lever you…
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Hay Is NOT a Failure
Is hay a fallback? Or an integral part of your SUMMER feeding strategy? There’s a quiet assumption in livestock culture that grass is success and hay is compromise. Particularly in the regenerative agriculture space, there is a sense that if one resorts to hay, it’s a management error. But that only makes sense if we…
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AMP Management: A Pod Case Study
Making wise choices so we can choose good consequences. First, a quick disclaimer:This is not a grazing template or prescription. This is a record of what we did in one specific pod, with our flock, on our soils, under our weather patterns in the Alberta foothills. Stocking rate, rest periods, timing, and even animal behavior…
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Barely? No, BARLEY
How does barley straw impact feed and hygiene? If you ever visit our place in winter, you’ll notice something almost immediately: we use a lot of barley straw. Not just a little “sprinkle for bedding.” Straw is a structural element in our winter system. It’s part of how we keep the flock comfortable, how we…
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Reading a Hay Analysis
Can your sheep get the most out of your feeding program? Understanding feed analysis and making the most of what you’ve got. . . . and why two local fields can feed two different futures. On our farm, hay isn’t just a winter stopgap — considering that “winter” can happen for basically eight or 9…
Providence Lane Homestead 