Premier1 fencing is key to rotational grazing

by Deborah Niemann

We are excited to announce that our first sponsor for the Mid-America Homesteading Conference is Premier1 Supplies, a company made famous for its innovative livestock fencing. You may have noticed that the conference had no corporate sponsors the first two years. That meant that all costs had to be covered by registration fees. It worked, and we put on some nice events, but in order to grow a little without increasing costs to participants, we knew we had to reach out and get corporate sponsors. But we wanted to get sponsors that made high quality products that were truly of interest to our attendees -- and that's why Premier1 was the first company that I asked to become a sponsor.

I've been using Premier's fencing for years. We originally bought three rolls of their ElectroNet to use for rotational grazing of our sheep and goats, and within no time we realized we needed more. Today we have ten full rolls of the ElectroNet and one half roll, and sometimes we find ourselves wishing we had a couple more rolls. I am also happy to say that those rolls that we bought seven or eight years ago are still working great. In fact, we can't tell which rolls of fencing are the oldest.

Pasture rotation is a very important key in keeping internal parasite from becoming a problem for our sheep and goats, and the portable electric fencing is the key to rotational grazing without the need to put up permanent fencing everywhere. It also allows us to use our hayfield for rotational grazing. Obviously if we put up permanent fences across the hayfield we would never be able to easily harvest hay again.

We also use the ElectroNet to move sheep from their remote pastures to the barn every year for shearing. Because we don't have a trained herding dog, we use the temporary fencing to create lanes across our yard or through the pastures to drive them wherever they need to go.

We also have two fence chargers from Premier -- one that is plugged into the wall in our barn and another charger that is solar powered that can be used for electrifying fences in remote areas of our farm that are not accessible by electricity. One of my best experiences with Premier happened when I called to order my first fence charger from them. After reading the catalog thoroughly -- and they have a LOT of different chargers to meet the needs of farmers, ranchers, and homesteaders in diverse situations -- I thought I knew which charger I needed. However, the salesperson at Premier asked me a few questions about what type of livestock we owned and where we lived, and he recommended a charger that cost $100 less than the one I thought we needed! That experience gave me the confidence to recommend them to everyone I talk to about fencing for sheep, goats, pigs, poultry, and cattle, whether I am talking to someone who is buying one of my goats or whether I am speaking at a conference.

Soapmaking and meat marketing

A couple bars of Donna's beautiful soap

When reading the evaluations of last year's conference, "live demonstrations" were one of the requests for the 2013 conference. So, here you go!

We're excited to announce that Donna O'Shaughnessy of South Pork Ranch will be back for the 2013 conference. If you were with us last year, you might remember Donna presenting sessions on grassfed beef and dairy, as well as pastured pork. This year, she'll be presenting these sessions:

Little White Lye ... Cold-Process Soapmaking
Participants will learn the basics of creating real soap from real lye and lard similar to the way our ancestors did ... but so much better and safer. The class will watch the entire soap making process including use of inexpensive molds, oils, clays, herbs, and other plant materials.

This Little Piggy Went To Market
So you've done the hard part of raising your calf, piglet or lamb to market weight. Now what? Learn how to market, price and legally sell your home grown meat direct by the carcass to individual consumers and restaurants or by the package at the local farmers market, and/or all natural grocery store.

Good fences make good neighbors

You don't want your animals running all over the countryside, but how exactly do you keep them on your property? Do you know the difference between an H brace, double H brace, and a floating brace? Have you ever heard of a lightening choke coil? Did you know that Illinois and many other states have fence acts that legally define what constitutes an acceptable fence for holding livestock?

If any of these questions have you scratching your head, you won't want to miss our session on fencing by Richard G. Hungerford, Jr., Certified Professional in Rangeland Management (SRM) and Certified Grassland Specialist (AFGC), who has his own herd of Corriente cattle and a flock of Katahdin sheep. I heard Richard speak after we'd already been homesteading for almost ten years, and I wished I had heard him years ago! If you have cattle, sheep, goats, or pigs, you'll learn what you need to know to keep them on your property.

Richard will talk about types of fencing, basics of a good fence, fencing mistakes, and government program specifications. You'll learn how far apart you should space posts, based upon whether you're using barbed wire, woven wire, or hi-tensile wire, as well as how many strands of wire, and whether or not you're using stays. He'll also talk about insulators, strainers, tighteners, energizers, and connections and everything else you need to know to use electric fences successfully.