As a sheep farmer you will need to invest in some grasses and legumes to feed your animals. You can do your research on them. The ones I use are ; Napier grass, Bracharia ruzisiensis , panicum maximum these are all grasses and their yield per acre differs. The one I enjoy using the most is Napier grass as it is easy to cultivate and multiplying of the plant is through its stem cutting. The legumes I use are lablab, centrosema ,prureira and the normal black eye bean we eat. Lablab is far productive among the legumes as it’s yield is enormous and it’s also drought resistant.

Ruminant animals are made to feed on grasses through their complex digestive system to turn those grasses into protein. So when you’re thinking about what to feed your animals always think grasses and legumes and if you do have leftover food then you can feed them that too. Occasionally there will be some exemptions to this rule like when;
1.When they are pregnant and you want to have a good birth weight for your lambs.
2.When you are fattening your animals for quick return

NUTRITION
Let me give some vital point on the nutritional requirements of sheep. I learnt a great lesson from a farmer on YouTube that rears goat ( hamiisi semenda) and what he said was that we livestock farmers are actually into grasses and legumes business we only use our animals to convert them into meat which is more profitable than selling grasses. It is when people start treating this animals they way they are that you will make meaningful profit from the venture

FarmTech:

.
Farmtech not Fatmtech lol. Anyway, for leafy vehetables, chicken manure is the best. For fruits like cucumber, I use pig manure in the planting holes, after some weeks I side dress with poultry manure and during flowering, I use NPK weekly and also side dress with poultry manure. Side dressing with pig manure have not given me gud result unless it is buried.

Forgive my typo jare

Jub101:

I haven’t applied fertilizers at all. I do use foliar fertilizer tho. I will be doing just one application with 20:10:10 NPK

Application of fertilizer depends on a lot of factor which is why soil test is very key. The land I use is very high in organic debris I can even do without fertilizer if I want to but to get an optimum yield I will apply a little to reduce stress of pod formation on the Okro plants

Bishopatra:
How many times have U applied fertilizers on them

I haven’t applied fertilizers at all. I do use foliar fertilizer tho. I will be doing just one application with 20:10:10 NPK

joyousever:
I enjoyed your thread and the clarity in it. So what time is most appropriate to spray the herbicide? Because I'm a bit confused here. And is it compulsory to spray it ?

Spray immediately after planting and if work doesn’t permit spray no longer than 2days after planting

Redomi:
boss please can I have your number? I'm planning to go into tomatoes soon

It’s in my signature below. I am just starting out on tomato too

Praisepriest:
How do you feed them, with what? Is your farm fenced? If not how do you stop them from going to neighbors houses?

The size of the farm is big close to 70 acres. We planted palm on most of the land so instead of spraying herbicides I introduced sheep as my weed management. Close to 10acres is fenced so during the onset of the raining season when farming activities are high I do camp them but when we get to the middle of the year I do both free range and I also feed them silage too

Praisepriest:
Great work my brother, thanks to God you are not part of the lazy youth. Where are you based? I need your contact.

Located in iwo. My contact is on my signature

Redomi:
Boss,na everything you dey do, rice farming, vegetable farming

I am a full time farmer bro I even ventured into tomato with drip this year. Sold some of my sheep to start the project. Like have said earlier they are better than keeping money in the bank. Great assets indeed

I still have Okro seed for sale so do so to contact me if you need it

11-3-23 weeding process with hoe ongoing. Farming is hard don’t let anyone tell you otherwise but with great work comes great reward so we endure the pain and wait for the gain. Management is key in every business. It been a while here

Do you have 0.3mm 30cm 2000m drip tape

More info coming

Let me explain something here for you to understand their pregnancy pattern. So let us say for example I got a sheep and she became pregnant on the first week of March . She is most likely to give birth in July or early august. Which is 5 month after being pregnant. Then she will nurse her lamb for a month or two before coming on heat again after which if she gets pregnant will conceive in the next 5 months again. My point is after your sheep gives birth add another 7 month to that date and you should have a rough estimate of when to be expecting another lamb under proper nutrition and management

Sheep give birth every 5 months if properly fed and cared for. Most times they give birth 3 times in 2 years and under proper management some start producing twins after their first birth.

GENETICS
We have about four major breeds of sheep in Nigeria that I know of and they are ;
1. West African dwarf
2. Yankasa (Fulani breed)
3. Uda
4. Balami
When it comes to breed the number from 4 to 1 respectively is the rank at which they are good on their return on invest. I personally have three of this breeds on my farm except balami and by God grace this year I will buy a male to cross breed my ewes.

I call it ;
G- genetics
N- nutrition
M- management
Get this right and you are on the right track to millions. Mind you this road is not easy but the journey is amazing and you can be free through this venture. Trust me I know what am saying. Am not totally financially free through my sheep farm but they do serve as a confirm asset that multiplies every 7 month.

Without much paparazzi let us get straight to the point of what will make you a successful sheep or goat farmer.

This journey of mine started in 2017 and has become a passion for me. I have learnt a lot from starting has a complete novice with 5 leftover sheep they were so so malnourished to having 54 in total as I am typing this( a lot has been sold over the years tho). You will surely learn a lot through this thread. It’s my new month gift to you all stay tuned

Pictures taken on 28-2-23

@oluchidelly
@fatmtech please comment on this

Redomi:
Please which fertilizer is the best for vegetable farming?

Last week Thursday

Redomi:
Please which fertilizer is the best for vegetable farming?

It depends on the stage of the plant. Is it at vegetative stage or about to fruit stage?

Second spraying with vanguish done yesterday. Will upload pic when I get to the farm today

Also do try to check on your plant at least twice in a week to know what is happening to it and how you can quickly intervene. Remember your management determines your yield.

I use 20ml of imiforce in 20L knapsack sprayer and if it’s vangush or cypermethrin it should be between 40-50ml in 20L knapsack sprayer

Spraying of insecticide should be done once a week, preferably a day should be chosen within a week for the task. And if high infestation is noticed the quantity of insecticide can be increased

Imiforce was the first insecticide used due to the presence of whiteflies. I will be alternating between imiforce , vanguish and cypermethrin weekly.

Fellow farmers please if you know a market that will be more favorable to sell Okro too, kindly share the information o. May we not work in vain