Last winter I watched a single round bale disappear into mud and manure inside three days on my neighbor’s pasture. He fed his cows straight on the ground, the way his father taught him, and he lost roughly 40% of every bale to trampling and spoilage. That is not an unusual story. University of Oklahoma … Read more
I learned the hard way that cheap feed bunks are no bargain. Two years ago, my herd pushed through a flimsy steel trough, dumping $200 worth of grain into the mud overnight. Since then, I’ve spent dozens of hours testing, comparing, and gathering feedback from ranchers across the country to build this list of the … Read more
If you raise livestock, finding the best creep feeders for your operation can mean the difference between average weaning weights and a calf crop that hits genetic potential. After spending the last 90 days testing and comparing creep feeders across multiple species, I pulled together this guide to save you the trial and error. A … Read more
I have spent the last three winters hauling water to a small herd, and that is exactly why I started testing the best automatic livestock waterers on the market in . After 90 days of side-by-side use across pastures, stalls, and paddocks, I can tell you which ones save labor, which ones crack at zero … Read more
Finding the best stock tanks for your farm, ranch, or backyard pool project shouldn’t feel like guesswork. After spending 45 days testing eight different tanks across our 12-acre property, talking to real users on forums like r/Stocktankpools, and weighing each one’s construction, capacity, and real-world performance, we narrowed the field to the options actually worth … Read more
I still remember my first hatch like it was yesterday. I bought a cheap styrofoam incubator, set twelve eggs, and ended up with two chicks and a lot of heartbreak. After that disaster, I went down a rabbit hole of testing every incubator I could get my hands on. Our team has now spent over … Read more
I grew up watching my grandfather drag manual sprinkler pipes across twenty acres of hay ground every July, and I can tell you firsthand how the arrival of traveling irrigation reels changed the work for our family. After spending the last three summers testing eight different models on my own property in central Missouri, I … Read more
When I moved to my 6-acre property three years ago, dragging a hose around wasn’t cutting it. I spent the last 90 days testing ten of the best irrigation sprinkler guns on the market, dragging them through pastures, fields, and test plots to see which ones actually deliver when the pressure is on. After hundreds … Read more
After spending three weekends hauling panels to a friend’s 12-acre homestead and another two testing panels on my own garden trellis, I learned fast that not all hog wire fence panels are built the same. The best hog panels balance wire thickness, mesh spacing, and a coating that can handle rain, snow, and curious livestock … Read more
I still remember my first attempt at hatching eggs back in 2019. I candled a dozen at day seven, saw the tiny veins of life developing, and then promptly killed nine of them because I forgot to turn them while running errands. That single disaster is what pushed me into the world of the best … Read more