In this vlog Victor Justin Rhodes, joined by his partner Rebecca and friend Joe from Premier One, documents a day at a farm show and later at home. The group first visits Premier One’s booth, where they examine a range of livestock‑handling tools—especially nets, various crooks (PVC‑fiberglass, aluminum Redcoat, chestnut decorative), and portable corral panels (Prima Gates). Victor asks for advice on capturing two half‑wild lambs he plans to harvest in November. Joe demonstrates how to use a crook (positioning, neck pressure, stepping technique), suggests baiting with alfalfa, and recommends using high‑output energizer‑fitted poultry netting and temporary funnel‑style corrals to guide the lambs into a pen for humane slaughter. The conversation includes practical details such as crook length (≈58 inches), panel dimensions (4 ft tall, 2‑ft sections), and mounting methods. After the show, the vlog shifts to family life: a communal meal of chuck roast, a hot‑tub break, grooming, and light‑hearted banter about travel essentials. Victor then teases the upcoming release of his hardcover book on health and wellness through growing, inviting viewers to join his email list for pre‑order bonuses. The vlog concludes with discussions about meal timing (OMAD), butter consumption, and batch‑freezing soups for future meals. The content blends instructional livestock handling, product promotion, personal lifestyle insights, and a marketing plug for the forthcoming book.
Chapters
Beautiful muggy morning. I was not expecting this.
I didn't need my jacket.
Justin Rhodes is wearing shorts.
I didn't need to wear, uh, I didn't need to bring our jackets. I brought our jackets just in case because one year we did come, we forgot our jackets, and we had to buy jackets because it was so cold.
Look at this view spot. Sun's about to come up. Look at that rock. That is cool. Now this is cool. You got a boat launch. Look at him crawling. We're gonna go look at the site the day before to check things out. I know, I know. We are at the site. 5,000 people gonna be here over the weekend. It's gonna be a lot more crowded than this.
Oh, it's gonna be crazy.
Look at that crane. We're coming today to set up. We've got a bunch of DVDs we're giving to Homesteaders of America to just give away. I guess we'll check out our booth, talk to any vendors that we need to talk to. Henry is not thrilled. I am with one of my favorite companies, one of my favorite persons, Premier One, and Joe. Hi everyone, how you doing, Joe?
I'm doing well, doing well.
You know, he's here displaying all his different nets. I couldn't do what I do obviously without these nets. These are amazing. I got rid of all our perimeter fences and this is all we do. We just move the animals and the sheep and the chickens inside of this This is my go-to, the 93512. Yes. So, okay, Joe.
Yep.
I—
we had some— we had lambs in the spring. Yes. We want to harvest them in November, but two of them especially are half wild. Okay. So how do I go about— we've tried corralling them with this net.
Yes.
Into a pen. Not gonna work.
Okay.
They end up jumping through the net.
Jumping through the net.
What should I do? To corral? Maybe we look at the catalog, or maybe you have some ideas. You have a crook in here.
I have a crook in my hand. I always find crooks handy.
Uh, and you said— do I just get them on some alfalfa and then just crook them?
Uh, that would be a good route. Um, just what it— what a crook does, it just extends your reach.
Yeah.
Uh, so that one would be about 6— well, that was 58 inches, so almost 6. Yeah, 5 feet or so. And then if you have two at the same time, that's pretty helpful. Yeah, that's just, um, it's just extremely helpful to use a crook when moving sheep because it just extends your reach. You can help grab them, you can help direct them at the same time. Uh, the kind— the opinion at Premier is if you're working sheep without a crook, you're wasting time.
Wow.
That's kind of how dependent we are on them. Uh, we do.
That's okay.
Uh, this one's a chestnut crook. This one's more, uh, decorative. We have some that are built for wilder animals, wilder sheep.
Okay. Uh, you have a black one that's more, um, it's more like this material.
So it's, uh, which—
what kind of material is this?
That is Uh, PVC, and it has fiberglass running through.
Yeah, I like the black one.
The black one just has a fiberglass rod running through it. That's a pretty good one. I also like the, uh, the Redcoat, the aluminum one that we carry as well. That's— it's just light, easy handling, and if I bend it, I can bend it back into place.
So how would you catch a— do you have to be behind the sheep to catch it with a crook?
I've caught them from behind, I've caught them from the side.
Okay.
From the front's not that easy. If you get it behind the head and then be able step and direct. And then what helps is once you get their neck in place, you turn the crook. Oh, you have like 2 points of pressure on the neck, and that just helps restrain them.
And then can you— once you have it turned, you can actually— then, then what do you do? Do you go step towards the sheep, or do you pull it?
So you got it, and then I, I keep pressure and I step, and that works for me.
Okay. And then how do you grab the sheep?
Around the neck.
Around the neck.
And then— okay, then it's one hand on one hand on the back. If you have a halter, that gives you a little added restraint on the animal as well. That helps. But as far as handling them when they're wild, I know you have poultry net on the farm, and I think you have some larger Energizers. I would put them up in the net and put the higher joule or higher output Energizer on that so they are absolutely respecting the fence.
Okay.
And then narrow that up to where you want them to go. So if you're loading them into a corral or, um, or another area along those lines. That just makes a little smaller— the tightings, tighter spacings, just has more visible barrier to them. And I also know you have that portable sheep corral too with all wire panels.
Yep.
Maybe you can direct them into that. That would help.
We've put up a funnel-like thing with a gate in there, and then we can kind of pin them into a corner. Because when we harvest, we don't want them running. We just want to grab them, pin them down, and then we slit their throat. Yep. Okay.
Yeah, so if you can get close enough with the crook— okay, can you get about 5, 6 feet away?
I might be able to, which if If beforehand for a couple of weeks I've put out some alfalfa.
Yeah, and then catch them, pull them. Yeah, down and done.
Wow, okay, I'm gonna try that. All right, you're gonna have to send me a, um, another crook.
Okay, I can do that.
We've long lost it. It's not the quality that goes out, it's the chiddlers that grab them and go. We're gonna look in the catalog here too because I have some questions about the, the corrals. So you have these corral systems, look at that. Oh yeah, I don't need that for killing 5, 6 sheep a year.
That's— it's nice to have if you have it, but for what you're doing, I— it's overkill. But they're so nice.
Would it be good to have a few to like temporarily put up with a T-post or something to corral them into the— to the wrestling ring?
Uh, yes.
10 by 16 by 16 pen.
I do like, uh, our Prima Gates. They're just a lightweight aluminum, very easy to handle.
Okay.
Uh, they, they ship in 2-foot sections. Okay, so you have both sides.
Okay, it's 4-foot tall.
Uh, that's the width. Height should be—
and that is not like 4-foot tall. Okay.
Yeah, they are. All right, I should know this better.
And they don't jump it if excited?
Uh, I haven't had that issue. So we have those in our, um, okay, have those in our lambing barn, and we do have some Romanov genetics and some other flighty breeds that challenge it on occasion, but they've been pretty good for us. Um, I want to say they're 36 inches off the top of my head. Okay, but that works well for us. PrimeGates, lightweight, easy handling. I've used them in our sheep barns before, just pulling across an alleyway or pulling across the barn and then just using that as a big light funnel. Yeah, because we had enough of them to do that. So you had about 20 or 30 feet of panels, and that gives you a pretty, uh, nice arm extension.
How are they mounted here? How are they mounted to the ground?
So these are, these are just setting on the ground.
Okay.
But we do have, uh, they're pinned together at the ends, and then that just keeps them stable.
We are back home. Had a good visit with Premier One. Our stew is ready. That looks good. It's a chuck roast. Copious amount of meats in there, Becky. You heard on the Nourishing Tradition questions podcast on the way up here, but it's better to eat the big meal at lunch. So I'm gonna do my OMAD, one meal a day, at lunch, which I think will be better because I won't be so— I won't be like hungry all day. And then it's easier to digest before you go to bed. How is it, Lily? You like it? Good. Topped with lots, copious amounts of butter. I like it. Thank you. Hey, can y'all pass the Redmonds down please? This is hamburger, guys.
Yeah, it's really good.
He's so good. It's the best beef we ever had. Got Jersey and American milk and Devon mix. Hot tub! How is it?
Good.
Feeling good? Yeah. Look at that view.
We can sit in a hot tub and watch.
That's super. Watch this boy crawl. There we go. All right. Okay. Look at this, look at this. He's doing it. Yeah! I forgot to cut my nappy hair before we left. My beard, my hair. Show them the— show them the one on my— the long hair.
It's really long.
Let's see if they can see that.
It's actually like right on your— it's like coming out. It's very long.
Just a burly man.
You just need to get cleaned up.
Alright. We got us a clipper. Target. It's— why is it so small?
Well, it looks full size on the internet.
Alright. Well, it may be small, but it is cordless.
Wait!
Do you have a guard on there? Yes!
That would be terrible. I don't think you've seen me without a beard in 15 years. Look, a stick bug. Ricky, it's okay. Screaming helps.
I thought I was stepping on something.
I'm sorry, you were about to step on this poor stick bug. Oh, drop down. This is what came off of me. I would say I'm mostly gray these days. Thank you, Rebecca. How does it look? No hairs on my neck. Well, you can say.
You look very nice.
Oh yeah, that's what I like to hear. No hairs out my nose, no hairs from my mouth. How's my neck look? How's it look?
Much better, much cleaner.
I guess next time we need to remember to cut my hair before we leave.
Yes. Well, now we have this nifty thing that can travel with us.
Add it to the list.
I think I'm gonna keep that in our, um, Ooh, luggage.
Yeah, I was gonna say maybe car, but yeah, luggage, right? With our salt next to our salt shaker in the car. Oh, with deodorant too. There you go.
Y'all know what we're talking about. Yep, salt and deodorant, two things you always need in the glove department.
Let's call it the salt department or the, um, The deodorant department. That's— because have you— let's be honest. Have you ever put gloves in the glove department?
No, you don't do that anymore. No.
Instructional manual.
Registration.
Registration.
No gloves.
No gloves.
I've never kept gloves in there.
Never kept gloves in there. I'm about to pull a little— well, it's actually a big—
it's—
I'm about to pull a big cat out of the bag. Because it's going out of the bag. Tomorrow. We didn't expect that, it's kind of last minute, but I've written a book. It's been a long time coming and we got a lot more to say about it. Yeah, in future vlogs. But for now, we'll say, uh, this will be on display at Homesteaders of America and folks will be able to pre-order for the first time. There's gonna be all kinds of pre-order bonuses. We'll make the pre-order, pre-order available to you guys soon enough. When we know more. But I would say to get the pre-order bonus, you would just want to be on my email list. So for now, make sure you're on my email list. If you're not, or you're not sure, I'll put a link down in the description to join our email list. But yeah, cat's getting out of the bag. Mañana. We had this printed off at the local place. It didn't quite come out how we want, you know, we wanted it printed back to back. So hopefully we'll get a better one by tomorrow at a different print shop. Uh, this will, this will be a hardcover book. It will teach you how to cultivate health and wellness by growing. It's crazy. I'm crazy excited. It's been since late, very late 2019. No. That we've been working on this.
Or was it early 2020?
There-ish. But I can't wait to talk to you guys more about this. Uh, join the email list. Supper time. Let's see what she has. Jonah's got the baby. Grandma's holding down the dishes. Mom had a great idea that she's made some chicken soup.
Mama, could you get me a bowl?
Mashed potatoes on top with a pat of butter.
Nice.
I got a little inspiration from the Liver King for this next move right here. What, you gonna eat some butter? Watch this. The Liver King on Instagram.
All right, it's gonna come out the other end a lot faster.
I think I'd rather just drink cream, but this will do. I know I said I'm OMADing, but I ate some butter and I'm gonna drink some broth. The goat's gonna be ready for this weekend. Besides, I need to have something so it's not awkward while everybody else is eating supper. You are eating a lighter supper. How'd you like the thick lunch and the lighter supper?
I actually really liked it.
I like it.
Well, why not? Because I'm not super hungry right now. Like, this feels like it's just enough to eat and like fill me up. To get me through.
And this totally could have been leftovers from lunch.
Yeah, it could have been.
I think we might try this. What would you think about eating a big lunch instead of a big supper? We don't, but I know having a big lunch and then eating leftovers from that lunch for supper. Or a soup.
Yeah, or a soup.
You could always have soups frozen. Yeah, I know, for when there is no leftovers.
Yes, that's what I'm thinking. I can make— I can batch make soups and freeze them into super cubes, and then we can just have like a variety of soups to pull out.
