Miller Family Farm, Pasture walk in Eros, LA, September 2025

On Friday, Sept. 19^th, 13 producers met at the Miller Cattle Co. in Eros, LA (Northeast LA) to tour Bubba and Amy Miller's cattle and sheep farm. The farm is newly established as grazing lands. It was previously wooded with pines. The family cut the timber and ground stumps in 2020, and dug in to add fence, a beautiful large fishing pond, and an in-ground city water system for the livestock. Bubba and Amy Miller continued to pour their heart into the farm's regenerative practices, learning from Youtube videos and in-person events after work hours. After learning more about Louisiana GLCI, the couple wanted to host a pasture walk to share what they've learned that works in Louisiana, and hopefully save some other producers from making the same mistakes they have along the way.  

The Millers began their farm as a way to feed their family nothing but the best proteins they can get. Amy, a health professional by trade, and Bubba, a plumber by trade, each brought different skills to the farm's table. Amy's passion for meats raised primarily on grass diets, and Bubba's ability to build anything, has created the farm, complete with a commercial kitchen for Amy's tallow business, Miller Farmacy, and Bubba's personal butcher shop, where he harvests his own cattle and lambs for their family's consumption. 

Their electric fence system utilizes ground rods set in the drip line of the shed on the property, keeping them well grounded for a high charge to hold their cattle and sheep together on the 80 acres. Bubba uses one Cyclops charger and one or two Powerflex 9 wire brand poly braid wire at about knee height, with Obrien step in posts for to hold his 11 cattle and 22 sheep together moving across eight paddocks. Miller sharpens the step in post metal tips to make it easier to put them in the ground on dry days. He's working on adding more paddocks, with water being the limited resource.  

For watering the herd, Miller uses a Plasson quick coupler with Jobe megaflow valves on 70 and 100 gallon Rubbermaid brand watering tanks. He likes the 70 gallon size because they are easy to empty, load onto the 4 wheeler, and move to the next paddock. The quick release valves make trough moves seamless.  

For cattle genetics, the Millers have chosen a crossbred herd with a touch of Brahman, Hereford, and Angus (primarily red hided), covered by a red ½ Senepol, ½ red angus bull. He's looking for slick and shiny hides on his cattle. They're raising some of their own heifers, and are focused on cattle that are mid-sized and will produce good 100% grass fed beef.  

The couple chose to have sheep for several reasons, one being that sheep and cattle are end hosts for each others' parasites. This means that cattle worm larvae die in the sheep, and sheep worm larvae die in the cattle. They believed that this was a win-win, and therefore run the two species together. When Bubba and Amy bought their first sheep, they soon began to disappeared one at a time due to predators. Since then, they’ve added the two Great Pyrenees guardian dogs that we saw on the farm from a distance, and the sheep are safe. Their dog feeding system, made by Bubba, is a copycat from a Greg Judy version.

Skids for easy moving, two feeders for both dogs, and off ground build to help with ants.

Another feature we saw on the farm was Bubba's homemade cafeteria-style mineral feeder, sized for both sheep and cows, and labeled with each mineral. Bubba had seen the design online from another producer, and built it himself from some conveyor belt scraps and wood.

Lastly, Bubba showed us his homemade hay unroller, which he uses to unroll round bales through the winter. Bubba unrolls hay for many reasons. First, it's spreading the nutrients, organic matter, and seeds from the hay out on his previously-pine tree pastures. Second, it helps the sheep and cattle all have their share of hay without having to fight for it. Third, his focus is to build better soil and improve the grass on the land. This fall, he purchased 100 round bales of last year's inexpensive hay to unroll. He figures that the inner part of the net wrapped hay bale will provide some nutrition for the cows, while the rest will add nutrients and seeds to the soil.  

On October 11, 2025, the Millers will host a homestead fair at their farm to share their passion of regenerative farming with an even larger audience, hosting over 12 speakers addressing multiple homesteading topics, and showing their butcher shop in further detail. A chef will be featuring lamb from the Miller farm for tasting. https://www.monroe-westmonroe.org/events/miller-homestead-fair-2/.  

Louisiana GLCI's pasture walks are designed to provide farmer-to-farmer in-person education and networking. At them, you can see what's working for them, and also discuss challenges. Many thanks to Amy and Bubba Miller sharing their tips at our September 2025 pasture walk.