What a productive day. We took action on a plan to make less work. Part of the plan is to utilize more wooded area for the cattle to graze and shelter in so today, we set t-posts through a stretch of woods and attached insulators to them. When the time … Continue reading
Category Archives: Pasture
Our pasture isn’t torn up and there is residual grass
We visited some folks today who rent their pasture to a local farmer. Their pasture, pictured immediately below, quickly caught my eye. The farmer runs several cow/calf pairs, grazes until the grass no longer grows enough to sustain the cattle, then feeds hay until the spring flush comes. … Continue reading
Opportunity abounds
A fire started in our neighbor’s pasture which then spread to our pasture and winter hay supply. I won’t go into the messy details but will instead focus on the opportunity that has been presented. The opportunity to read up on and learn the benefits and consequences of burnt land … Continue reading
Six months rent or 15 days worth of hay
Don fed a half bale of hay on Friday. The first of the season. In a matter of days our stockpiled grass will be gone but I’m not complaining. In fact, I’m grateful that we have been able to graze so long considering Missouri’s drought conditions. In past years, we … Continue reading
When all is said and done
It finally rained on September 4th and 5th breaking a seven week dry spell on top of already dry conditions. Amazingly, the three to four inches of rain brought considerable growth and thickening to our pastures. At the end of August, the beginning of our breeding season, we moved the … Continue reading
Brown pastures and a win-win situation
Our green pastures are turning brown. April saw a few drops of rain, however May and June, to date, have been bone dry. Couple this with last year’s drought and it could mean hard times for mid-Missouri grazers. Don and I have done some preparing though. We are grazing more … Continue reading
Looking for earthworm poo
At five o’clock Saturday afternoon I was kneeling in Dennis McDonald’s pasture looking for, and at, earthworm castings. This was just part of a farm walk sponsored by the Green Hills Farm Project. Interesting stuff really. Dennis started by giving an overview of his grazing and cattle management program then … Continue reading
Fodder for the guys at the local feed and seed
The boys at the local feed and seed store chuckled at me today. I asked if they carried crabgrass seed. The reply, “People would give their right arm to get rid of their crabgrass. You must be pulling my leg.” Well, in mid-March I attended a forage conference near Linneus, … Continue reading
Cowbirds are trailing the herd
The Brown-headed Cowbirds are back and trailing our small herd. I have mixed feelings about their presence though. Cowbirds are small blackbirds with brown heads, which walk the ground among grazing cattle, to forage on insects, beetles, spiders and seeds among other things. They can have all the flies they … Continue reading
In hindsight, we should have let the grass rest
On March 30th I mentioned drought conditions in mid-Missouri. As the summer passed by, we grazed the pastures low in an effort to hold off on feeding hay and hoped for rain that didn’t come. We also sold a few cows. On September 24th of last year, we started feeding … Continue reading