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.

This next picture, which I also took today, is our pasture. We run out of grass just like the farmer mentioned above, however we rotate the cattle and unroll the bales as needed. About the only time we use a bale ring is when we are expecting a deep snow. With a rotational system and by not running more cattle than the land will support, we typically start supplementing forage in February compared to the farmer’s start time of November.

This farmer has considerable more cattle than we do which means more trampling but why not spread that trampling out and make it work for you? I really believe a rotational system is the way to manage pasture. Our pasture isn’t torn up and there is residual grass, with a root system in place, ready to shoot up with warmer temperatures. The cattle have mostly cleaned up the hay and the hay that is left will become fertilized, organic matter.

As a side note, this farmer also hauls his calves to another farm to wean them away from the mamma cows. (Gasp)