I love a harrowing experience

[zephyrhillsusan]

I love a nice, harrowing experience once in a while,     especially using my Kubota RTV.  It's so much easier to maneuver than the tractor!  I was able to get a lot closer in corners and other areas I wouldn't be able to get with the tractor.  Normally we would have harrowed in the fall and kept the animals in the barnyard for the winter to rest the pastures, but plans went astray this past year.  We got greedy and bought 2 steers in the fall, plus the new bull, so we had too many animals to pack into the barnyard.  Also, the new pasture that was supposed to get done, didn't.  So the surplus animals have stayed out on the pasture eating hay in the run-in shed.  As a result, there is LOTS of manure out there.  It finally thawed enough for me to get out and harrow today, and the one pasture I did looks so great.  I will say one thing for all the freezing and thawing we've had going on--it made the manure easy to break down!  Hopefully we'll have a bit more freezing and thawing and then some rain to soak it in.  Tomorrow I hope to do the other pasture the animals have been in.  There's something so soothing about the regular turns around the pasture while harrowing, and something so satisfying about the neatly manicured pasture when you're done.  It was a fun day, made even more fun by watching the antics of my silly horses expressing their displeasure at being disturbed.

[legendrockranch]

Wow, I've been doing the same thing for the past two days except all I manage to get is a lot of dust flying around. While most of the piles break up, there is a lot that bounce around on top of the harrow because they are to dry.
Your place looks beautiful. Even more so when all the grass starts growing.

Barb

[Fran]

Looks great, Susan. I've got to get mine done, hopefully in the next few weeks.

[lakeportfarms]

Susan, you should move North to Michigan. You have a lot more work to do than we do this time of year. We just get another 7" of snow every day or two to cover it up
I guess our trade off is that we have to be up on the roof shoveling it off every once in a while.  No, that's not a joke...

[midhilldexters]

I certainly envy you Southerners this time of the year. Like Hans up here in Western NY we are buried in snow, as I look toward the east side of the barn, the gate only has the very top bar showing! That's the worst one and I was hoping to dig it out today, but yet again we have snow and high winds. To make it more interesting, the temps will rise for a few days, its going to rain, and we are now have a flood watch.
So on my wood burner is a beef tongue cooking, and I will stay inside, again, sigh.

Carol K

[zephyrhillsusan]

Wow, I think it's you northerners having the harrowing experience!     I can't imagine snow to the top bar of a gate or needing to get on the roof to shovel it.  My deepest sympathies on the drought, Barb.  We have family that ranch in the Alpine/Ft. Davis area, and they constantly pray for rain.  We've been out there when it's so dry it makes us want to cry--and we were just visitors.  

I can see from your answers that others of you will be harrowing now. Are you late or do you do it now intentionally?  I'm wondering if we discovered by accident that this might be a better time of year to do it, especially after the dry fall we had.

One thing I know we left too long is emptying the manure spreader.  We had it in the barnyard and filled it, then never got around to dumping it.  It actually grew a crop of grass on top of it (blush!) We took it down to the pasture a couple weeks ago (with the RTV again), but of course it was frozen solid! Herb ran it for me this morning, but half of it is still frozen so we just have to wait.  I'm impatient to get it back in the barnyard so we can clean up the barnyard into it.  It's a great tool--when we actually use it!  

[dexterlady]

Boy ya'll are so ambitious....I wish I had a harrow to do our little fifteen acres and an ATV to pull it!...Carl & I pick up by hand!...We have a little JD cart I bought for $100.00 (in great shape also), and we fill that with all the manure and have to go dump it out back somewhere..We usually have to fill it twice to get one pen clean!...Our biggest pen...Then we have three other smaller pens we do by hand....OH for a harrow and an ATV!

[ssimons]

Gene
 how do Muscovys fare when feral cats are in the neighborhood? I hate to get rid of the cats, because they keep the mice and other rodents in check. Would Guineas be a tougher target for cats? I love the idea of having a "poop patrol" but I don't want to give the cats a freebie. I think the cats would be the only real problem. We have mountain lion, Bobcat, coyote, fox and feral dogs , but they hang closer to the mountains mostly. If you think one of those birds might be worth a try, I' m game for at least a try at it. Love labor saving tactics.

[lakeportfarms]

Feb 18, 2014 9:03:52 GMT -5 midhilldexters said:

I certainly envy you Southerners this time of the year. Like Hans up here in Western NY we are buried in snow, as I look toward the east side of the barn, the gate only has the very top bar showing! That's the worst one and I was hoping to dig it out today, but yet again we have snow and high winds. To make it more interesting, the temps will rise for a few days, its going to rain, and we are now have a flood watch.
So on my wood burner is a beef tongue cooking, and I will stay inside, again, sigh.

Carol K

You better get that gate dug out at least a little bit Carol.   It won't be warm and rain for more than a day or so and then it's due to get quite cold again.  I expect we'll be walking on top of the snow this time next week.

I'm starting to have a problem with the cows escaping their respective pastures.  They're walking right over the 48" high 3 rail wood fence in spots.

[dexterlady]

Gene, what about raccoons with the ducks?....Do you think a raccoon can kill a duck?...I have a friend who has muscovies and she has them locked up, because they won't stay down at the pond...They come up an get into her goats water and the cows water and mess it all up....Do you have any trouble like this?...Thanks...Donna

[lakeportfarms]

Yes Sheri! I'm surprised more here haven't embraced it. It's a bit pointless for us up North to do it a good portion of the year, but for those who don't get deep frost or heavy snows it is a great way to improve pastures. As a bonus, it gives you a good reason to go out once (or in our case when we are doing it, twice) per day to check up on your Dexters. It helps make them very happy to see you!

With 3 feet of snow on the ground right now I had fun looking for this photo too...gives me some hope!

[Morning Star Farm]

I'm with Gene on the Muscovy ducks. It's amazing how quickly they can get rid of those pies...lol. We have only lost two to predators in the seven years we have had them and I'm not sure if it was raccoons or coyotes. We are in north east ohio so we have plenty of snow and they do fine. They will use whatever water is available to take a bath. We don't have a pond so ours like to fly to the neighbors for a little swim, lucky for us the neighbors like watching them. In the winter they use the cow's water because they don't travel to far from the barn. Oh and the cats don't bother them.

[zephyrhillsusan]

Our Muscovies won't touch the cow pies. . I even added cracked corn to the cows' feed and cut way down on their food to encourage them, but they're useless except for flies when we have them. My chickens are a little better with the cow pies, but we keep them in the barnyard so they'll lay in the nesting boxes. I wanted them out in the pasture with the animals and set up our chicken tractor with nest boxes, but they insisted on laying out in the grass. So I decided if I wanted eggs, they had to go back in the barnyard.

As far as IRG, I would love to do it, but that is one area I cannot convince my husband. We tried it, and he said it was too time-consuming. That was before he started his full-time counseling program and internship! So we rotate between our six pastures or sub-pastures, shortly to be 7. It's better than nothing. I still have to argue with him about when to move them. He always says, "There's still long grass in there." And I say, "They're telling you they're not going to eat it because look, there's old manure at the bottom of it. They're just eating the rest of it too short." We go through this every year! Sigh! He's great about listening to me on almost every other subject, so I have just decided to let him have his way on IRG and try to talk him into moving them when they and I think they're ready! However, I follow the blog of a farmer in France who raises Salers using IRG, and he says he still has to harrow occasionally for best results.

[lakeportfarms]

I'd give up half of what you husband does on the farm to get him to manage the pastures. It would be worth it! We spend 15 minutes per move. Lower worm load, better condition on them, lower hay cost, your pastures are improved.....it goes on and on.

[dexterlady]

Thank you Morning Star...I may try some but probably just a couple....