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Post by lakeportfarms on Jul 3, 2014 17:41:44 GMT -5
One week later...lol! The small cooler you see in the middle is our rolling mobile mineral feeder, $30 at Sams's Club. We do have to bungee it to a tree or something to keep it from tipping, but it works pretty well when we move them so frequently. This goes with our cooler solution in a larger size for the movable water. We leave the mineral feeder with the top and just shut it when we're expecting rain. We're out there two or three times/day anyway. During the winter when we're not rotating we have 55 gallon barrels bolted to the fence near the auto waterers.  |
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zephyrhillsusan
member
Caught Dexteritis in Dec. 2009. Member of this forum since Oct. 2013.
Posts: 1,502 
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Post by zephyrhillsusan on Jul 3, 2014 22:23:00 GMT -5
Great idea for the mineral feeder! What a difference a week makes!
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Post by carragheendexters on Jul 4, 2014 19:26:34 GMT -5
Wow Hans, they made short work of that pasture. How long will it take now for that to grow back ready to graze again?
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Post by lakeportfarms on Jul 4, 2014 20:22:00 GMT -5
It's amazing how fast 60 or so can burn through the pasture, but we've been moving them pretty fast. We try to finish the first rotation about the same time the first cutting of hay comes off the pastures around here. That's happening now, but the largest group has about a week of first rotation grazing left. From there they go back to where they started this spring. They'll be back on the beginning of this particular pasture, weather permitting, in about 45 days. In each of our pasture areas, we have small sacrifice lane with a hay feeder so if we get a bout of dry weather we can stall them for a few days if necessary. I'd rather feed a bale of hay every once in a while than overgraze the pasture. Of course if we had a herd 1/2 the size we wouldn't need that, and I'd have to clip it. I'd rather spend it on hay than diesel.
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Post by carragheendexters on Jul 5, 2014 18:37:55 GMT -5
So working on a 45 day rotation do you get 3 or 4 grazes per grazing season? That is a lot quicker than what we c an get back on a paddock. Winter is much longer , though in spring it comes to about that. Once summer comes the pasture dies totally so there is no rotation. Once it is gone it is gone till the next Autumn.
We find also it works well that we have hay with the cows when they are grazing lush pasture, they seem to like a bit of dry feed to balance their rumen out.
The sacrifice area is a great idea, we have one as a night paddock, and also for their hay access.
It is so hard to work out the right amount of cattle to have that your pastures can carry. Do you carry the number of stock for the good times, or the number for the bad times? Such a balancing act, maybe you need 3/4 the numbers and you would be just right LOL
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