Truly Amazing Pasture

[ddd75]

I can go out now and find manure piles from last year. Certain areas of pasture are over two feet tall because I never drug them and they won't eat around the manure piles. The only way the manure gets broken up here if I don't drag it is skunks, but they can't keep up. I know it would help to divide pastures so the cows could trample them down better, but its just not feasible for me.

more than likely its the wormers, fly mineral, etc you're using.

I can go out to a few hour old manure pile and its covered in dung beetle holes.

Haven't used any. We don't have dung beetles here.

I live in central ohio and I have them.

 

[TexasBred]

ddd - you are correct on this one. Feed-thru fly control kills dung beetles - the best bug a farmer can have.

The Altosid folks would disagree with you Jeanne:

Residual insecticides, such as organophosphates, are toxic to beneficial insects, such as coprophagous flies and beetles, predaceous beetles, parasitic wasps and dung beetles. Altosid® IGR does not disrupt dung composition and does not harm beneficial insects.

It doesn't even kill flies. Simply allows the eggs to hatch and development of the larvae ceases.

 

[M.Magis]

more than likely its the wormers, fly mineral, etc you're using.

I can go out to a few hour old manure pile and its covered in dung beetle holes.

Haven't used any. We don't have dung beetles here.

I live in central ohio and I have them.

I've looked and looked, and have never seen one. How large are they? Maybe I don't know what to look for. I get some sort of larvae in manure piles, that's all I see. But whatever they are, manure piles here last for over a year. It's extremely aggravating to see all this grass that the cows won't touch.

 

[True Grit Farms]

We have something that eats the manure from the bottom up. The bottom of the pile looks like swiss cheese but the top is hard and dry, I always thought it was dung beetles doing that?

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

ddd - you are correct on this one. Feed-thru fly control kills dung beetles - the best bug a farmer can have.

The Altosid folks would disagree with you Jeanne:

Residual insecticides, such as organophosphates, are toxic to beneficial insects, such as coprophagous flies and beetles, predaceous beetles, parasitic wasps and dung beetles. Altosid® IGR does not disrupt dung composition and does not harm beneficial insects.

It doesn't even kill flies. Simply allows the eggs to hatch and development of the larvae ceases.

I stand corrected then. Did not know that. I had a "specialist" come out for a meeting and we played in manure piles, checking for fly larvae and dung beetles. He found the beetles, but no fly larvae. He set a fly trap but didn't catch any. :banana: I must be behind times. Sorry for the wrong info.

 

[kickinbull]

I got about 80 acres that look like this. I don't fertilize. The rain, Kentucky soil, and wood elves is what creates it. Plus, a regular mowing program. Mowing makes forage!

Would you define/explain your " regular mowing program "?
When I first started farming I visited one my uncles that is a rancher in Missouri. I was interested in his operation so I asked a lot of questions. One that his answer stuck with me was about acres per cow. He ran 1 cow unit per 5 acres. Plenty of grass most years. He stocked for drought and mowed the excesses.

Big mistake on my part. 1 cow/5acres.

 

[Logan52]

The pastures I can get over to mow regularly have not had seed, fertilizer, lime or herbicide for at least 50 years and today are a mix of fescue, bluegrass, white clover, red clover and lespedeza (with a pretty good stand of ironweed). They are at least as good and maybe better than they were 50 years ago. The rougher and steeper parts of the same pastures (that I only mow once a year or less) are a jungle of sumac, goldenrod, briars, honeysuckle and fescue.
I do treat hayfields a lot better ( fertilizer-lime-reseeding) and am understocked on the pastures. My old truck and trailer could not handle matching the number of stock to the forage so I keep numbers down.
When I started on this farm nearly 50 years ago the old-timer neighbors told me that mowing makes grass. I bought a used bush-hog from one of them and took his advice to heart.

 

[herofan]

The fact is cows don't eat where they pooped and then the grass gets tall and tough and they won't eat it. I rotary mow and chain drag my pastures a few times every year. I think a mowed - dragged pasture looks good and it's my time and money that I'm wasting.

If a cow pie is left alone, how long before it decomposes to the point they will eat in that area again?

within a few days mine are gone. I usually run my cows back on the same pasture every 12-15 days.

Wow. That's amazing. I'm sure it takes several months here for a pie to completely disappear. Is it dung beetles, climate, or both that cause yours to disappear so quickly?

 

[ClinchValley]

Healthy soil has a whole lot to do with decomposition.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Mine do not disappear quickly. Guess I don't have enough dung Beatles.

 

[ddd75]

If a cow pie is left alone, how long before it decomposes to the point they will eat in that area again?

within a few days mine are gone. I usually run my cows back on the same pasture every 12-15 days.

Wow. That's amazing. I'm sure it takes several months here for a pie to completely disappear. Is it dung beetles, climate, or both that cause yours to disappear so quickly?

heavy rotations are a big part, but insects are key.

dung beetles are small little shiny beetles that are pretty quick.

With heavy rotations, I can move them that morning, and only see a few manure piles. everything else has been trampled. the insects are already devouring the remaining piles. the next day they are gone. If the rotation is not as heavy, they will stay for up to a week but are gone within that time. Every manure pile has at least 3 nightcrawlers in them.


I am running 2 cows to the acre right now.