NOPLCLKNEB
Member
Hello, just joined this site today and I have a question on bloat and alfalfa.
This will be my 3rd year in the cattle business, (very small scale). What I've been doing is buying light weight steers (400-500 lbs) in late April and running them on grass until the grass runs out (usually September).
Two years ago I seeded 9 acres back to pasture from row crop. The seed I planted is big bluestem, little bluestem, western wheat grass, alfalfa, and yellow clover.
This spring I'm going to fence this 9 acres in and it will be connected to another native grass pasture of about 10 acres. Right now my best guess is the new pasture is about 30 % alfalfa, 20% clover, 15% native grass and 35% weeds.
Should I wait untill the alfalfa is mature before letting them in there, I was hoping to get them in there in early May so they would eat a bunch of the young weeds, but I'm worried about bloat. I also plan on burning it in late April.
I guess my main question is how much do I have to worry about bloat on this new pasture.
Thanks
Rob
This will be my 3rd year in the cattle business, (very small scale). What I've been doing is buying light weight steers (400-500 lbs) in late April and running them on grass until the grass runs out (usually September).
Two years ago I seeded 9 acres back to pasture from row crop. The seed I planted is big bluestem, little bluestem, western wheat grass, alfalfa, and yellow clover.
This spring I'm going to fence this 9 acres in and it will be connected to another native grass pasture of about 10 acres. Right now my best guess is the new pasture is about 30 % alfalfa, 20% clover, 15% native grass and 35% weeds.
Should I wait untill the alfalfa is mature before letting them in there, I was hoping to get them in there in early May so they would eat a bunch of the young weeds, but I'm worried about bloat. I also plan on burning it in late April.
I guess my main question is how much do I have to worry about bloat on this new pasture.
Thanks
Rob