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Do your cows eat GRASS??
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<blockquote data-quote="purecountry" data-source="post: 328285" data-attributes="member: 2306"><p>Our cow herd hasn't been given any grain for 5 years now, other than a pail or 2 on the tailgate to trail them home. Our herd is a mixture. We have Angus X Tarentaise F1's, Angus X Herf and Angus X Shorthorn F1's, then a bunch of 3/4 Angus daughters from that group. Now that we use Galloway bulls, we have some 1/2 Galloway heifers, and have added some purebred Galloway cows as well. When we cut grain out of the program, the fossil fuel cows weeded themselves out right quick, and there were a few from each breed combination, but the most notable ones were some of the purebred Angus cows we had left. They melted away. They just weren't the right phenotype for it. They had too many generations in their pedigree of grain-dependancy, which is our error, not theirs.</p><p></p><p>One of the most interesting things we've done is keeping over some bulls every year for meat. When we calve in June in bush country, there's always a few who end up keeping their nuts. At 18 months of age, they're going into their 2nd winter, and they aren't much to look at. Green, lean, rough and tough best describes them. But when they hit grass come spring, the weight they put on is incredible, and by the time they pass their 2nd birthday that summer, they look like herdbulls. I haven't sold any, since they're all 1/2 bloods, but we sure get plenty of offers. I'm going to use one or two of them again this year, because I believe that their genes passed on will get us closer to a completely supplement free herd.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="purecountry, post: 328285, member: 2306"] Our cow herd hasn't been given any grain for 5 years now, other than a pail or 2 on the tailgate to trail them home. Our herd is a mixture. We have Angus X Tarentaise F1's, Angus X Herf and Angus X Shorthorn F1's, then a bunch of 3/4 Angus daughters from that group. Now that we use Galloway bulls, we have some 1/2 Galloway heifers, and have added some purebred Galloway cows as well. When we cut grain out of the program, the fossil fuel cows weeded themselves out right quick, and there were a few from each breed combination, but the most notable ones were some of the purebred Angus cows we had left. They melted away. They just weren't the right phenotype for it. They had too many generations in their pedigree of grain-dependancy, which is our error, not theirs. One of the most interesting things we've done is keeping over some bulls every year for meat. When we calve in June in bush country, there's always a few who end up keeping their nuts. At 18 months of age, they're going into their 2nd winter, and they aren't much to look at. Green, lean, rough and tough best describes them. But when they hit grass come spring, the weight they put on is incredible, and by the time they pass their 2nd birthday that summer, they look like herdbulls. I haven't sold any, since they're all 1/2 bloods, but we sure get plenty of offers. I'm going to use one or two of them again this year, because I believe that their genes passed on will get us closer to a completely supplement free herd. [/QUOTE]
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