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<blockquote data-quote="Arnold Ziffle" data-source="post: 201851" data-attributes="member: 43"><p>geish, remember that hot summer days are just around the corner. Ground moisture in our area is very poor and while you have some green spring growth right now it won't last long without rain pretty soon. Hay will continue to be scarce and expensive, so if you can find some decent quality hay at a reasonable price snatch it up. Watch the condition of the cows closely and be prepared to cull off some if things don't improve. If you have pens, chute and other handling facilities (and I assume you have at least some, unless the prior renter had all portable stuff) you might want to get Dr. Stern over to palpate them for you and also do a spring workup (vaccinate, worming, etc). If they were running with a bull for 3 months they should be pregnant -- if "open" it might be a good idea to say adios to the open ones. </p><p></p><p>Your 45 acres might sound like a fair sized piece of ground to run 8 mature cows and a bull, plus a few small calves. However, they won't do much grazing on all that smut grass nor on the water sedge, which you seem to have a lot of. Don't allow the smutgrass or the sedge to seed out again - keep it shredded. Next, since you've already got the cattle, you might consider a program whereby you start fencing off something like 5 or 10 acre plots of your land and spray generic Roundup on a plot to kill it all, disc and then try to get something good established, such as Jiggs or Tifton 85 (both are bermuda grasses that do well in the area). Then move on to another plot. As I recall, the county extension service advises to use at least a 10% solution of Roundup to kill the sedge (much stronger concentration than for a lot of grasses). You might want to verify that with Glen Averrit over at the extension service. If you have sections that stay very wet and are dominated by the sedge, you might have to move some dirt around, improve drainage, etc. The bermuda doesn't like wet feet, I believe Bahia will tolerate it better, but in our area bermuda is the grass of choice if conditions are right. In doing the above, you will also be establishing multiple grazing plots, and the benefits of rotational grazing are well documented. I know you have a small tractor and shredder. Consider hiring local farmers or ranchers near you to do some of the spraying, discing, etc. if you dont have that sort of equipment already, which I assume you don't. Don't go out and buy a lot of fancy equipment, trailers, spray rig, etc. -- won't be able to get enough utilization out of them to justify the investment, IMHO.</p><p></p><p>Keep reading these boards if you have the time and you will pick up a lot of good info, some not so good, and a fair amount of entertainment.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Arnold Ziffle, post: 201851, member: 43"] geish, remember that hot summer days are just around the corner. Ground moisture in our area is very poor and while you have some green spring growth right now it won't last long without rain pretty soon. Hay will continue to be scarce and expensive, so if you can find some decent quality hay at a reasonable price snatch it up. Watch the condition of the cows closely and be prepared to cull off some if things don't improve. If you have pens, chute and other handling facilities (and I assume you have at least some, unless the prior renter had all portable stuff) you might want to get Dr. Stern over to palpate them for you and also do a spring workup (vaccinate, worming, etc). If they were running with a bull for 3 months they should be pregnant -- if "open" it might be a good idea to say adios to the open ones. Your 45 acres might sound like a fair sized piece of ground to run 8 mature cows and a bull, plus a few small calves. However, they won't do much grazing on all that smut grass nor on the water sedge, which you seem to have a lot of. Don't allow the smutgrass or the sedge to seed out again - keep it shredded. Next, since you've already got the cattle, you might consider a program whereby you start fencing off something like 5 or 10 acre plots of your land and spray generic Roundup on a plot to kill it all, disc and then try to get something good established, such as Jiggs or Tifton 85 (both are bermuda grasses that do well in the area). Then move on to another plot. As I recall, the county extension service advises to use at least a 10% solution of Roundup to kill the sedge (much stronger concentration than for a lot of grasses). You might want to verify that with Glen Averrit over at the extension service. If you have sections that stay very wet and are dominated by the sedge, you might have to move some dirt around, improve drainage, etc. The bermuda doesn't like wet feet, I believe Bahia will tolerate it better, but in our area bermuda is the grass of choice if conditions are right. In doing the above, you will also be establishing multiple grazing plots, and the benefits of rotational grazing are well documented. I know you have a small tractor and shredder. Consider hiring local farmers or ranchers near you to do some of the spraying, discing, etc. if you dont have that sort of equipment already, which I assume you don't. Don't go out and buy a lot of fancy equipment, trailers, spray rig, etc. -- won't be able to get enough utilization out of them to justify the investment, IMHO. Keep reading these boards if you have the time and you will pick up a lot of good info, some not so good, and a fair amount of entertainment. [/QUOTE]
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