Grass produced heifer

[agmantoo]

The RRCG was broadcast using a Herd brand electric powered seeder on a Honda ATV. The seed were more available when I planted but are in short supply currently due to drought. The seed were obtained through a seed dealer. He ordered them for me.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Is that clover I see mixed in with that "too old fescue"?

 

[agmantoo]

Is that clover I see mixed in with that "too old fescue"?

Yes, that is clover. At the time the pic was taken heat and drought had already taken its toll on most of the clover. Over recent years drought and heat has been rough on my fescue. What orchard grass that did exist has been long gone. Following the recent rain, I am reseeding both fescue and annual rye grass in the spotty areas.

 

[AllForage]

Where do you get your bulls and how do you select them? What are you looking for to help in your all grass system?

 

[dieselbeef]

nice...

 

[TexasBred]

Agman how many mature cattle do you typically run and how much acreage does it require??

 

[Brute 23]

What am I missing? I thought we all do that... minus all the rotating every day. :???:

 

[agmantoo]

TexasBred
I maintain the heifer and cow count at ~100. I cull some animals each year and replace them from my own stock. My beef operation consists of 161 acres of which 141 is in improved pasture. The remaining 20 acres is being improved. I had the property (paddocks) sizes done with a GPS and then put on a aerial view marking each paddock by size. It is on the 141 acres that I carry the entire herd and that is where I get the calculation that I can carry a cow, plus her offspring until it is marketed as a feeder calve, on 1.4 acres year round since I feed pasture grasses solely and do not buy any outside sourced feed during a normal year (no droughts). Attached is the layout without some recent changes

 

[Brute 23]

Never mind... I see it now.

Do you know how many cattle the property would support prior to the imrovements? Estimated cost or time of pay back on improvement?

 

[agmantoo]

Where do you get your bulls and how do you select them? The bull, Murray Grey, that I currently have was bought on a whim. I have not had much success with bulls regardless of where they are sourced. The issues I have are related to the endophyte infected fescue that is the main forage I grow. You may ask, why not change forage? The reason is that I cannot find a grass that is as productive over so many seasons. My cows were sourced nearby many years ago and they get along OK on the diet. Those that did not were culled What are you looking for to help in your all grass system? I would like to be able to irrigate enough of the place to get through a moderate drought. There just isn't enough flat ground to manage a justifiable system. I think that I have maximized the carrying capacity of the farm without bringing hay in occasionally thus creating added work. This is just a part time enterprise for me.[/b]

 

[agmantoo]

Never mind... I see it now.

Do you know how many cattle the property would support prior to the imrovements? I do not have an answer to this. The farm had not been in production for years when I bought it. It was on the market a long time because it lacked potential being run down and eroded. For comparision, a neighbor is running 23 head on nearly 70 acres and bales hay elsewhere.[/b] Estimated cost or time of pay back on improvement?I have done most of the improvements myself. I already had some equipment from when I was grain farming. IMO , the total out of pocket improvement expenses over the years have not exceeded 6 months of the current net income

 

[Brute 23]

Thanks

 

[dieselbeef]

yer cattle make yer land payment also...that cant be done here

 

[TexasBred]

TexasBred
I maintain the heifer and cow count at ~100. I cull some animals each year and replace them from my own stock. My beef operation consists of 161 acres of which 141 is in improved pasture. The remaining 20 acres is being improved. I had the property (paddocks) sizes done with a GPS and then put on a aerial view marking each paddock by size. It is on the 141 acres that I carry the entire herd and that is where I get the calculation that I can carry a cow, plus her offspring until it is marketed as a feeder calve, on 1.4 acres year round since I feed pasture grasses solely and do not buy any outside sourced feed during a normal year (no droughts). Attached is the layout without some recent changes

Looks like you have your system down pretty precise. Can't knock success. Way to go. :clap:

 

[AllForage]

Where do you get your bulls and how do you select them? The bull, Murray Grey, that I currently have was bought on a whim. I have not had much success with bulls regardless of where they are sourced. The issues I have are related to the endophyte infected fescue that is the main forage I grow. You may ask, why not change forage? The reason is that I cannot find a grass that is as productive over so many seasons. My cows were sourced nearby many years ago and they get along OK on the diet. Those that did not were culled What are you looking for to help in your all grass system? I would like to be able to irrigate enough of the place to get through a moderate drought. There just isn't enough flat ground to manage a justifiable system. I think that I have maximized the carrying capacity of the farm without bringing hay in occasionally thus creating added work. This is just a part time enterprise for me.[/b]

I understand the KY 31 situation. As far as bulls go, seems the best situation would be to get a superior stocks embryo implanted so it is adapted upon birth. Then produce your bulls. Its is expensive though. You have an excellent system< I love to see true low-input operations with profit being the focus.

 

[Banjo]

Agmantoo
Thanks for the info and the link to the other thread, very interesting reading. I have learned a lot, Ireally like the idea of the long rectangled paddocks. One question: Did you say somewhere that you rotate everyday only in the winter and use a more than one day rotation in the spring and summer?
Thanks

 

[Banjo]

Agmantoo
You said that you have been three years without spreading any fertilizer. This is my fifth year with out any fertilize. the first year without fertilize was the 2007 drought where IMO most if not all of it was wasted or became high nitrates in whatever was being fed or grazed. 2007 and 08 were 2 consecutive drought years here in S.East Ky. I had been trying to convince my Dad with whom I farmed with to stop spending money on fertilize. You have to have water for the fertilize to work. And even when it rains it accelerates biological activity to the point that it burns up the humus in the soil. That is why IMO that our land is in the sad shape that it is in from the last 40 to 50 years of unbridled chemical fertilization.
I had my soil tested this year to see if I was actually cutting my own throat by not fertilizing and to my surprise and on the fields that I have been taking hay off of once or twice a year the Ph of one was 6.9 and another was 6.6 with buffer Ph around 7.1 I could bring the P and K up a little but they aren't bad.
When you stop putting the NPK which is pure acid, no wonder we have to keep the lime truck going just to counteract the acidity that we put on year after year. Not to mention suppressing the beneficial soil life.
I have heard the ole argument that each bale of hay takes off so much nutrients. tHis is what I don't understand, they say that whatever grows above the ground then you have that much or more below the ground. So what is lost? When that plant begins to regrow it starts to slough off the old roots which become plant food and put out new roots. IMO most farms don't have a fertility problem they have a land or grass management problem. I know that because I am not the best pasture manager but I'm working on it and when I overgraze my pasture, it is my fault not a fertility problem and so many people have been told that they need to put on the ammonia nitrate when they graze their grass into the ground and then the soil becomes just like a drug addict needing more and more.