yuppiecowboy":2ctvti7f said:
You have my undivided attention.
Help me with the concept of stockpiling. How much do I need to stockpile for 50 cows? DO I graze it for a while in the spring early then keep them off the rest of the year? DO I limit feed with a movable hot wire in the winter?
I would very much like to reduce hay feeding. I cant fathom eliminating it entirely given a typical Iowa winter.
yuppiecowboy
A lot of distance and several hardiness growing zones separate us. I have visited your state but never over wintered. The concept of rotational grazing is rather simple but does require discipline as we mentioned previously. Certain size cattle do work better than others. My cattle are smaller than many of the bovines owned by members of this board. It is a recognized fact than a frame 3.4 to low 4 cow will require less feed. If you are selling into the market (not breeding stock) for your operation to be the most profitable that it can be you must sell what your farm can produce, be it size of feeder calves to the forage that will flourish, with the best margin. My main grass is fescue. Is it the best grass for my live stock? No. Is it the most forage that I can produce for the least expense? Definitely. Will my calves reach market weight the fastest on the fescue? No, but they will reach market weight with the least expense. Will my frame 4 cows impress anyone that visits or rides by? Unlikely. Will they maintain body condition on stockpiled fescue and over winter and cycle timely? You betcha! Therefore do I fall in the same groove (rut) as my neighbors? Not hardly. If feeder calves dropped 50% would I still be profitable? Yes, but I would not like it. These are the reasons I do what I do! Now, yuppiecowboy I must asked are you willing to get in this scheme of things? If so, you are going to have to fly by the seat of the pants on what Iowa issues surface on which I know nothing. If you are committed those should be issues that you will overcome through some solution or compromise of yours. Can I do in Iowa what I do here? I doubt it but I am confident that I can succeed at some level. I faced many of the same obstacles when I first started here with no mentor. I did doubt whether I could ever make it through a Winter with no hay. With success came confidence and finally comfort to where I sold the hay equipment.
To answer your specific questions.
You will always use a movable separating method. I use a pigtail post and polywire. The posts step into the soil with your foot. The polywire is a multi-strand stainless wires and plastic strands intertwined that are lightweight and conduct electricity from a fence charger
Each day with intensive rotational grazing you will allocate what YOU want the cattle to have access. This is a great tool for developing a great forage based low weed infested pasture that will flourish.
Stockpiling for 50 cows requires doing a little math.
Cattle going into Winter need to be in very good body condition.
Calculate when the last forage growth will happen in your location.
Determine how much forage you need per day.
Determine when you think that new growth in the Spring will began.
How many days is the non growing period.
Add about 3 weeks to this non growing period, this is how many days you will need feed.
The feed can come from stockpiled or windrowed forage provided in you situation that the cows get get to it through the snow/ice
Note...Once you start rotational grazing you will be awed by how much further you can go into Winter will your pastures
Yes, you will graze the area that you will eventually stockpile. You will cease to graze in time for the area being stockpiled to recover during the last growing period of Summer/Fall.
I would like you to read this in its entirety. It is long, a lot may not apply but it avoids a lot of typing and possibly some oversight.
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showth ... p?t=286704