muddy mess

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Anonymous

does anybody have any ideas about how to keep your feeding area where your feeding troughs and hay rings are from getting so muddy and nasty. should i just keep moving them around or does anybody have any ideas.

tommy

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i think it just comes with the territory. one place i feed was a round pen and they had hauled in sand it is really good for feed bunks. but there is mud on out from there anyway.
> does anybody have any ideas about
> how to keep your feeding area
> where your feeding troughs and hay
> rings are from getting so muddy
> and nasty. should i just keep
> moving them around or does anybody
> have any ideas.

> tommy



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For most areas we use 2 inch gravel. For the hay feeders we locate them in areas that either are rocky, or have weeds and other junk growing or areas that can use churning and a little added tilth. We move the feeders every bale. In early spring we burn any leftvoer piles. Areas that are used and don't have piles of hay we forst seed by broadcasting grass and clover seed in February.

dun

> does anybody have any ideas about
> how to keep your feeding area
> where your feeding troughs and hay
> rings are from getting so muddy
> and nasty. should i just keep
> moving them around or does anybody
> have any ideas.

> tommy



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Bad is in the eyes of the beholder. What is acceptable to one person isn't for another. In some places mud half way to the kneessome people accept. I don't like it more then hoof deep. I'd be concerned about using chips in a pasture area. They'd never break down and wood remove nitrogen as they slowly decompose. Just an opinion.

dun

> HOW DO I KNOW IF IT'S BAD



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Depending on the nature of the ground under the ring or trough, just putting gravel down will not last and will become a mess again. Spend a bit more and first put a layer of geotextile fabric down, then put the crusher run down on top. The fabric keeps the gravel from being trampelled into the earth below.

It really works!

Read the article below, it will give you details.

<A HREF="http://ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/0304.html" TARGET="_blank">http://ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/0304.html</A>
 
With our what we laughingly refer to as soil, it doesn't get pushed in very deep. It almost seems like rocks breed around here.

dun

> Depending on the nature of the
> ground under the ring or trough,
> just putting gravel down will not
> last and will become a mess again.
> Spend a bit more and first put a
> layer of geotextile fabric down,
> then put the crusher run down on
> top. The fabric keeps the gravel
> from being trampelled into the
> earth below.

> It really works!

> Read the article below, it will
> give you details.

>
> <A HREF="http://ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/0304.html" TARGET="_blank">http://ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/0304.html</A>



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Same thing here. We feed on high ground which often means rocky ground. If the market for rock takes off some day I'll have to stand guard every night with a shotgun. When I was a kid all the farms around here were actually farms. Everybody ran cattle (and sheep) but everybody had crops in too. It's amazing that the old timers actually made some of these places produce anything. The bottom areas have some good fields in them but many of the higher areas should have never been put in cultivation. Of course, like my granddad always said, "We never made a living. We just lived off what we made."

Craig-TX
 
"We never made a living. We just lived off what we made."

I like it.

Around here, the few fields that are being hayed have rock piles bigger then most houses around the edges. If a rock is only fist size we consider that sand.

dun

> Same thing here. We feed on high
> ground which often means rocky
> ground. If the market for rock
> takes off some day I'll have to
> stand guard every night with a
> shotgun. When I was a kid all the
> farms around here were actually
> farms. Everybody ran cattle (and
> sheep) but everybody had crops in
> too. It's amazing that the old
> timers actually made some of these
> places produce anything. The
> bottom areas have some good fields
> in them but many of the higher
> areas should have never been put
> in cultivation. Of course, like my
> granddad always said, "We never
> made a living. We just lived off
> what we made."

> Craig-TX



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I just keep moving them. I feed the hay in the corn field during the winter. I meant to start far away and move the rings in closer as the season progressed, but I forgot about that over summer.

Now I get to drive over frozen ruts to put out the hay. I bounce around that cab like a little rubber ball. Hit the ceiling a couple times. Good thing I have a cab! When it thaws, I worry about getting stuck.

I do drive the tractor back and forth trying to make a path for the cows to walk on. Knocking down the peaks seems to help their poor feet. I think they will find the mud to be a relief after this.
 

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