Hey all! I live in north Idaho and I'm leasing 50 acres that had last had cattle on it in 2023. Im just starting out with a few steers and doing rotational grazing and I'm wondering if I have enough feed for them. Its prairie land so its a lot of tumbleweed type stuff and weeds, I hardly have any good grass. Should I supplement with hay? the stuff growing is all pretty tall and thick and I plan to try to harrow and seed this fall. I just want yalls opinion on if i should keep feeding hay along with whatever they can graze.
Not enough grass
- Thread starter Isabelle
- Start date
mwj
Well-known member
Watch there condition closely and move as needed.If you feed hay from the start they will be lazy in there grazing. If they need hay give it on as needed ''limited''basis.
4hfarms
Well-known member
Good grass hay with seed does multiple duties as you feed it in mutiple places around the pasture. It creates top soil.
Feed the animals, animals fertilize, hay reseeds and adds organic matter to hold moisture in the ground, and the cycle continues. Let them eat then feed hay.
If you rotate them, cut it after they move on the the next pasture. Old neighbor told me his life lesson.... "if you want grass to grow, you have to cut it"
Just my experience in creating pasture out of crap ground. Hope it can help.
Feed the animals, animals fertilize, hay reseeds and adds organic matter to hold moisture in the ground, and the cycle continues. Let them eat then feed hay.
If you rotate them, cut it after they move on the the next pasture. Old neighbor told me his life lesson.... "if you want grass to grow, you have to cut it"
Just my experience in creating pasture out of crap ground. Hope it can help.
Thanks for sharing! This helps a lot!
I will definitely start doing this as I move them around!
farmerjan
Well-known member
If it is that tall and grown up from not being grazed in a year or 2, mowing will improve the rate the earthworms can incorporate the residual back into the ground making topsoil...and open up the canopy for things like clover and such to sprout also.
The more you cut your grass, the more it grows if it gets some moisture.... and if you cut the weeds before they go to seed, then the grass gets a fighting chance...
Don't "make them" eat down to the dirt, but don't give them hay if there is decent growth.... @mwj has good advice... watch their condition... and rotating will do more for the ground than anything in the long run. If it gets dry, if there is not enough moisture to keep the grass "growing" then supplement with hay as @4hfarms suggested... moving where you feed so it can enrich the soil and spread some seed if there is any in it. But they are a grazing animal... they need to rustle their own grub....
The more you cut your grass, the more it grows if it gets some moisture.... and if you cut the weeds before they go to seed, then the grass gets a fighting chance...
Don't "make them" eat down to the dirt, but don't give them hay if there is decent growth.... @mwj has good advice... watch their condition... and rotating will do more for the ground than anything in the long run. If it gets dry, if there is not enough moisture to keep the grass "growing" then supplement with hay as @4hfarms suggested... moving where you feed so it can enrich the soil and spread some seed if there is any in it. But they are a grazing animal... they need to rustle their own grub....
