la4angus":pbysdm01 said:
I believe we have had more fun with this than anything recently. Also gives us an opportunity to see some of the others pets, cattle and scenes at the different farms and ranches.
Bill what is the distance between the pastures? The fence looks like about 18 to 20 ft apart.
On our 23 acres of intensive stock management we have 10 pen and sub-pasture areas ranging between about 1/4 to 7 acres--separate pens for sorting, calving, foaling, new arrival holding, etc. We have about 1/2 mile of 14' wide alleyways. All pens are accessible by an alleyway to facilitate feeding and observation. Bulls are separated from other bulls and cows we don't want bred by an alleyway. Including our corral, we have 60 gates so we can move any animal(s) from one place to another without mixing with non-target animal(s) down our alleyways. Every pen, pasture area, has its own stock tank. All pasture areas and specialty pens have their own loafing shed (exception: small temporary holding pens). Horses are separate from cattle; however some of their areas are across the fence from cattle. We have 1.5 miles of perimeter and cross fencing (including alleyway fencing). Fencing is 7 barb wire, 5.5' tall. Major sub-pasture areas each have either an Applegate Steel (red) or Tartar Gate (blue) round bale feeder (horse & horned cattle type) for Longhorns. Horses are fed small square flakes of alfalfa in hanging feeders.
We have about 5 acres of sub-pasture and pen areas that we irrigate and fertilize. Nearby alleyways are also irrigated and are used for additional grazing to keep grass mowed.
Our 23 acres are extremely small by ranching standards. However, for our foundation stock breeding program it works quite well and is management efficient, allowing us to easily selectively breed with our bulls and manage heifer and bull calves properly (as well as pregnant females).
This was a little long of a response; however, may be of some help to people.
Bill