Opinions?

[dun]

http://flyinghgenetics.com/newsletter/2 ... letter.pdf

 

[Angus Cowman]

opinion on the forage system or the bulls ? I learned several yrs ago that fertilizing in the spring wasn't as productive as in the late summer or early fall only thing I fertilize in the spring is hayfields after the first cutting and I put straight nitrogen on then apply all the p & k in the fall but now since I use litter I just put a little N on a few fields in late may early June it helps me get 3 cuttings of grass
on the bulls I have heard of a few guys using them with good results personally I can't comment

 

[dun]

opinion on the forage system or the bulls ? I learned several yrs ago that fertilizing in the spring wasn't as productive as in the late summer or early fall only thing I fertilize in the spring is hayfields after the first cutting and I put straight nitrogen on then apply all the p & k in the fall but now since I use litter I just put a little N on a few fields in late may early June it helps me get 3 cuttings of grass
on the bulls I have heard of a few guys using them with good results personally I can't comment

Opinions on waiting till the grass is past prime so that they generate more manure.

 

[Jogeephus]

This seems like a loaded question to me. Seems if you let it get past its prime they may eat more and create more manure but if the feed is crappy then the ferilizer coming out the rear end of the cow will be of poorer quality. So what are you striving for? A higher quality fertilizer or just a bunch of mediocre dung? Personally, I don't know for sure but I think the rule about crap in will yield crap out should hold true for this as well.

 

[Angus Cowman]

I would rather have less manure at a higher quality than more at a lessor quality but that is my opinion for what it is worth

 

[dun]

The whole concept just didn;t make sense to me. Since most of the NPK eaten goes back into thr soil as fertilizer it just didn;t make sense to me.

 

[novatech]

The guy leaves out to many important elements as to grass management. Many of us fertilize in the spring because that is when weather conditions are right to make the best use of it. Yes there will be more grass with a given number of cattle but that is or should be controlled either by haying or the addition of stockers. I have seen others hold over pastures until growing conditions are poor and utilize poorer quality mature grass as standing forage when the other pastures have been grazed down. I have even mowed down some over mature grass in order to keep it fresh. The cuttings go back into the soil. Fertilizing when this guy suggests would generally be a big waste of fertilizer for me in my weather pattern.
As far as the manure goes, I am only concerned with the nutrition my cattle are getting. This is done with the manure splat test. The bigger the splat the better the grass, the better the manure.

 

[Jogeephus]

I read the whole thing this morning and was kept waiting on some spill about a miracle fertilizer but found it to be bulls instead. Based on the heading, credit is given to a livestock specialist but I seriously doubt he actually wrote this paper. I suspect they took notes and misunderstood what he was saying cause there are several more things that go against some laws of nature and I'm sure he knows better - unless of course his daddy is the governor of Missouri and this is a gimme job.

The icing on the cake is this testimonial at the end. I think it speaks volumes and maybe has some redeeming qualities for the fella they say wrote this.

Dan Moran writted

I purchased a Blancer bull for my heifers and
was extremely satisfied that he held his body
condition all summer.

I do think I'll get me one of the Blancer bulls too cause I know how hard it is to keep cattle up during the summer months with all that green grass and all.

 

[SRBeef]

IF you notice on the first page it does say "tongue in cheek...."

I put the waiting for grass to get over mature for more manure about in the same category as managing for more ragweed.

I think they are just trying to stimulate some thought here. Thanks for the post.

 

[Jogeephus]

IF you notice on the first page it does say "tongue in cheek...."

I put the waiting for grass to get over mature for more manure about in the same category as managing for more ragweed.

I think they are just trying to stimulate some thought here. Thanks for the post.

Reminds me of the April 2007 edition of Discover Magazine where they had an article about putting a big fan in Los Angeles to blow the smog out of the city and cool it some due to global warming. Many subsribers thought it hilarious many didn't.