Outwintering Area Update

[Stocker Steve]

We spent most of Feb/Mar/April feeding hay on the top half of a slope. A wet spring make it impassable until early June, when I pulled a spring tooth through it to harvest any twine we missed and break up the bigger clumps. Pushed it into windrows in late June. Hauled out most of the compost in August, spring toothed it again, and then drilled in an oats / radish mix. Oats looks great, radishes seem a bit retarded. Plan on corn next spring and then seeding it back down. I don't have a ripper...

I laid out a sacrifice lot with drive through gates and good access road and a calving barn - - but trashing a paddock per year and then caving on grass seems more practical. Does cow compaction go deeper than a moldboard? Any other compaction concerns or comments here?

 

[novatech]

Compaction depth would depend on the soil and the amount of moisture in it. One other thing, soil covered with organic material does not always compact. When it is wet the cattle push the organics into the soil and make is less compacted, or adobe bricks. Organics pushed into the soil will bring on microbial action and earth worms, if moisture is also present. Again it depends on the soil and moisture.