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<blockquote data-quote="Warren Allison" data-source="post: 1848900" data-attributes="member: 40587"><p>Excellent post. I agree 100%. We can cut our bermuda hay fields 4 times a year , and have done 5 when the rains hit just right, But, I test and re-fertilize after each cutting. Spend a LOT of money on fertilizer for these fields, but we don't roll it to feed cows. We square bale it for horses, and sell it for a LOT of money. Happy if I break even, and sometimes I even make a dollar or two. Now the pastures with fescue and bermuda mixed, with legumes like clover in it? If not over grazed,.. and especially if not grazed year round, you need very little fertilizer compared to my hay fields...mostly just lime. Maybe some ammonia nitrate in the spring right before the growth starts. </p><p></p><p>Lots of people around here will cut and bale their fescue pastures, but I won't. Like you said, baling it just removes nutrients that can only be replaced with expensive fertilizer. Before the west was settled, the great plains were some of the most fertile soil there was, and the prairie grass was highly nutritious, But the great bison herds were constantly on the move....constantly migrating. They'd graze an area, say as they migrated north, deposit the nutrients back in manure, then move on, coming back around to it in about 6 months or so as they migrated south. That would be the way to do it, if it was economically feasible, Down here, where you can run 1 pair to the acre year round, IF you could afford to buy 600 acres, ( at $25k to $50k per acre) cut it into 12 pastures, and just run 50 head, moving them once a month.... you could restore the land and never deplete it, and put the fertilizer companies out of business. But who could afford that? Cheaper to run 500 head on it, spend a ton on fertilizer and feed and minerals, etc. And that is what people do. Sad, but that is just the way it is.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Warren Allison, post: 1848900, member: 40587"] Excellent post. I agree 100%. We can cut our bermuda hay fields 4 times a year , and have done 5 when the rains hit just right, But, I test and re-fertilize after each cutting. Spend a LOT of money on fertilizer for these fields, but we don't roll it to feed cows. We square bale it for horses, and sell it for a LOT of money. Happy if I break even, and sometimes I even make a dollar or two. Now the pastures with fescue and bermuda mixed, with legumes like clover in it? If not over grazed,.. and especially if not grazed year round, you need very little fertilizer compared to my hay fields...mostly just lime. Maybe some ammonia nitrate in the spring right before the growth starts. Lots of people around here will cut and bale their fescue pastures, but I won't. Like you said, baling it just removes nutrients that can only be replaced with expensive fertilizer. Before the west was settled, the great plains were some of the most fertile soil there was, and the prairie grass was highly nutritious, But the great bison herds were constantly on the move....constantly migrating. They'd graze an area, say as they migrated north, deposit the nutrients back in manure, then move on, coming back around to it in about 6 months or so as they migrated south. That would be the way to do it, if it was economically feasible, Down here, where you can run 1 pair to the acre year round, IF you could afford to buy 600 acres, ( at $25k to $50k per acre) cut it into 12 pastures, and just run 50 head, moving them once a month.... you could restore the land and never deplete it, and put the fertilizer companies out of business. But who could afford that? Cheaper to run 500 head on it, spend a ton on fertilizer and feed and minerals, etc. And that is what people do. Sad, but that is just the way it is. [/QUOTE]
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