> andrew,
> i am as my name implies fairly
> ignorant about
> livestock,however,farming i know.
> injesting commercial fertilizer is
> not good on the digestive system
> of either humans or wildlife so i
> suspect it is not good for
> livestock as well. maybe you could
> fence off half of your
> grass,fertilize it and about 2
> weeks later fertilize the other
> half,after having moved your steer
> to the first half.one other thing
> i would like to suggest is that
> you use an airetor of some type
> before you fertilize.that is, some
> device to punch holes in the
> ground.some people do this with
> golf shoes while mowing the
> grass.obviously you would not want
> to do 4 acres with golf shoes, but
> many rental companies offer
> airetors of some type,even ag
> co-ops offer them for rent.the
> purpose is to put the fertilizer
> below the surface where it
> belongs.the last 2 #'s of the
> "12-12-12" represent
> nutrients that will not travel
> through the soil.they stay where
> you put them and putting them on
> top of the soil will not allow the
> grass's root system to utilize
> them. therfore they should be put
> "into" the ground.the
> most effective and least intrusive
> way to get those nurtients
> "into" the soil is to
> punch holes into the ground before
> fertilization.this will also keep
> the steers nose out of the
> fertilizer so he can't injest it.
> i hope this helps.
actually with 5 inches of grass the odds of the steer eating any small granules of fertilizer are pretty slim, I've fertilized in the same pastures my cows were in for 20 years or so now with no ill effects
