Spring Greenup

[mab_va]

Is the grass growing in your area yet? Im in VA (Shenandoah valley) and nothings moving yet but we have a week of 70 degrees coming up. By the end of it Im thinking some of the cool season grass will be waking up.

Also, if you rotate how do you handle the transition from stockpile to fresh spring pasture? I set stocked all through the spring last year from greenup to late april and it beat up the pasture real bad. I think I only got about 50% of the grass that place couldve grown because every time a blade stuck its head up it got ate. THis year I want to let it get a little bit taller before turning them loose.

 

[kenny thomas]

Once I think the grass is ready for the cows to be turned out I just keep feeding for another 5-10 days according to the weather. I can keep them in 10 acre pastures until I am really ready to start grazing.

 

[littletom]

Its still cold but it is starting to grow. Last couple days cows really been walking and picking.

 

[mab_va]

Once I think the grass is ready for the cows to be turned out I just keep feeding for another 5-10 days according to the weather. I can keep them in 10 acre pastures until I am really ready to start grazing.

Kenny how tall do you let it get before they get turned out?

 

[ez14]

my grass isn`t growing but my snow is

 

[dun]

We turn them into a smallish pasture (we call it the calving pasture) that has been stockpiled and left to sit until march in most years. We put out hay that they will pick at until the stockpiled stuff is eaten down to the new green. They will then start hitting the hay more frequently. Once I'm seeing mostly a green sheen in the other pastures we will start rotating them through them. They'll eat the dried up stockpiled stuff and eat it down to the new green. We move them often so that don;t hit the green to hard. By the time we've rotated them through all of the old stockpile the new stuff is ready to graze and rotate. Trying to explain how or when we do it is hard to do. It's kind of a "eye of the herdsman" of deal.

 

[Ebenezer]

Still strip grazing stockpiled fescue/legume mix and will until mid March or later. Already greening up in the last 2 weeks but the pass through rate is lower (not low) on the stockpiled forages. So the turn out to open regrowth will be after that and only because the stockpiled forages are gone. Had/having a wet winter. That and last fall's lime application has the legumes hopping. Trying to top seed a few other spots that seemed to need a little more white clover and will finish up in less than 2 weeks. If you need any robins, just let me know!

 

[TexasBred]

Beginning to get quite a bit of green in the pasture and the cows are chasing it. Probably burning off more energy than they're getting from it with the high water content and no fertilizer yet.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

-20* F here the other morning and still 2-4 feet of snow on the ground. Hopefully be greened up by Mid May UP here in the north country.

 

[dun]

-20* F here the other morning and still 2-4 feet of snow on the ground. Hopefully be greened up by Mid May UP here in the north country.

And people live there by choice? Or what evil do you have to do to be sentenced to live there?

 

[Boot Jack Bulls]

-20* F here the other morning and still 2-4 feet of snow on the ground. Hopefully be greened up by Mid May UP here in the north country.

And people live there by choice? Or what evil do you have to do to be sentenced to live there?

Dun, it is called insanity! We are quite a bit south of the UP, but we still don't see green grass till May. And then, just when you think it is really getting nice out, you get 2 inches of snow in the middle of May. The UP gets tons of snow, partly due to the lake affect phenomenon. We start picking up trash, sweeping the lawns, grading driveways, etc. the middle of April. Makes you wish the dang dogs would do the business elsewhere!

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

And people live there by choice? Or what evil do you have to do to be sentenced to live there?

Don't mind the cold and snow. Would much rather that than hot and humid weather. Once the temps hit 80* or so I shut down and barely function. Luckily we only get a hand full of days like that UP here.

Last I heard we've had 220 inches (that's over 18 feet) of snowfall this season.

 

[True Grit Farms]

Hopefully the coastal Bermuda is not up yet. I'm planning on putting 2qts of Roundup per acre on it tomorrow.

 

[dun]

Last I heard we've had 220 inches (that's over 18 feet) of snowfall this season.

That's why dad moved the family from duck creek wi to seattle. He said you don;t have to shovel rain

 

[kenny thomas]

Once I think the grass is ready for the cows to be turned out I just keep feeding for another 5-10 days according to the weather. I can keep them in 10 acre pastures until I am really ready to start grazing.

Kenny how tall do you let it get before they get turned out?

I let it get 4-6 if I can but the weather plays a lot in the decision. If you let it get 6" is a real rainy spring it might get big and tough before you catch up with it. I still keep some hay out with them until they quit eating it.

 

[Nesikep]

I can not imagine having to deal with 18 feet of snow a year... I have a friend who lives in such a place.. every day has to go clear the driveway etc, he can have a frost any month of the year. Not for me... We MAYBE get a total 12" snow a year, with record years getting to 24".
Current temps are light frosts at night, 50's and 60's in the day time depending on if there's sun.

The cows are going through the motions of grazing, they're desperate for it, but to say the grass is growing would be a lie... Some trees have swelling buds, I did find some buttercups at low elevations.

 

[dun]

It's kind of funny that this winter the hen bit didn;t bloom at all but now the bluets are starting to bloom and the cone flowers have sprouted.Naked ladys are up about a foot and the jonquils are almost done blooming.

 

[Nesikep]

The narcissus are coming up here, tulips as well, though it'll be a little bit before we see flowers on them, Figure the Apricot and Cherry trees are going to flower real early and get hit with frost, or there won't be a bee around to polinate... They always seem to flower during a week of miserable wind.

 

[dun]

The narcissus are coming up here, tulips as well, though it'll be a little bit before we see flowers on them, Figure the Apricot and Cherry trees are going to flower real early and get hit with frost, or there won't be a bee around to polinate... They always seem to flower during a week of miserable wind.

Here it isn't unusual to get snow or at least a killing frost at easter.

 

[Nesikep]

Old wives tale here is don't put anything out before victoria day (May 25th).. It just happens to also be when I turn out the bull and put the cows on grass, though I might push that forward by 5 days this year.. I habitually have too much grass too fast and it gets old and stops growing, and I could stand to move calving forward a couple days.
While it's possible for us to get frosts into May, it's pretty unlikely. Last year we were hitting 95F in May.. No chance of frost there