Stockman Grass Farmer paper

[Andrew]

Does anyone have an opinion on the Stockman Grass Farmer? I been a subscriber for about 7 months and like the reading but some of it seems a bit hard to believe. They place a huge emphasis on grass fed cattle and how to get away from grain, bailing hay and so forth. They make everything seem quite simplistic (or so it seems) and when I've tried some of the advise such as leaving standing hay, it hasn't worked very well.
I like the publication as such but since I'm relatively new to cattle I would like to hear from more experienced cattle people.
I especially thought a recent article about range pigs living on cow manure was way too weird.

Anyway, I would appreciate any comments...

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[houstoncutter]

Andrew I have taken the paper for at least 10 years. Having said that I dont know if I will renew next year. For the last 2 or 3 years we have nothing but articles about grass fed beef. Previous to that is was very well rounded, with articles on a lot of subjects. Back then it was help on growing a forage the the cheapest way possible. Then you put the type of animal on there that was going to give you the most return. I must say that I miss the cutting edge information that you used to gleen from the paper. Now its turned into a mouthpiece for linebred beef, all so you can get a animal that can finish on grass and be tender... Thats great if you have that type of niche market to sell to. Of course if you sell in the real world the packers likes long bodied big butted animals, thats something you wont find in the pure grassfed genitics ;-)

 

[dun]

A couple of years ago I got a free introductory copy.
They had an article by a guy that claimed his Herefords were so prepotent that his bulls would put orns on calves out of Angus cows. Another article about the Buelingo breed by a guy that didn't even have the genetic makeup of the breed correct.
I figured any publication that didn't check the accuracies of their articles any closer then that wasn't anything I needed.

dun

 

[Andrew]

I see you guys's point. I thought it was just me.
I'll have to keep on reading since I already paid for a full year but will scrutinize the material closer.

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[houstoncutter]

Andrew if you live north of Dallas the stockpile grass idea might work, but if you in a area that rains a lot in the winter it doesnt seem to work very well. I tried it one year here on the coastline of Texas and it worked great, but it was a unusually dry winter.

 

[dun]

Andrew if you live north of Dallas the stockpile grass idea might work, but if you in a area that rains a lot in the winter it doesnt seem to work very well. I tried it one year here on the coastline of Texas and it worked great, but it was a unusually dry winter.

Why wouldn't work if it's wet? Does it keep growing too fast?

dun

 

[Andrew]

My pasture is over by Italy, TX South of Dallas and between Corsicana and Hillsboro.
Its seems to rain a lot according to weather.com

What happens is that there is about 2~4 inches of water accumulated just about everywhere in my pasture except the very high parts. It has been that way for the last 2 months. Any standing hay in the lower areas is sitting in water. What's so amazing is that my pasture sits at the top of the area's elevation. Some places that are lower are submerged at times.

Andrew

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

I guess I'm with houstoncutter on this. In our area most winters we will typically get very frequent, heavy rains and we have mostly black gumbo-type soils. These soils are MUCH slower to dry out than, say in the Texas hill country or elsewhere where sandier or rockier conditions prevail. Difficult to keep stockpiled forage from essentially rotting and/or being trampled into the mud. More difficult for absentee owners to manage in these conditions than it is for folks that live on the place and that may be able to frequently herd the cattle into a "sacrifice" hay feeding pasture or lot.

 

[houstoncutter]

Couldnt have said it better, Ziffle. I have ryegrass that I have yet to turn the cows in on. Of course I may be forced to soon, because at the rate I am going now I will run out of hay.