hurleyjd
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Cattle - Kerr Center
kerrcenter.com
A lot of good information from the Kerr Fondation.
Sustainable Agriculture?
- Thread starter Logan52
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kerrcenter.com
A lot of good information from the Kerr Fondation.
greybeard
Well-known member
I doubt running a tractor with a mower (even a big batwing) across a pasture once a year or every other year as you said, would have any real negative effect.
Travlr
Well-known member
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Where are you at? You should put a state on your profile.
On the place in Arkansas I tried to keep my cows between 11/1200 pounds, but in SD heavier cows wintered better so 1400 or more wasn't unusual. The reason I got higher weaning weights is because I avoided using heifers, so I had no reason to use easy calving bulls. In SD I sold replacement heifers bred to easy calving bulls from my older cows but I never bred those older cows to easy calving bulls or kept any heifers for replacements. As for breed... I've always been partial to Limousine. But to me the big criteria is that they produce consistent looking calves. Lots of different breeds will produce calves that look identical with the right bull.
Where are you at? You should put a state on your profile.
I'm not a fan of shredding at all. I know fescue people say they have to do it and that different deal. Around here right now people are shredding away.
This is my deal. Two things happen with shredding that I see. One, you have so much excess grass you shred it and it leaves it every where. You get a thatch which hurts the whole system.
If you are not getting a build up of grass after shredding, you didn't cut enough to hurt the new grass coming in. I think people mistake pretty, with good.
If the grass is so thick it's stunting new grass it needs to be burned off, not shredded. That's how you convert the old grass in to some thing useful for the soil in the upcoming growing seasons.
This is my deal. Two things happen with shredding that I see. One, you have so much excess grass you shred it and it leaves it every where. You get a thatch which hurts the whole system.
If you are not getting a build up of grass after shredding, you didn't cut enough to hurt the new grass coming in. I think people mistake pretty, with good.
If the grass is so thick it's stunting new grass it needs to be burned off, not shredded. That's how you convert the old grass in to some thing useful for the soil in the upcoming growing seasons.
I'm not saying it's like that every where so don't jump down my throat. 
I have let enough grass stand though to know the new grass takes over and the cows eat or stomp the old stuff down. It doesn't have to be shredded for the new grass to come in. If the is any loss it's so tiny that it doesn't justify running the equipment.
I have let enough grass stand though to know the new grass takes over and the cows eat or stomp the old stuff down. It doesn't have to be shredded for the new grass to come in. If the is any loss it's so tiny that it doesn't justify running the equipment.
50/50Farms
Well-known member
Opposite effect, cyclical cutting and grazing can improve forage nutrition.
crossbreed
Well-known member
I'm in north central Texas. Been going at this for around 10 years now. I roll out my hay, drag pastures to spread the manure and raise my own hay. Goal is to increase capacity in lbs but not sure that means head or size.
50/50Farms
Well-known member
For most intents and purposes, smaller brood cows are more economical, provided your environment will take them.
Dave
Well-known member
I have irrigation and rocks. When I first moved here I was advised not to plow anything. One local guy who leased this place 30 years ago said part of his lease said no plowing was allowed. When I rebuilt the corral I dug a couple post holes by hand. I quickly learned why not to plow. I dug the rest of the holes with a mini excavator. I found rocks that wouldn't fit in a 20 inch bucket. I have irrigation but I am certainly glad it is flood irrigation with lots of free water available. Because this rock patch drinks a lot of water.
I burn my Bermuda hay fields every February, and by the end of Feb or the 1st of March, when I start seeing green, I put out the 24d. And do the same with most pastures when it is feasible.
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50/50Farms
Well-known member
I'm in talks with a buddy who does CBs about what it would take to burn off some of our wooded river bottom land, as it used to produce tons of native grasses in all of the spaces where the canopy is more open, and we're going to be cutting the undercanopy growth but the leaf and debris litter is still too thick to allow for much herbaceous growth. I'm talking so thick you couldn't even sneak up on a tree for all the noise underfoot.
We have the same issue with post oak trees on the prairie. They are invasive and take over the native grasses. Their leaves and littler choke the grass out.
Burning through them thins out the litter and gets a bunch of trees because they are usually hollow any way. Down side is, it's one of the more risky burns because you have yo have low humidity to burn that litter.
It definitely a burn I would prefer having a pasture of black down wind from to be safe.
Some people zap them out. You will have grass quick but you can barely get though the pasture because of all the dead trees. Then you have to come through and use the grass to burn the downed trees.
Burning through them thins out the litter and gets a bunch of trees because they are usually hollow any way. Down side is, it's one of the more risky burns because you have yo have low humidity to burn that litter.
It definitely a burn I would prefer having a pasture of black down wind from to be safe.
Some people zap them out. You will have grass quick but you can barely get though the pasture because of all the dead trees. Then you have to come through and use the grass to burn the downed trees.
If we don't spray for weeds here in a few years you'll have nothing but weeds. Some type of western ragweed got in a few of my pastures and killed out 50% of the grass before we got it under control. Goat weeds and cuckleburs will take over and block out the sunlight too. I bought 70 acres that hadn't had anything done to it in at least 30 yrs. One guy did run a few Longhorns on it but they were about to starve. We cleared the overgrowth, built new fence, mowed it a few times, and sprayed. After a few years the grass is coming back. It's got some type of native water grass on it that I can't figure out how to kill off yet. We also ran the aerator which seemed to help with water absorbtion.
Bob Kinford
Well-known member
What most people don't realize is the difference between what our grasses are now, and how they were 150 years ago, or just how fast they have degraded over the last 60 years, let alone any idea that it is all reversible. To give you an idea, there are a lot of places here in far west Texas which were actually used as hay meadows up into the 1950s. It isn't all that unusual to be gathering cattle on severely depleted land and discovering old horse drawn hay equipment.
Bob Kinford
Well-known member
The first thing everyone needs to do is drop the term "invasive plants" from their vocabulary. What you call an invasion of any plant is nothing more than plant succession which is totally dependent on soil fertility. Weeds and woody plants are a sign you're losing soil fertility. Graze and/or farm in ways which improve the (biological) fertility of the soil and plant succession will reverse itself and your desirable grasses will return.
Bob Kinford
Well-known member
No might about it. If you do it right, you'll increase your forage base while lowering purchased inputs. Its a little more complicated than simply moving your cattle everyday. You have to be flexible enough in your grazing plan to make changes to take advantage of grazing opportunities or avoid grazing other places when conditions aren't favorable. Rather than using extra fencing I use stockmanship to reboot herd instinct so the cattle graze together as a herd and keep moving. Works best in big desert country, but can also be done on irrigated ground.
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Regenerate pastures utilizing natural herd and migratory instincts of cattle.rather than fences and daily moves. Grazing schools and consulting available to help manage infrastructure costs and development. Work smarter, not harder!
Travlr
Well-known member
I had a 60(?) acre pasture that was becoming infested with wild rhubarb (?), the plant spreading in the low lying area every year. Before it got out of control, maybe ten acres at the time, I would go down in the early morning with a shovel and manually cut or pull the plants before they could go to seed. I spent a couple of months over a couple of years doing that, and eventually there weren't any of those weeds. I've done something similar with cocklebur, Russian thistle, goat heads, and a few other weeds that I find, and getting them early before they spread stops them. I've also seen people ignore single plants in the middle of their fields and after a few years they have to plan a chemical war to get rid of them. I keep a shovel around, in my truck, to deal with weeds specifically before they get a chance to spread. In fact, me getting out of my vehicle and getting my fingers in the soil helps me know what is going on with it.
It ain't rocket science. If you don't let them go to seed they don't come back... and I find it easier to be proactive than to wait until I have to buy chemicals and the equipment to apply them.
crossbreed
Well-known member
That's most of what I read, then I get on here and read about folks with Herefords, limo, char, with great pics and those cows aren't small.
50/50Farms
Well-known member
Always read location tag and consider the type of operation. For those up north and for those raising certain blooded stock, this may well not be the case. As well, some environments necessitate certain breeds regardless of size. At any rate, most herfs are on the smaller end of cattle, and there's smaller chars out there too.
All the research and studies I have read say most profitable size for cows in intermountain west is around 1200 lbs.
