water troughs for rotating

[jallen]

My grass is struggling right now. I'm currently giving about 1 3/4 acre and leaving them on it 48 hours. I'm setting my tape up to be semi permanent so not moving daily right now. I'm leaving each section up with each move so I don't have to waste time moving tape. As I get enough posts and poly tape up I will half up my sections for daily moves. We need rain in a bad way. My grass I just moved to this morning is 3-4 inches at best and not that high in spots. If we will get some rain it should take off again. It was doing well a few weeks ago then it quit raining and it's slowed the growth big time. I hope to be able to go to smaller blocks by the end of the summer but moving more than once daily is not an option for me. I work an hour from home so once a day is a chore in itself.

The best bet for me may be to give them a lane to the pond. I want to move daily and that may bent best option. This will take time to figure out that's for sure.

Now your talkin. The water bill won't be that bad if you do water them with city water.
More importantly ......why are you giving 16 hd plus calves an acre a day with daily moves? I've got one group of 70 cows that i'm only giving an acre a day now that the grass is comin on. I'm doing that acre with 2 to 3 daily moves.
At the very most I wouldn't give yours over a half acre a day and probably more like a 1/4 acre/day if you have decent grass.
I know the argument...... moving them around every 21 or 22 days will keep the grass vegetative and all that. Unless you plan on mowing it every week or two its going to head out.....regardless. That's the whole nature of a plant....to reproduce.....so why not let it?
Short rotations....3 to 4 weeks will work in the summer, if you don't mind feeding hay all winter. Short rotations will keep ur grass short and will almost assuredly make sure you have no grass this winter......assuming you have cool season grasses like fescue and orchardgrass or even ryegrass.
The major benefit to IRG is saving money buy not feeding as much hay in the winter.

 

[jallen]

I'm not trying to keep the grass from heading out or anything of the sort. It's simply that my grass sucks right now. I'm planning to gradually make my blocks smaller as the grass allows. It is just taking some time to get to that point. Hopefully the forecast holds and we get some rain today.

The best bet for me may be to give them a lane to the pond. I want to move daily and that may bent best option. This will take time to figure out that's for sure.

Now your talkin. The water bill won't be that bad if you do water them with city water.
More importantly ......why are you giving 16 hd plus calves an acre a day with daily moves? I've got one group of 70 cows that i'm only giving an acre a day now that the grass is comin on. I'm doing that acre with 2 to 3 daily moves.
At the very most I wouldn't give yours over a half acre a day and probably more like a 1/4 acre/day if you have decent grass.
I know the argument...... moving them around every 21 or 22 days will keep the grass vegetative and all that. Unless you plan on mowing it every week or two its going to head out.....regardless. That's the whole nature of a plant....to reproduce.....so why not let it?
Short rotations....3 to 4 weeks will work in the summer, if you don't mind feeding hay all winter. Short rotations will keep ur grass short and will almost assuredly make sure you have no grass this winter......assuming you have cool season grasses like fescue and orchardgrass or even ryegrass.
The major benefit to IRG is saving money buy not feeding as much hay in the winter.

 

[Banjo]

Being dry is a bummer it truly is. Fertilize plants ought to give a money back guarantee if you don't get adequate rainfall to go with it......Yea right.
If its any consolation, the drier it is the denser(nutritionally) your grass will be. As the summer progresses into the fall, the brix content of your grass should increase a lot. Good luck

 

[kilroy60]

Quick question. I've started using water tanks on another farm that I am now running cows on. No creeks or ponds. My question is, how often do you clean the tanks? Never had to use tanks and want to makes sure that I don't let tanks get to dirty.

 

[dun]

When I empty it to move it.

 

[jedstivers]

Quick question. I've started using water tanks on another farm that I am now running cows on. No creeks or ponds. My question is, how often do you clean the tanks? Never had to use tanks and want to makes sure that I don't let tanks get to dirty.

Never, how often you clean the pond or creek?

 

[LRTX1]

I put a hand full of goldfish in one when my daughter was 2. Give her something to see/do. They stay around for a while and keep it somewhat clean. Last one died a few weeks back when the electric went out. Doubt I'll add more unless the little one wants too.