When to bushhog the pasture.

[Campground Cattle]

You cant keep it vegitative with chemicals.

BS I haven't mowed a pasture in years the only grass I cut is for hay. I guess you don't use chemical fertilizer either.

I just used Grazon on 140 acres and roundup on 25 . I have just been in the business long enough to know that a little extra hard work pays dividends. The more often you clip the top off the grass the thicker it gets.You should try it. How well do the cows like the mature bermuda? What is the protein content on the mature bermuda versus the vegitative?

They love Bermuda and their all rolling fat. Don't even go their about hard work you don't know me well enough to start trading insults. We went from having a good heated discussion on raising grass in different regions of the country . What works well for you might not work for me doesn't mean I'm right and your wrong or vise versa. I wouldn't know diddle squat about raising grass in Mo. where Dun's at or in La. where LA4 is at. But if you want to make pasture out of the Big Thicket ( 1 cow per acre) I'm your man. Off to cut grass this morning 36 acres of hay. Have a nice day Ollie be safe.

 

[ollie]

You cant keep it vegitative with chemicals.

BS I haven't mowed a pasture in years the only grass I cut is for hay. I guess you don't use chemical fertilizer either.

I just used Grazon on 140 acres and roundup on 25 . I have just been in the business long enough to know that a little extra hard work pays dividends. The more often you clip the top off the grass the thicker it gets.You should try it. How well do the cows like the mature bermuda? What is the protein content on the mature bermuda versus the vegitative?

They love Bermuda and their all rolling fat. Don't even go their about hard work you don't know me well enough to start trading insults. We went from having a good heated discussion on raising grass in different
regions of the country . What works well for you might not work for me doesn't mean I'm right and your wrong or vise versa. I wouldn't know diddle squat about raising grass in Mo. where Dun's at or in La. where LA4 is at. But if you want to make pasture out of the Big Thicket ( 1 cow per acre) I'm your man. Off to cut grass this morning 36 acres of hay. Have a nice day Ollie be safe.

Campground ,You were the one calling my post BS and insinuating I was a greenie.

 

[Campground Cattle]

You cant keep it vegitative with chemicals.

BS I haven't mowed a pasture in years the only grass I cut is for hay. I guess you don't use chemical fertilizer either.

I just used Grazon on 140 acres and roundup on 25 . I have just been in the business long enough to know that a little extra hard work pays dividends. The more often you clip the top off the grass the thicker it gets.You should try it. How well do the cows like the mature bermuda? What is the protein content on the mature bermuda versus the vegitative?

They love Bermuda and their all rolling fat. Don't even go their about hard work you don't know me well enough to start trading insults. We went from having a good heated discussion on raising grass in different
regions of the country . What works well for you might not work for me doesn't mean I'm right and your wrong or vise versa. I wouldn't know diddle squat about raising grass in Mo. where Dun's at or in La. where LA4 is at. But if you want to make pasture out of the Big Thicket ( 1 cow per acre) I'm your man. Off to cut grass this morning 36 acres of hay. Have a nice day Ollie be safe.

Campground ,You were the one calling my post BS and insinuating I was a greenie.

Never called you a greenie but mowing is not the only to make pasture. You mow here and the weeds are back up before the tractor's back in the barn. It's an endless battle to try and make pasture mowing here in this subtropical rainforest. If you took offence my apoligies

 

[dun]

The picture is taken from about 20 feet above the closest cow and probably 50-60 feet above the furthest.

dun

 

[Campground Cattle]

Won't ever see grass like that here I'm jealous.

 

[dun]

After cutting 35 acres of hay we still have another 50 acres just like it. In other places you had hay fields and you had pasture, 2 different things. Here we hay the pastures if they're not to rough or have too many exposed rock tops to run a cutter and baler over.
Cows are milking like crazy and when we weighed them a couple of weeks ago they all ran around 200-300 lbs heavier then expected. Of course part of that was all the fat they put on over the winter grazing the stockpiled grass.
Now folks can see why I talk about mechanical pinkeye from seeds or getting their eyes poked by stems.

dun

Won't ever see grass like that here I'm jealous.

 

[Campground Cattle]

Dun I know you spent sometime down this way a little while back you never seen grass like that in this subtropical rainforest

 

[dun]

A lot has to do with the types of grass, also low stocking rates and high soil fertility. Our mainstay for pasture and hay is fescue and orchard grass. Alfalfa doesn't do all that well, but I'm comparing that to the desert where we would get 6-7 cuttings a year. Some of the WSG would probably get as tall, but there isn't much of that around here so I'm not sure. It's one of those things I've alwasy planned to do but just haven't found the time to get the required stuff done let alone something new. But now you can see why in some areas mowing/clipping pasture is a necessity.

dun

Dun I know you spent sometime down this way a little while back you never seen grass like that in this subtropical rainforest

 

[Campground Cattle]

A lot has to do with the types of grass, also low stocking rates and high soil fertility. Our mainstay for pasture and hay is fescue and orchard grass. Alfalfa doesn't do all that well, but I'm comparing that to the desert where we would get 6-7 cuttings a year. Some of the WSG would probably get as tall, but there isn't much of that around here so I'm not sure. It's one of those things I've alwasy planned to do but just haven't found the time to get the required stuff done let alone something new. But now you can see why in some areas mowing/clipping pasture is a necessity.

dun

Dun I know you spent sometime down this way a little while back you never seen grass like that in this subtropical rainforest

Totally agree that different areas require different management styles. We have very acidic soil that you really have to pour the fertilizer and lime to. We basically have two grasses common bermuda and bahia. I would kill for a field of coastal gave up on the hateful stuff, wore out a good disc sprigging over the years. Coastal just doesn't like these soggy bottoms. Spent a fortune on World Feeder Bermuda so did my neighbor this stuff is a hoax. The common bermuda out performs all the other grass. Not the best grass in the world but you grow what works. Our grass is very high water and low protien, you can't go west and buy a bull or cows and put on this grass they will scour in a heartbeat. Bottoms are so wet here I sometimes think I'm rice farming.

 

[hillbilly]

I just got done mowing a back feild that has a lot of thisles in it. If you don't mow or spray they will take over. Like Dun we have a glut of grass this time of year. If you knock the heads and stims off, the fescue will produce more leaves. My eyes are swol up bad need allergy med.
Should have been mowing hay today instead of brushoging but the weatherman scared me off.
I guess every area is different, some Texans have posted they can't understand mowing, around here its a must.

 

[dun]

In normal years, whatever that is, the grass isn't quite as strong as this year. When the stuff matures and the seed is about ripe I like to clip before I turn the cows in. I use the excuse that I want to reseed the pasture. It puts off having to get started mowing till we have a better handle on haying and fishing. In another week or so I'll be cutting a couple more of the pastures for hay. In the fields that I mowed on thursday I was surprised to see several inches of new growth when I raked it yesterday. I've found that if you clip it while it's this green that it lays a pretty heavy mat down and the grass doesn't come back as well in areas that matted. If you wait till it starts to dry, the stuff shatters better and doesn;t form as heavy a mat and the grass comes up more uniformly. When all you have to worry about is pollen the effect on the eyes isn't as bad. But when the seed starts to dry it really starts causing problems. Of course we've only been wrestling with this kind of growthy grass for the last 5 years. I've never seen anything like this in my previous experience. Most folks around here have grazed there pastures so bad over the years, don't fertilize or lime and the stuff is hardly even knee high. Heck, I have clover that's knee high.

dun

I just got done mowing a back feild that has a lot of thisles in it. If you don't mow or spray they will take over. Like Dun we have a glut of grass this time of year. If you knock the heads and stims off, the fescue will produce more leaves. My eyes are swol up bad need allergy med.
Should have been mowing hay today instead of brushoging but the weatherman scared me off.
I guess every area is different, some Texans have posted they can't understand mowing, around here its a must.

 

[Craig-TX]

The picture is taken from about 20 feet above the closest cow and probably 50-60 feet above the furthest.

dun

Dang. I was feeling pretty good after looking at grass all weekend and deciding we are in great shape if I do say so myself. After looking at that I'm feeling like an also ran. Oh well, cattle prices are the best I've ever seen in my whole entire put-together. At least we've all got that going for us.

Craig-TX

 

[Hawk]

I guess every area is different, some Texans have posted they can't understand mowing, around here its a must.

This discussion is just another good example of how many different ways there are to manage any livestock operation. This is one Texan who believes that mowing is an essential part of my forage management program. I do know a lot of good old ranchers that feel like Campground does about mowing, and that's fine for them. Personally, I get my soil tested every other year, apply lime and fertilizer in accordance with the soil test recommendations, spray for broadleaf weeds with Grazon P+D, spot treat for prickly pear cactus, and mow two or three times a year. My pastures are mostly coastal bremuda. One of my pet peeves is persimmon sprouts. The cows eat the persimmons and deposit the seeds all over the pasture. By this time of year the new persimmon plants are about knee high and easy to mow. If you let them go, they will quickly grow into tough saplings. I am a firm believer in the old saying that if you want to raise cattle, the first thing you have to be is a grass farmer.

 

[dun]

Exactly. Selling hay or beef, It's just different methods of marketing the same commodity - grass.

dun

I am a firm believer in the old saying that if you want to raise cattle, the first thing you have to be is a grass farmer.