farmerjan
Herd Master
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2016
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- Location
- Shenandoah Valley Virginia
I like the idea of the hay ground. One thing that we do. Cut off first cutting, then you can take electric and divide up the hay ground for later pasture instead of cutting again....extend your grazing season, let the animals work for you... not you always working for the animals. The hay that we just got done making...the 2 "top fields" that I was talking about... used to be cut off for first cutting. Then it was allowed to grow. When we moved the cattle in to the adjoining pasture after hunting season, for winter grazing.... we kept the 2 hay fields fenced off until they had worked on the pasture pretty hard. Then we would let them in the top fields... and the hay from the very top field we had set along the edges of the field, on all the ledge and rocks.... and they could self feed on the hay once the grazing in that hay field got down. Saved us alot of "hay feeding" by having that 2nd growth "hay" not made into hay but available for grazing. With little snow cover, they could get a fair amount of grazing until mid - Feb..... then we would lock them out before any chance of soft muddy ground that they would tear up the grass.... and fed hay in the lower pasture part. Cows would get moved out in June, calves weaned off, and the hay made up there in the hay fields, then allowed to grow.... and the pasture could grow for the summer until we moved the cattle back after Thanksgiving.
If you only have the 3 animals, divide up the 5 acres into 2 lots, and rotate them back and forth..... about 3 weeks or more at a time.... using the grass as a guide. They will actually get more grazing out of it because they will not be eating their favorite grass down to the roots and leaving the rest to get tall and stemmy. They will eat more of it overall, then when they go into the next side, it will all be at a more "vegetative" state.... in other words, it will all be more tender to eat. Sometimes we will go through and bush hog a pasture if they have not gotten it all eaten down enough, to knock down the more mature... and tougher.... growth.
If you only have the 3 animals, divide up the 5 acres into 2 lots, and rotate them back and forth..... about 3 weeks or more at a time.... using the grass as a guide. They will actually get more grazing out of it because they will not be eating their favorite grass down to the roots and leaving the rest to get tall and stemmy. They will eat more of it overall, then when they go into the next side, it will all be at a more "vegetative" state.... in other words, it will all be more tender to eat. Sometimes we will go through and bush hog a pasture if they have not gotten it all eaten down enough, to knock down the more mature... and tougher.... growth.
that's a tough one!
