Reseeding hay, cutting, raking, baling for first timers!!

[farmerjan]

If the milking machine is not pulsating then it will never milk them right. There has to be an ebb and flow just like you hand milking. It has to squeeze then release. Most cow milkers do the front, then the back, alternating which is squeezed and which is released. If it is making the teats hard or purple then the vaccuum is too strong.

Make sure you get the timing on the sq baler adjusted right or you will ruin the plunger and the knives inside. It has to be done by someone that knows what they are doing. We do not even try to do our own timing on our sq baler, we get it done by someone who knows our brand. Also make sure the knotters are adjusted correctly or they won't tie the strings. And make sure you get the correct twine for it. It has to use a heavier twine than the round balers, and if it is an older baler, you have to use sisal twine, not plastic. I think we run the 9000 in ours???? and the 16,000 in the round baler, maybe. I would have to look at the package that the bales come in. I always recheck them in the spring so I will remember which one to bring to the field if he calls me to bring twine, and I know which baler he is running. You cannot interchange the different twines .

If you are stopping then starting all over again, you are disrupting the flow of oxytocin in the bloodstream and the goats will never milk out right. Once you wash and prep, and start, you need to finish the milking. Not start, then stop then restart all over again. It will take at least a 20 -30 minute wait in between to get the body to release more oxytocin. That is why sometimes people give shots to cows because they don't let down the milk and a shot of oxy will cause them to let it down. I think that the milking machine is just not working right or you aren't familiar enough to know how to use it as it is designed. I know little or nothing about a goat milker.

 

[farmerjan]

I get the idea of making a little so that the animals are not a financial drain, and so you can put a little aside to justify a building project or an animal purchase. I just think that making a small amount of hay is going to be more expensive and time consuming than buying it. Unless you do it the way I did my first hay..... cut with a horse drawn sickle mower, pulled behind the pickup, and then raked with a horse drawn rake into piles then forked on the truck then forked into the haymow in the barn..... very "HANDS ON"..... I was a little bit younger then.... HAHA

 

[Baymule]

If you already have a good pasture of mixed grasses and forbs, count yourself blessed. The more grass species, the better because they have different root depths, thus different nutrients. A monoculture, one species, is not a healthy pasture.

Look at this way, say your favorite vegetable is broccoli. Now say that’s all you get, every single meal, every single day, day in, day out, forever. You will be missing the nutrients from a wide variety of vegetables not to mention a boring diet. How healthy will you be on a diet of broccoli only?

Something else to remember is the animals physicalogical needs. Sheep are grazers, goats are browsers. Sheep eat from the shoulder down, goats eat from the shoulder up. That said, Sheep will browse up, but are happy to graze when they have eaten up the browse. Goats will graze, but are happier and healthier on browse. Many of what we consider weeds are actually wonderful plants full of nutrients. Lambs quarters in its young stage is 40% protein. My sheep go crazy for it.

Maybe you could buy young livestock in the spring, graze that rich grass, sell in the fall and not have to winter them over.

 

[Beekissed]

If you already have a good pasture of mixed grasses and forbs, count yourself blessed. The more grass species, the better because they have different root depths, thus different nutrients. A monoculture, one species, is not a healthy pasture.

Look at this way, say your favorite vegetable is broccoli. Now say that’s all you get, every single meal, every single day, day in, day out, forever. You will be missing the nutrients from a wide variety of vegetables not to mention a boring diet. How healthy will you be on a diet of broccoli only?

Something else to remember is the animals physicalogical needs. Sheep are grazers, goats are browsers. Sheep eat from the shoulder down, goats eat from the shoulder up. That said, Sheep will browse up, but are happy to graze when they have eaten up the browse. Goats will graze, but are happier and healthier on browse. Many of what we consider weeds are actually wonderful plants full of nutrients. Lambs quarters in its young stage is 40% protein. My sheep go crazy for it.

Maybe you could buy young livestock in the spring, graze that rich grass, sell in the fall and not have to winter them over.

Words of wisdom!!! A grazing/browsing animal is healthiest when doing what they were designed to do....moving, grazing, browsing, moving to new stuff, eating it and moving onward. Makes the grass/browse healthier, the soils healthier and that affects the bottom line favorably.