Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Latestarter]

Yeah... pretty soon I'm going to have to deal with fence lines. Non-committal as to exactly how I'm going to deal with it... Most of mine are going to need some serious clean up, but I think I'm going to do cross fencing to form pastures before worrying about fixing the entire perimeter. I'll hit the perimeter as I do each pasture as it applies.

 

[Mike CHS]

Joe - We are putting in Goat & Sheep woven wire around the perimeter but I plan on using the electric netting from Premier to break it down into paddocks. I don't want to do much cross fencing until I know I've gotten control of the thistle and milk weed that was the primary vegetation when we bought the place. The first time I cut the fields the milkweed and thistle were both in bloom - the honey bees were so thick in there that I could here them buzzing above the diesel engine noise.

I have rented the 300 gallon sprayer from the CO-OP a few times and have it down to the point that we can use the 25 gallon tank on a 3 point hitch carrier rack to spot spray.

 

[OneFineAcre]

I didn't spray enough round up this year
Things kind of got away from me if you know what I mean
Everything is kind of overgrown

 

[Mike CHS]

I do know what you mean. That's why I spent the full day playing catch up yesterday. Five inches of rain a week kind of makes it hard to keep up.

 

[farmerjan]

Yeah... pretty soon I'm going to have to deal with fence lines. Non-committal as to exactly how I'm going to deal with it... Most of mine are going to need some serious clean up, but I think I'm going to do cross fencing to form pastures before worrying about fixing the entire perimeter. I'll hit the perimeter as I do each pasture as it applies.

Okay, I have a different view. Perimeter is FIRST. Then I would use some electrified netting to subdivide until you really know where the best spots would be to cross fence. Plus you won't need so many gates, so many brace posts, etc and so on, easier to bushhog and do stuff in the fields if you aren't dealing with permanent fence. And if you divide it off and then find out that certain fields aren't the right shape or size or something, you've got alot of time and money already invested. If your animals are at all used to electric, use that and just move it as you need to give them fresh grazing til you get a feel for the land.
Also a tight perimeter will help to discourage the coyotes and then to hit an electric fence inside..., easier to get off a shot..... The electric netting fence like premier is expensive but will last for awhile and you can get a handle on the 'lay of the land'. Do permanent, say, down one side and across the back , in otherwords do 2 fences and then use the electric to come off them and then you will have a couple of different ways to move the electric and still use part of the permanent fence too. Won't be quite as costly up front and will give you a 90 degree angle to come off of. It's alot easier to do a straight fence line, or at least the boundaries will be fairly straight. Or do one roll of fence (either the 330 or 660 ft roll) and run the electric from that then do the next roll til you get to a corner then you will have some more area to graze. Also I would graze it HARD, like almost into the ground so that you can really see what you are dealing with and get the garbage plants bushhogged down as far as possible so they can't produce seed and it will weaken the woodier growth plants, although the goats like the brushier stuff and the sheep will eat more of the coarser plants than cattle.

 

[Mini Horses]

Sooooo, an enabler here -- promoting "multi species" graze

 

[Latestarter]

Well, she covered about all 3 bases I aim to cover I'd like to get a few steers for the front pasture where I can just leave them be and monitor their progress. Then the back pasture would be for sheep and goats. And once I get a bridge built across the stream and have access to the wooded portion, I'll move the goats back there and keep the sheep up where there's mostly grass. Who knows... I need a thousand acres so I'll have enough room to do everything I want to do. Oh, and the money that I'd need for that and to hire help.

 

[Latestarter]

I didn't spray enough round up this year
Things kind of got away from me if you know what I mean
Everything is kind of overgrown

Some would say the solution to that is more goats... Just a thought! Though you've got a pretty decent sized herd now. Maybe branch out to standard sized goats? A couple of Lamanchas and maybe a Nubian or two... just for pasture control mind you. If you're really open to the unusual, maybe an elephant... I hear they eat hundreds of pounds of grass a day.

 

[babsbag]

The first time I cut the fields the milkweed and thistle were both in bloom - the honey bees were so thick in there that I could here them buzzing above the diesel engine noise.

It is sad that you have to eradicate those plants; not only the bees but the Monarch butterflies need the milkweed and they are in danger too. But I know that the milkweed is poisonous for goats, not sure about other animals. We grow a lot of mustard out here and when I do weeding in the garden and other non-goat areas I leave the mustard, just for the bees. I have been meaning to plant some milk weed...

 

[OneFineAcre]

Some would say the solution to that is more goats... Just a thought! Though you've got a pretty decent sized herd now. Maybe branch out to standard sized goats? A couple of Lamanchas and maybe a Nubian or two... just for pasture control mind you. If you're really open to the unusual, maybe an elephant... I hear they eat hundreds of pounds of grass a day.

The pasture can be mowed
I've had to mow it several times over the summer
When it gets knee high and seeds out its not as palatable
We have discussed getting a steer or 2 from Maurines dad
To be honest I didn't anticipate how well the pasture has done
It's the fence lines and everything else around the house that's overgrown that I didn't stay on top off