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Post by aoconnor on Aug 28, 2015 15:13:02 GMT
While we are very glad to finally get my bull home, I was not expecting to have 14 heifers accompany him! The acreage I had set aside for him now seems too small, and I will have to open up the rest of my grazing acreage to he and the girls. Problem is, I have 25 grazing horses, too that the cattle will have to integrate into... Will the cattle eat the less desirable grasses or just the good Bermuda? I have a lot of prairie grass grazing areas, hoping the cattle will prefer those into the late fall and break down some of the high grass areas we have. Mowing has been a joke here this summer, first because of one of the highest rain amounts in our local history, and second because the ferocious heat that came mid July and dried everything out to crackling in a matter of a week. Mowing creates too much dust, which causes coughing horses and my asthma to go crazy. So high grass in non-grazed areas is pretty bad.
We will be grazing them on about 190 acres. The rest of our ground is treed or homestead.
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Post by aoconnor on Aug 31, 2015 1:52:49 GMT
Cattle arrived today, happily grazing my top acreage for a while, then we will release them onto the rest. We got a good rain yesterday, now I'm not as concerned about the grass:-)
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Post by Awnry Abe on Sept 1, 2015 2:25:03 GMT
One good rain can change your attitude right around. The cows will graze the fresh, young grass and skip over the older, thicker grass. And you will think there will be plenty of thick grass for them, but they will continue to eat that fresh stuff right to the ground like indoor carpet when there is a thick grassy clump right next to it. In my neck of the woods, 15 head of cows and 25 horses would not keep up with 190 acres. I would need to mow behind to knock those clumps of ignored grass down. Fast rotations through densely stocked paddocks helps avoid the clumps, but at a certain point the grass overwhelms.
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Post by aoconnor on Sept 1, 2015 2:40:22 GMT
One good rain can change your attitude right around. The cows will graze the fresh, young grass and skip over the older, thicker grass. And you will think there will be plenty of thick grass for them, but they will continue to eat that fresh stuff right to the ground like indoor carpet when there is a thick grassy clump right next to it. In my neck of the woods, 15 head of cows and 25 horses would not keep up with 190 acres. I would need to mow behind to knock those clumps of ignored grass down. Fast rotations through densely stocked paddocks helps avoid the clumps, but at a certain point the grass overwhelms. Thank you Abe, I feel better about my situation today as we only received 11 heifers with our bull. That won't overwhelm my ground as fast as I thought, but I am rotating the whole group every few days to play it safe. We had 7 weeks with no rain, and where we live that is a bad deal. Our decent grass that came up in the spring and early summer is burnt to a crisp, but we did get that rain Saturday so hopefully it will help a little in reviving some underlying grasses. I think I am ready for cooler fall weather and a little moisture again. Summer wasn't long, but it got very hot a dry and did a number on my stock tanks and pastures after several weeks of that. I will be mowing behind as much as I can to keep it leveled off some. I'm hoping to have winter wheat in by the end of September, then I can rest some and just pray for rain. |
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Post by Awnry Abe on Sept 1, 2015 11:29:08 GMT
We have been without rain since sometime in July. It has rained all around here, but missed us. My next paddock has had .5 inch rain since the last grazing. Sooo.....
I am not going to mow any grass again until I get rain. And probably only to top off weeds if that. I do have 2 real clumpy pastures that need a lower mowing .
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Post by aoconnor on Sept 13, 2015 12:34:38 GMT
And...here's Norman and some of the girls.... He is bigger than this pic makes him look, but you get the idea....  Some of the girls...  He he has already taught the heifers where the food is kept...  |
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Sept 13, 2015 16:55:56 GMT
He is a handsome fellow - and I love the name.  |
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Post by aoconnor on Sept 13, 2015 22:24:52 GMT
He is a handsome fellow - and I love the name. We stole his name from the movie "City Slickers". The red calf that Billy Crystal brought home from his cattle drive he went on:-). My Norman was also a lone calf whose mom left, so he stayed here when the rest of the cows went to auction....4 years ago. Norm is still very gentle, as long as there are no heifers in heat I can still move around him some. I am always very vigilant though, I don't push at all, I give him a lot of respect and room!! |
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Post by shellymay on Sept 14, 2015 0:00:42 GMT
I think he looks great |
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Sept 14, 2015 2:46:59 GMT
He is a handsome fellow - and I love the name. We stole his name from the movie "City Slickers". The red calf that Billy Crystal brought home from his cattle drive he went on:-). My Norman was also a lone calf whose mom left, so he stayed here when the rest of the cows went to auction....4 years ago. Norm is still very gentle, as long as there are no heifers in heat I can still move around him some. I am always very vigilant though, I don't push at all, I give him a lot of respect and room!! I THOUGHT that was a City Slickers reference.  We had a Milking Shorthorn bull when I was a teen...Mark was the most gentle, lovable bull I've ever been around. I am always careful around bulls, but I swear, I could have hopped on his back and taken him for a ride, he was so gentle. He was mellow with people, and even gentle with his ladies. I think he's a big part of why I really like the Milking Shorthorn breed. |
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Post by aoconnor on Sept 14, 2015 12:25:11 GMT
Yes, Norm is super gentle as well. I can walk up and fly spray him with my horse fly spray. He will eat out of our hands, and he likes a good bath now and then. But I don't do anything at all with him if he is near the heifers, I never know for sure who is in heat, Norm gets protective with those girls. He comes up to the feed room each day when I am feeding my horses, the only way I will do anything with him when the heifers are there is if I put cattle cubes out and he is busy eating. Otherwise he shakes his head at me a little, and I know body language!!! Stay away from that shaking head!!!
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Sept 14, 2015 17:29:00 GMT
Yes, beware the shaking head! Very accurate indicator, isn't it? Although we always bred for good temperament in bulls, I've been around a few nasty ones, too.
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