Well we worked on the egg mobile for a bit today and finally got all the framing done by this evening. You don't realize how hard that old steel gets over the years. Now that all the framing is up, putting all the tin on should go pretty fast. Should, but you know how that goes.
We got to get a little bit of the tin on before night time so after seeing it coming together, I think it may actually work. We live right off the highway so we want to get a mural painted on the side for farm fresh eggs. It will be like having a 24' billboard moving around.
The cows are doing amazing. There is a tremendous difference in moving them 2-3 times a day vs 1 like we were usually doing it. They are wiping it clean, weeds and all, in a matter of about 6 hrs per 3/4 acre. It will be interesting to see how the grasses recover with the amounts of urea and manure that are being put into each paddock.
The paddock on the right will get 30-40 days of rest before the cows rotate around to it again.
Tomorrows grassI thought we might get a bit of a small shower to end the day but that too passed. It was very pretty though I thought.
I get to be a fireman tomorrow so the farm chores will have to be done by Aunt Debbie and my amazing wife. What a pair they are.
9 comments:
I can't believe how hard those cows hit that grass in one day! I'm really looking forward to seeing how that same pasture recovers after 30-40 days rest.
Beautiful pic of the sky down there in Texas. We had a very large orange moon here tonight.
Ron
Ultra High Density Grazing is pretty interesting stuff, from your experience, do you think it is better suited to introduced grasses like Bermuda that are able to respond to the increased fertilization and ground disturbance? Personally, I have wondered how native prairie grasses would respond to UHDG, supposedly native grasslands can be restored with UHDG and much longer rest periods, have you noticed any positive response to UHDG by any native grasses?
How are you handling your hay needs?
How are the hogs impacting the pastures? Are you using them more for clearing "rougher" areas of your pastures with a slower rotation/higher density stocking rate, or are they being quickly rotated on a lower density stocking rate?
Sorry for all the questions, but I find your combination of grazing cattle with UHDG, and rotational grazing hogs particularly interesting.
Rich,
Right now, I fall more into the lower end of the high density grazing. I currently run about 50,000#'s per acre where in Ultra High Density grazing, they get in the 500,000#-1,000,000# per acre. In relativity, those guys typically have hundreds if not thousands of acres where as we have about 100 grazable we rotate on.
I don't plant anything but what is pretty much native to our area. I believe whatever grows in the bar ditches, needs to be on my place because it comes back year after year with little to no inputs. This year we did plant more native bermuda and crabgrass which seems to be responding great with the dense grazing. The Bahaia and johnson grass is doing great but I hope that once our PH adjusts, we can cause most of the bahaia to leave. It has very low nutritional value in the summer. However, other natives like KR Bluestem, brownseed, and prairie grasses take a bit longer.
I went to a conference on restoring your native grasses and he said that you should only rotate on them twice a year. We can't do that so we do enjoy having bermuda and other species to help.
We hope to not have to feed much hay this winter. My goal is only 4 weeks worth. Since we will be irrigated, I hope that we will be able to get an early start on our cool season grasses . I really hope to be hay free within the next 2 years.
My hogs are on 10 acres by themselves. I rotate the cows through there to manage grasses but the hogs rotate slowly. I try to let them tear the pad they are in up pretty good and then go in and smooth it out. Right now we don't have a huge amount of hogs right now so it is a slow process. The good things about hogs is that the cows don't mind eating the grass that is around their manure.
Hope this answers some questions but I am so new and still learning there is probably so many answers I don't have. Thanks for reading.
how is it that you divide your paddocks again? is that electric tape? glad to see you are back blogging.
Karl,
I use a 9 strand poly rope on reels. It works really great for any interior fencing because you can set them up exactly how you want them.
Hey Jason,
Hate to agree to disagree but i know i have the best stay at home wife/mom. You know how hard i am to get along with. So you must see it from my side. JJ. Love ya brother, Ken.
A great little blog and a nice read, thanks.
Thank you thank you from thousands of us who could never do what you are doing but are thankful that you are helping restore Gods green earth the way it was intended.
May God bless the work of your hands as you continue to work honestly and ethically in perserving both land and beast.
Found your blog looking up Yonder Way Farm from a news report! We are city folk who love all natural, organic, raw, whatever is wholesome.
great blog, thx
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