Rotational Grazing

So this year we are moving to stockers this fall. This spring we have only 400 or so stockers and a few hundered cull cows in two different groups at the goat ranch. We are going for maximum gain since we will be selling everything in 30 days or so and then not restocking until next February...so the grass will have plenty of time for regrowth. To get maximum gain, we are rotating the stockers thru large pastures every three days. The grass at the goat ranch this year is awful. It's better than the neighbors, but the undergrowth is only 4-5 inches tall. Two years ago when I mob grazed the stockers, I could barely drive the four wheeler thru the grass. We had at least 12 inches of undergrowth. I went back and looked at pictures from 2009 when we mob grazed and the grass we had was unreal. Although we mob grazed the cows last year, I don't think we did nearly as good a job as we did in 2009. I'm excited to go back to mob grazing a group of stockers. Our grass production was at least 50-60% better.

Very Good Article...

I found this article to be very interesting...anyone in agriculture should spend the time to read it. As we continue to use crop land for the production of energy instead of the production of food, and as China continues to demand more and more resources, commodity prices will continue to increase. Now would be a good time to execute long term leases on the land that you are leasing.

This is why I'm so disappointed about our conception rate

This article explains that BCS at calving is the key to rebreed rates. And I know our cattle were in good shape at calving and didn't lose much condition between calving and rebreed.

Stocker gains on E+ fescue/legume pastures

When I ran stockers a few years ago I fed 3 lbs per head per day of pelleted ddg all spring and summer. The stockers gained 1.6 lbs per day. I am really hoping that we can get 1.5-1.6 lbs adg on stockpiled forage and spring growth without ddg supplement(Feb 15-July 15) because ddg prices are sky high and feeding it really takes a lot of profit out of the calves. I think we will try it this year and keep our fingers crossed. I plan on having ddg on hand and feed it as the calves manure dictates, but I'm hoping that is seldom if ever. Interestingly, there is a ton of info on the internet about stocker gains on fescue and fescue/legume pastures, unfortunately results range from under a pound to 2.5# adg....hardly anything to rely on. If the stockers only gain a pound a day, we'll likely lose a chunk of money, but I think it's a chance worth taking. I feel a little like the degenerate gambler who's lost the past 10 hands but who's now thinking "I'm due!"

Spring has sprung

The grass is really starting to green up at the ranch. I'd say we have an inch or two of new growth and with a nice rain a few days ago and 75 degree sunny weather today and tomorrow, I'm hoping the grass really starts to pop. We are pretty much out of stockpiled forage and so will now begin the very frustrating task of "chasing grass". With only a few hundred head of our calves and a few hundred cows at the ranch now, the grass should handily out pace them. We hope to have everything off by July and stockpile forage until bringing stockers in in Dec-Jan. I have to say I'm pretty happy with the grass at the ranch. It looks a little better than the neighbors and I'm confident that it will quickly out pace any other pasture in the area...at least that's what I'm hoping. I was going to take some pics, but there just wasn't anything very compelling to show.

Our calves are framey and not overly fleshy so should do very well on the spring flush. The biggest concern is the high protein in this early grass/legumes that produces the sheet-cake manure...I don't think the calves do very well when that rumen is clearly out of sorts. I've discussed with Hal (at length) the possibility of keeping stockpile all the way up into May so that the cattle are never eating that new growth fescue/clover that creates issues. I also hate chasing grass...I know that when the grass is only 3-6 inches tall, a single bite takes it down to the ground and that is NOT what any grazier wants to see. To run on stockpiled forage up into May will require a lot of management, and most likely push our stocker purchase back into late Jan or even Feb. We would like to keep the stockers for 150 days. If we want to run on stockpile until May 1, then we would turn cattle in 75 days prior to May 1 (Feb 15) and pull out 75 days after (July 15). I am very concerned about water quality if we keep the calves into July, but have decided that if we make 150, 10 acre pastures (about what we have done in the past), we could move twice a day and hopefully be able to get to fresh water at least twice a day. I think this is very workable. I will go through my calculations in a future post of how we are going to determine our stocking rate.

Preg checked the cows and worked the calves

I think I'm starting to understand why this blog is popular with people: everyone reads this and instantly feels much better about their own operation. So we preg checked the cows at the goat ranch last week and we got a 55% conception rate (for a 75 day breeding window). We've never had a number that bad and of course a logical person would blame the mob grazing. Maybe I'm just blind to the obvious, but I'm not ready to do that. We calve in May and June which means we breed in August and September. This past summer was record hot and Hal and I think that it had a significant effect on our bulls and to a lesser extent our cows. The cows were in pretty good shape (BCS=5) at calving and we know that is by far the most important factor in getting them rebred. I just don't understand how the mob grazing could have had much of an impact. Anyway, I'm extremely disappointed and will now be selling off nearly half of our cows in a few months (we're going to hold them for 60-90 days to try to get them bred before we sell them). I think the future is extremely bright for cow/calf producers, but I have to admit I'm looking forward to running stockers.

News flash...

Grazing of pasture can improve soil quality and grass yield We've landed on the moon!

Also wanted to include a link to my new company...in case any of you are looking for atv or utv wheels for your four wheelers.