started grazing this weekend

[Deleted]

I moved my bulls and steers to their summer grazing this weekend. About 2 weeks later than normal for us. It has been an awfully dry spring here but it was the cold that slowed the grass. We were still getting some morning frost just a week ago. 
I hope to move our Colorado group next weekend to our other farm. I dont know when I will get the females from our other herd moved. I still have some more fence to put in.

[genebo]

What a difference between our farms! We have grass so tall and lush that we're searching for another cow or two to help eat it.

We cut, raked and baled two of our neighbor's fields and have three more to go. We got enough small, lighweight square bales to fill all the downstairs storage and have some left to sell. About 300 35#-40# bales, total.

Once again, we sold all our extra bales to a man who needs it to get by. He picks them up out of the field so I don't have to handle them. Then he helps me stack mine in the storage area. He pays me $1 per bale, which pays for the cost of baling it. I had 200 bales left from last year's hay. I should have let the man take them, too, but I hate to let it go once I haul it home and stack it. I'll feed it up during the summer drought. No Dexters will go hungry around here.

This spring the fields are very heavy with clover. The bloat blocks are out. It takes a little extra time to cure the hay with clover in it, but the cattle love it!

Mike, you should move your females here to fatten them up!

[lakeportfarms]

We are still two weeks from grazing. The leaves are just barely starting to show now!

Most of the past two weeks the wind has been out of the North or Northeast, off Lake Huron. I would drive to a suburb of Detroit (away from the lake) and it would be 70 degrees. By the time I got back to the farm my car said 41 degrees.

[Deleted]

nice try gene. We do have to make it out that way but it is to bring back another load not take them out.
We don't even think about hay here until June. Sometimes the end of May but if it is ready then it is usually to wet.

[Deleted]

everyone is now on grass except a couple of bulls I kept back for breeding. I do have 6 adult with calves plus a yearling heifer Still at my house. They only have about 2 pasture acres that are not wooded or dry lot so if we stop getting rain I will have to pull them back to dry lot. If I dont get my fences finished in the next month or so.

[lakeportfarms]

We had a couple of warm days this past weekend, and the grass just exploded with growth. We had been having highs in the lower 40's for several weeks with a wind off of the lake, but the pattern changed and the winds switched from the South. It actually caught us by surprise so we scrambled to get everything down and ready to put in. We have 5 groups to move, and we got one done Saturday, three on Sunday, and the last one I set up this morning. The first group was happy, but groups 2-5 were making one heck of a racket when they saw the first group on the grass. We would show up in the morning expecting that one would find a weakness in the fence and the rest would exploit it, and we'd have cows everywhere. Fortunately it didn't happen.

I hope we all have ideal conditions to grow lots of grass this grazing season!

[jamshundred]

I saw the photos of that forage!  My cows would think they died and went to heaven if they had a gate open on such a scene!

[lakeportfarms]

Thank you Judy. We have worked really hard in an effort to improve our pastures. We have a lot of areas still yet to work on, and I can see another 10-15 years before they are all in this kind of condition. This was one of the worst areas that we had 4-5 years ago. We normally wouldn't have been able to graze this until mid June at best, and even then the grass was sparse. So this area got a lot of attention, and a lot of winter feeding took place on it to to try to build soil quality. It has worked better than I could have imagined. Because our snow has been so deep in the past couple of years for such an extended period of time, I had difficulty spreading out over a larger area though.

You won't be seeing any photos of our winter sacrifice areas though! LOL.....As soon as I can, I'm going to disc and till those sections and get in an annual rye that they will hopefully be able to graze later in the year before winter comes once again.

[Deleted]

I will try and get a picture when I move mine. The dexters disappearing as they walk into the grass.

[Deleted]

was able to get a picture of our Colorado goup when I moved them last night. They are on top of a hill where it is a little shorter or you would not see them at all. When I was cleaning grass off of the electric fence just over this hill in a bit of valley. The grass was over my head and I am 6' 3". Do you see the dun cow just beyond this group. She is our biggest cow. You can just see her shadow in the grass.

[lonecowhand]

Where's Walda?

That's some nice graze there, Mike. They don't need to move! Good to see that Colorado bunch in an excellent situation.

Is this in a rotational field? That looks like a wire in the foreground.

Bill

[Deleted]

that wire is permanent it was set up before we had this property and then I subdivide with poly wire. This was an overgrazed horse pasture when we bought it. I have done nothing but graze it properly and cut out some rose bushes. In about 1 week it will all be eaten slashed trampled and they will move on to the next piece. It is very hard to walk though this before the cows are on it. You can not see any ground just grass that gives way when you step on it and very easy to get tangled up in the grass.  

[wvdexters]

Wow! How beautiful.

[genebo]

I like the mix of red clover in it. I'll bet they love it!

[lakeportfarms]

Very nice Mike. It's actually a bit too long, but this time of year it's really hard to keep up with the grass! Have them stomp it down really good before you pull them off.