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Summer camp…
…for our two-year old heifers. They’ll eventually be bred here at Slainte Farm and return home to calve. For now it’s a welcome break in their routine and fresh grass! And btw congratulations to our partners Mary and Mike on their recent marriage! David
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Off to summer camp…
…go eight Thistle Hill yearling heifers. Once again Mary Perrine and Don Ferro have volunteered their adjoining pastures. It’s a lovely setting at the base of Cobbler mountain and the girls and we appreciate the hospitality. The two farms get lawnmowers and entertainment for the grandchildren and the heifers get loving care and civilizing and are well away from the bulls. David
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The spring green-up…
…is well underway at Thistle Hill! And Nala seems appreciative of the work we’ve done to improve the pastures. The over-seeding we did a year ago has really taken hold. Perennial rye and and cereal rye and several clovers have all thickened our sward significantly. Not apparent but a big contributing factor we feel certain was the conditioning of the soil with the work of turnips, radish and cow peas. The cover in the area pictured here was very thin and the soil quite sandy. Our hope is that continued rotational grazing and the addition of more cover crops will put this pasture on a par with our very best.…
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Solving the problem…Pt 2…
…well it’s a band-aid anyway. The numbers are in on using our own trees to make-up for the shortage of board fencing at the local coop. Thanx to a neighbor with a portable sawmill we were able to turn six trees…oak, walnut and cherry into high grade lumber. Garrett Heydt was the man with the saw and he did an excellent job. When finished we had 700 feet of oak boards and six 4”x6” twelve foot beams…just those beams paid for the fencing we won’t be needing not to mention the beautiful walnut and cherry we sawed into planks. The cherry in particular seemed to us to be furniture-grade. But…
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Grass is always greener—II
Just a quick add…pictures of the turnips we’re getting (with our hound) and the radishes. Add in the roots we left behind and you get an idea of the wonderful impact in the soil! David
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The grass is always greener…
…when you add cover crops! And for the first time that’s what we’ve done. Son-in-law Curt Humphreys and Coop manager Glenn Covington reviewed the results of the project this weekend…and pronounced themselves satisfied. Grandson Church had started the plan with Glen but he’s now off at Cornell Veterinary School. If you enlarge the picture you should be able to pick out turnip, radish, cow peas and the clover. Tougher to see but they are there are Cereal Rye and perennial rye. I never thought we’d get to the point where I’d think we’ve maxed on clover. Glenn is a little worried about possible bloat. We have pastures that were…
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A good omen…
…as a rainbow finds daughter Carolyn inspecting one of our newly-seeded pastures. It’s been 10 days since we seeded a cover crop of ryes, clovers, turnips, radishes and cow peas. It’s the cow peas clearly winning the germination race but if you look closely you can see the ryes breaking the surface. We let the cows graze the planned seeding areas lower than usual. Otherwise we did no special prep work but depending on a no-till drill to set the seeds. Our thanks to Glen Covingtin of the MarshAll Coop for consulting on our project. David
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Ladies in waiting…
…have been moved to the pasture closest to the house where we can keep an eye on them. It’s interesting that none of the cows in this picture is actually grazing…they’ve all adopted that far-off stare of cows waiting for birth. That event begins in just a few days! Keeping an eye on them has suddenly taken on added meaning. Two nearby farms have been struck by cattle rustlers and we’ve all gone on alert. With the number of expert marksmen on these farms, the rustlers are playing a dangerous game. Son Church, while standing in front of our house, once hit a fox 300 yards away running across this…
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Updating upgrading…
…our pastures. Four days after seeding with a mix of cover crops we see the first sign of success!! Young cow peas are the first to germinate…can the turnips and radishes be far behind? David
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Upgrading some pastures…
…and using a no-till drill. In addition to clover, which we often spread, this year we’re mixing in perennial rye, cereal rye, turnips, radishes and cow peas. We’re doing several pastures hoping to extend the natural grazing season. Not only should it mean extra nourishment for mama and calf in the winter slump but some of these plants put down very deep roots. The theory is that will loosen the compacted soil and bring more minerals closer to the surface to feed the plants. It also should help capture rain water, limiting the effects of drought. As they say on television…”only time will tell”! David