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An early morning stroll…
…but with a purpose. This part of the herd has finished strip grazing the East pasture and is moving to fresh grass in the West pasture. This is not the entire herd…just the mamas with their steer and heifer calves. At about eight months we move the bull-calf pairs to an auxiliary field. An important thing to note is how well-behaved our Devon are. Church is taking this picture and they come at his whistle…no shouting, or whips or dogs. Of course the cows know there’s ice cream at the end of this trail, and though there’s pretty good grass where they’re walking, they want to do as Church asks.…
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It’s official…
…Spring is here! We know because the interior portable electric fencing has gone up and our cows have begun their strip grazing. From now through the first of the year the main herd will be allocated about an acre of pasture at a time. To tide them over the summer slump when grass nutrition value declines, we’ve seeded in a heavy stand of clover…three types of clover…including a red and white variety we’re experimenting with and a New Zealand white clover we’re used before. So far this year we’ve been blessed with favorable growing conditions. The clover had plenty of time to establish before the grasses came on. David
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Caution…grass at work…
…it may look like resting and that’s what graziers call it…but this grass is hard at work! The trick in grazing isn’t how much grass the cows eat…but how much they leave. Ideally we like them to bite off about a third…and trample a third…and leave the rest for regrowth. That’s what’s happening here. The cows have left…we’ve topped off the weeds and seed heads…and now the roots which have died back to mirror the amount of leaf surface above ground…are regrouping. It’s that new growth which is most nutritious and the cows will be returned in 45 days for another pass across this pasture. Not only will there be…
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Happy new year…at last…
…the scene we wait all winter to see! The main Thistle Hill herd moving from the western to eastern pastures to begin strip grazing. Here temporary fencing already has been put in place. That will allocate roughly one acre paddocks per day. The confined space increases the trampling effect….the cows pointed toes grinding in some of the grass…the result is organic matter and food for the soil. This is the first pass over the eastern pasture…and if Mother Nature is good…there’ll be one and maybe two more. That’s Church…our manager/foreman…supervising the herd. Someone tell him he needs a haircut! (Inside family joke) David