2024 is going to be, hopefully, our biggest year yet.
Stocking Rate
Cattle
- I expect 24 calves this year, of which half should be heifers.
- I will keep 2 or 3 bulls, and get rid of the rest, either through the sale barn or harvesting. These bulls will be used for breeding.
- I may keep 2 steer for testing purposes. Both will be harvested in 3 years. One will be grain-finished 3 months before harvest and the other totally grass-finished. Both will be neutered in March of 2025 at 1 year old.
- I will keep all of the heifers, assuming they are all healthy.
- I will bring the bulls on in July. This should give me calves in mid-March. In order to prevent the neighbor’s bull from jumping the fence, I won’t graze near the fence from the months of April to July. That will be my stockpile.
Sheep
- I expect 5 lambs this year, hopefully in March. I will keep all of them. The rams will be harvested in September for myself. I will keep the two older rams back as breeding stock.
- I won’t try to time the rams on the ewes or anything like that. It’s just too difficult to keep them separated.
- I expect at least 2 more ewes, bringing the total up to 5.
- If I can I will purchase a flock. My goal is to eventually have 300 ewes. At the current rate, that won’t happen until 2028 or so (assuming 1.7 lamb rate and 50% are ewes.)
- I may have to purchase a sheepdog if the training doesn’t work for the dogs. If so, I need to get rid of the puppies.
Poultry
- I don’t plan on buying chickens this year. Probably a few layers for our family, that’s it.
- I plan on letting the ducks breed and letting them raise their young. I don’t plan on buying any ducks or geese.
Grazing Patterns
The big changeup this year is the use of stockpiles. Stockpiles are 1/3 of the land set aside for a season to provide plenty of forage from the transition from one season to the next.
Rotations of the cows will be twice daily. The bulls and sheep will move probably every 3 days in a separate herd. The total time for a rotation won’t be less than 21 days, and will probably average closer to 30 or 40 days.
The focus will be on leaving plenty of grass behind. That is, if the animals graze an area and it looks like the grass has been eaten too close to the ground, then I have overgrazed.
The neighbor’s back 20 acres is for emergency use only, when all the grass is gone and grazing isn’t possible. If I have used up all of the grass in the back 20 and there still isn’t grass, then I will feed hay in an area I rotate through every 3 weeks or so, to minimize the impact on the field.
Inputs
This year I intend only to buy the following inputs:
- Hay, about 80 round bales. (Estimate $50/bale = $4,000)
- Protein supplement for when the cattle are on hay in the winter. ($1,200)
- Minerals as needed. ($200)
- Snacks and treat, such as sweet feed and cattle cubes, for training. ($200)
- Dog food. ($2,000)
- Chicken and duck feed. ($1,000)
New Equipment or Major Investments
- A bale unroller ($3,500)
- A high-tensile fence and water line in the middle of the field ($3,000?)
- Possibly a used tractor for moving hay ($???)
- Possibly a used trailer ($???)