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I took 2 of my 3 bulls to market at Emory on April 6th, 2024. I couldn’t take the 3rd because I couldn’t get them all in the trailer. The older bull, Blue’s calf, originally #16 (but the tag came out of his ear) was born on June 30th, 2022 and was 21 months old.… Continue reading I sold 2 bulls

I’m doing my taxes and so I am double-checking all of my accounts. I thought it would be interesting to share my water bill for my land, which is used to water the cows, sheep, dogs, chickens, etc… For the most part, I spend a lot less buying water for my field than my home.… Continue reading Water Bill

I was intrigued by some yellow flies crawling on a fresh cow patty. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them before. Thanks to a blog post, I think I found out what they are: Yellow Dung Flies or scathophaga stercoraria. The flies reproduce on fresh cow patties and lay their eggs. They don’t bother the… Continue reading Yellow Dung Fly

The dogs and the sheep are crossing the wire. It turns out that 4 wires worked, but 2 wires are not enough. I think the problem is there is too much of a gap between the middle wire and the ground. The dogs are able to crouch and get through easily. The solution for the… Continue reading Double wire is not enough

In one part of my field, the northeast corner near the pen where I keep my chickens, the grass is already a dense, thick green with some stalks over a foot tall, and it’s only February 14th. I don’t know why exactly this particular area is doing so well, but I can’t help but think… Continue reading Good grass growth already

Given the warm weather, and the lack of a forecast for cold weather anytime soon, it looks like we are in spring. The grass agrees. I am seeing good grass growth all around my field. In the stockpile (the northern 1/3 of my field) the grass is growing quite rapidly. Now that we have some… Continue reading Early Spring 2024 Rotation Plans

I’ll try to add notes to this post as I update the year in review. For now, this is what I think happened:

2024 is going to be, hopefully, our biggest year yet. Stocking Rate Cattle Sheep Poultry 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… Continue reading 2024 Plans and Goals