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Here’s May 1st, 2023: At the time I was doing a 21-day rotation (3 weeks) so the cows were getting a lot of ground and not eating much grass at all. I had only 5 sheep at this time, two ewes, a ram, and a ram and ewe lamb. All of them are purebred St.… Continue reading May 1st

Goatweed, as it is commonly known in my area, is also known as hogwort, dovewood or woolly croton. It’s scientific name is Croton capitatus. You can find lots of resources about where it lives and how it thrives. In short, goatweed starts growing in June, and will cover your field in July, August and September.… Continue reading What to do about goatweed

A friend asked me about buying some cows to raise to weight and slaughter. They have never raised cows before, but they have lived in rural areas their whole life, and they know plenty of people who have just done that. My own grandpa used to do this every year. He’d buy a calf, run… Continue reading Advice on cows for the non-farmer

If you’re rotationally grazing, maybe moving the cows every week or perhaps even the extreme of twice a day, you might get discouraged when you see all your hard work is turning into weeds. Of course we are not going to consider things that kill the soil: herbicides, fertilizer, and tilling. These are things that… Continue reading What to do about weeds in your pasture

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