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
#1 and the stuck calf
Apparently, cows can be too small to give birth. #1 was born in September of 2021. At 2 1/2 years old, she should be able to have a calf, so I had her breed with the neighbor’s bull back in April of 2023. The bull isn’t a big bull, and quite small in fact, which… Continue reading #1 and the stuck calf
#10 Retained Placenta
#10 gave birth on January 30th, 2024 to a beautiful bull #27. This was our 3rd calf of 2024. Mother and baby were all healthy. After a few days, I noticed that she hadn’t passed her placenta or afterbirth. This is a fairly rare condition called retained placenta. By day 4, I knew something had… Continue reading #10 Retained Placenta
#29 is Born
#29 is a beautiful pure brown/red heifer calf. The mother is #19, probably the 2nd fattest cow through 2023. The sire is my neighbor’s Beefmaster.
Playing Hide-and-Seek with the Calves
Newborn calves are hidden in the brush by their mamas. This is a way to protect them from predators. Unfortunately, this means that when you move the cows, you may be leaving behind calves. The mamas will go back to try and get them, so make sure they can access the previous area. If you… Continue reading Playing Hide-and-Seek with the Calves
2023 Year in Review
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 Plans and Goals
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
3 New Calves
We had 3 new calves recently. I had hoped to have the calves born in March by keeping the bulls off until June, but my neighbor’s bull jumped the fence in mid April and so here we are. The sires are all my neighbor’s Beefmaster, who was 3 years old at the time. The weather… Continue reading 3 New Calves
A diagram of grazing practices
https://usaregenalliance.org/regenerative-grazing They have a picture at the bottom of the page that shows what happens to the roots when you graze the grass. From this, we learn this principle: My principles (as of November of 2023) are the following:
Wednesday Evening, April 5th, 2023
68 F with a breeze from the north that is cold and dry. I’m told that yearling ewes typically only have 1 lamb, while older ewes will have 2. The dogs chase a chicken back to the coop but they are too aggressive so I have to stop them. I bring them back to the… Continue reading Wednesday Evening, April 5th, 2023