Fertilizer ???

[Northern Rancher]

Rainie I think were on the same page-heaven forbid.

 

[cowzilla]

Cows harvesting and fertilizing in one pass :!: But who will save Shell Oil and Simplot from pending disaster :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Maple Leaf Angus]

Last winter was the first time that I fed hay on the snow. I did it until we got a big dump of snow in mid-winter and could no longer get into the field. Until then, I would unroll the bales on clean snow every day. Just cut off the net and use the loader to unroll them. The 4' wide swath would fit between the tires.

They hardly wasted a thing and in the spring, the field was covered in cow pies! The cows also slept on the snow where they had been eating. It saved a lot of work bedding and cleaning barns.

I would feed them mid -late afternoon because the body temp. spike generated by digestion is to keep them warmer at night.

rainie, do you buy hay to put out for bale grazing? My question is whether a piece of land can be fertilized sufficiently with manure alone without importing nutrients in some form, i.e. -fertilizer or hay which the cattle convert into fertilizer. I suppose it would depend somewhat on target stocking rates.

 

[Northern Rancher]

Do you get the Cattleman magazine Maple Leaf Angus-Don Campbell who writes the holistic column ranchers north of us on the river. They grow some great stands of grass on some pretty marginal land-they bale graze and use rotational grazing though-800 cows and all the yearlings-they forward graze the yearlings ahead of the cows.I doubt if ten percent of the ranchers up here use commercial fertilizer and somme run on pretty tough ground.

 

[George]

I test every field at least every two years and I don't go for top yields but go for top profits - - - -Purdue has a good short corse you can take ( three days) and this is one of the things they try to impress on you.

If you are trying to make top yields and have deep pockets they will show you the way - - - but if you are trying to feed your family and need top profits your management will be different than going for top yields in most cases.

Be very careful of the type of nitrogen you use for if you kill off all the earth worms and dung bettles you might get a spike in yield but you will pay foir it for years to come.

 

[rainie]

NR Now that is scary. MLA I think that a cow can provide all your fertilizer needs. We use to graze corn all winter on some pretty sandy land. After the 4th year I quit using fertilizer and we still had 8 foot high healthy corn, without the high fertilizer bill. We grew corn just using the cows fertilzer for the next 4 years until we put it back into hay. This same ground has been consistently putting out about 6 bales per acre since. If the hay yield starts to go down, I have no problem with bale grazing the cows on it for a winter to boost up the soil fertility. A cows fertility lasts for a long time. One speaker told us that 1 cow pie will maintain the phosphorous level within a 3 foot circle around it for 3 years. I still put up most of my own hay. We want to gradually quit putting up hay and buy it all in but we're not there yet. I'm starting to set out bales now for bale grazing this winter. A cow eats 3% of her bodyweight per day , so if you're thinking of doing this take an average of your cow weight, your number of cows, the bale weight, and then you'll know how many bales they eat per day. We've been giving them 3 days worth at a time. Set these bales up in rows. Leave about a 20 foot space between the bales. We use a flexible poly electric wire to keep the cows out of the rest of the bales until they're done eating . Straw is also set out along with the hay for bedding. We set out enough hay and straw to last them from Nov.1 to April 1st. Then they come back into the yard for calving that starts around the 15th of April. Strings are cut off the bales too when we are setting them in place. As far as waste goes, I think that they waste more setting the bales in a round bale feeder inside the corral . If there is any waste left, the soil critters will digest this over 2 to 3 years and this is where you're best grass will be for a long time. I try to leave a lot of waste.A solar winter watering system provides water for them when they are out bale grazing. My chore tractor, for the cows at least, is a skidoo and a couple sets of snowshoes. Just go out and move the electric wire for the cows every 3rd day. Takes about a half hour tops. I gotta get a job for the winter Can get boring.I'd be leary of unrolling a straw bale on the snow because they can melt down into the snow and get tipped over. Hope this helps.

 

[Juan]

You know the value of a winter feeding program by testing your feed not by fertilizing your fields. At least that's how we do it where we actually have winter lol. Not saying fertilizer doesn't make the grass grow but not always economically feasible.

Protein content in hay is directly proportional to the amount of nitrogen available to the grass.

In a good? year when it rains normally down here, the nitrogen in the soil is gone pretty quickly and must be added back to get any growth and quality feed suitable for feeding without supplementation.

"'Sometimes we have no other choice."

"

What about them thar goobers

 

[Mike]

You know the value of a winter feeding program by testing your feed not by fertilizing your fields. At least that's how we do it where we actually have winter lol. Not saying fertilizer doesn't make the grass grow but not always economically feasible.

Protein content in hay is directly proportional to the amount of nitrogen available to the grass.

In a good? year when it rains normally down here, the nitrogen in the soil is gone pretty quickly and must be added back to get any growth and quality feed suitable for feeding without supplementation.

"'Sometimes we have no other choice."

"

Dig down around some nuts yesterday. They ain't quite ready and won't be very big anyway.

Too dry.

What about them thar goobers