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Finally spring!

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Grassfarmer

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Central Alberta, Canada
What a difference a few days of +10C weather make, feels like summer already. Here are a few pictures from our place this week.
The first flower I saw this year - OK, I admit it was grown last year and flash frozen!
flower.jpg

April 6th grass starting to show.
April6.jpg

April 10th snow starting to recede (for now, sure there will be storms to come!)
April10.jpg

One of our typical heifers with week old steer calf.
7THEIFER.jpg

Same heifer udder shot, for those of you who didn't like my 23 year old's udder this heifer is off two different sons of the old cow (sire of the heifer and also grandsire of her - the calf is actually off a third son of the same cow!) I can live with udders like this.
7Tudder.jpg

Here is a heifer calf I really like, born yesterday - how much more character and femininity can you get in a day old calf?
character.jpg
 
Hallelujah, the snow is going. Slightly ahead of you here GF. I like the style of that Hf. Will have to go out and take a pic or two of her type cousins from here. Happy Easter to ya.
 
That spring air feels pretty good doesn't it?! Snow is in heavy retreat here as well, in fact down in the river bottom there is no snow. Cows have nice dry places to lay down and calve, so that takes some pressure off.
So my first robins yesterday, so hopefully thats a sign of good things to come.
Thanks for the pics, nice looking heifer.
 
Looking nice :D. You beat me to the first flower...even if is a 2008 model. Yes, I agree your heifer has a nice udder :wink:. Hopefully she'll be good for another two decades :).
 
Yep-- by the sound outside right now it must be spring...So many Sandhill Cranes going over you can't hear yourself think....They're about driving my poor dogs nuts.... :wink:
 
Nice cattle Grassfarmer. Thanks for the news of spring somewhere, although the snow is in fast retreat here I don't look for much dry ground for another 2 weeks or so. Plowed a little snow today, there is an inch or four of water at the bottom. Tough to find decent places to feed.
 
Will have to go out and take a pic or two of her type cousins from here.
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They must just be kissing cousins Per - my heifer is 3/4 Luing, her calf 7/8ths with the rest being commercial Red Angus blood.
I remember that country having deep snow until i left college the third week of April.
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BMR - that must have been in the bad old (or Olds?) days. This is the latest we have been clear of the winter snow pack in the 9 years I've been here. Still only 4 or 5 days later than most years though.
 
Looks like spring is coming just in time for calving. Nice heifer and what cute little calves :)
 
Looks like you'll be grass farming soon if things stay open for ya'.Do you attend farmers markets in the summer,how far are you from your customer base.Nice pics.
 
Blkbuckaroo, We don't bother with farmers markets - tried a couple of local ones but the buyers tend to be looking for trinkets rather than meat. We are roughly 2 hours from both Calgary and Edmonton, each with a population around 1 million so we are quite well placed for direct marketing.
 
Grassfarmer said:
Blkbuckaroo, We don't bother with farmers markets - tried a couple of local ones but the buyers tend to be looking for trinkets rather than meat. We are roughly 2 hours from both Calgary and Edmonton, each with a population around 1 million so we are quite well placed for direct marketing.
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I had another question,i was just on your site,and was wondering about how you keep 500 cattle on one acre,in the winter or is that in the spring?Electric fence?I like the concept of distributing the manure where needed,and with that stock density you can apply natures fertilizer right where you need,quickly.What kind of preparation do you do in the spring for the ground?Do you hay that ground in summer,and if so,do you direct drill with a range land drill?Sorry about so many questions,i'm on a learning curve.My buddy runs a farmers market on his organic veggie farm,and keeps the crafts out of the sale so customers can concentrate on buying vegetables,meat and fish& and home made pasta.
 
Blkbuckaroo, The 500 cattle/acre I referred to is a group of @ 100 cows winter fed on 1 acre for 5 days. We don't need to confine them - with good snow cover and feed provided along with portable windbreaks for shelter they don't spread out too much.
We harrow the fields in spring - but not if we have got the "bale grazing effect" from feeding straw in rings. By that I mean if a lot has been pulled out and "wasted" - enough to form a mat around a feeder the grass grows through it quicker than if you disturb it with a harrow. We are an all grazing outfit, we don't hay and we don't till to reseed. If needed we add seed to the cows minerals and let them do the work.
 
Spring has sprung in the Ozarks BUT we still have to feed. Monday we should have grass and calving is done. Lost one calf with head back sure enough she calves in first and only10 inch sleet storm ever.
Our pear tress lost there bloom three days ago. Wild apple trees are starting as well as plum trees. Dog woods are now green pretty tough for a few days.
 
When we bale graze we'll feed 200 plus cattle for a week on an area of maybe an acre I put the bales about 30' apart. We never harrow in the spring as the grass we'll eventually grow up through it. The cattle don't like grazing that area a lot the first summer but will lick it up first thing the next spring-you can literally rest an pasture without fencing it off. The horses love to back through there and paw through things later on. Bale rings and harrows are just for those rich foreigners -dig dig lol.
 
Northern Rancher said:
When we bale graze we'll feed 200 plus cattle for a week on an area of maybe an acre I put the bales about 30' apart. We never harrow in the spring as the grass we'll eventually grow up through it. The cattle don't like grazing that area a lot the first summer but will lick it up first thing the next spring-you can literally rest an pasture without fencing it off. The horses love to back through there and paw through things later on. Bale rings and harrows are just for those rich foreigners -dig dig lol.
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If you're planning on haying where you feed you better harrow it whether you're rich or not.
 
I don't desire it either, but up here there is no choice. :?
 
You know I've had about fifty guys tell me I had no choice up here too. Waste is waste whether it's pulled out of a feeder or not-I'm not about to invest in 35 bale feeders and the diesel to move them around in the field every week-that's just not canny. There's richer, smarter and thriftier ranchers than me don't use them so I just follow their example. One thing I find amazing is guys fighting snow to haul hay in-to feed in a pen so they can haul crap out. The fields are right by the buildings its a lot easier to trail cows out to the feed and run a hot wire if you so desire. One guy I met bales half his ground every year with no twine-bale grazes it that winter than pastures it the next summer. The next year he bales it again -the pasture year has taken care of all the manure breakdown.
 

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