Northern Rancher said:
I've been through your country alot it's much the same as ours and there are lots of great natural grasses that grow up there-I'm not saying you can run out all winter but you sure can extend your pasture season.
It'll depend on your year how long you could possibly stretch your grazing out. Some years, we don't have much snow until mid to end December. Other years, we've got 3 feet laying in the fields November 1. Even swath grazing won't work then.
As far as natural grasses go, I think you may be thinking of another area :lol: We do have alot of quack grass, and in the wet spots, we'll get alot of swamp grass (which the cows won't touch until its either cut or dead in the winter). Wire grass will tend to grow in the mossy areas, but cattle don't even like that stuff when its cut and baled. The majority of the land up here has been farmed for too many years and the natural grasses are all but gone from the soil. I've got a little 2 acre piece of dirt that I quit haying because it was a pain in the neck to roll into and cut every year. In 7 years of not being tended, its still nothing but dandelion and thistle. I spose if I went in and clipped the thistle each year that after 5 or 6 years I'd see some tree cover come back with some quack grass, but it would take some work.
This natural guy doesn't do anything along those lines. He theorizes that if the land is just left alone, it will come back to natural all on its own in a short period of time. I guess it would, if you consider a short period of time to be 40 years or so. In the meantime, his cattle are starving to death, and the weed seeds from his natural pasture are blowing into my brome/crested wheat/trefoil pastures. I think its despicable.
Sorry, didn't mean to hi-jack this thread

I now quit with my rant and return you to your regularly scheduled other rant
Rod