• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Grazing Training...

RSL

Well-known member
It has been an interesting fall/winter so far. Our cows are still out on range, but the snow is over my knees and I don't sink to the ground all the way. Today with cold weather coming on and dampness in the air we did not want to bring cows home and sweat them up, so we hauled a few hay bales the 8 miles by road to our mature cows. Only one had showed up in the hour or so it took between trips and she was fat. The rest of the cows could see us but did not even bother to look up from their grazing.
This morning our home raised calves had gone through an electric gate that had shorted out and burned through and they were happily grazing swaths, leaving their bales behind.
Contrast...
The red cows we bought spent the last couple of days parked in the corral that they walk through on the way to water, waiting to be fed. They would not follow the truck out to the new swaths. Drove out with the tractor, and I guess they assumed they were being fed so came along lickety split and found the edge of the swaths we popped up with the loader. I can honestly say it has been a long time since I have seen cows standing in a corral bawling to be fed.
I know this is largely a difference in education levels between cows but it is pretty interesting to me to note the huge differences. I know there are grazing genetics out there, but there is also huge opportunity for cow teaching.
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
Will and ability have alot to do with it. Ty noticed same thing as the season wound down in that big PFRA he was in some cows starved at the gates while others spread out and got fat. I swear some cows have been bred for better hearing they can hear a key turn in a feed truck a mile away. Cows aren't as dumb as we think if treats come from bawling and loafing they soon learn to bawl and loaf.
 

Yanuck

Well-known member
I think its whatever they get used to, the elk around here will lay around all day and then head for the nearest haystack come evening
 

Yanuck

Well-known member
Northern Rancher said:
I see on 'Last american Cowboy' that Galt ranches herds the elk off his place with a helicopter-I assume its to state land and not the neighbors.

not sure how he can as I would think it would be wildlife harassment, you'd get in big **** if you did that around here :roll:
 

PureCountry

Well-known member
in 24 hours I have been elightened to what it looks like when cows can't get through snow. Yesterday they were foraging past their eyeballs in the snow for swaths, working hard for their dinner and getting enough. Today the snow has settled or hardened up somehow, and I can't hardly push it with the tractor we have - little 50 hp Massey.

This is the first time I haven't been able to graze through snow. I am warming up after getting a truck unstuck for the past hour, and heading back out to feed bales. I swear I'm gonna live somewhere warm before I die. Cold and me aren't getting along like we used to.
 

PureCountry

Well-known member
I'm gonna split mine up and put the geldings/colt out there. They've all been running together with the bulls thus far and have them trained how to follow an open swath. Buddy of mine from Ponoka country runs elk, bison and cows, and puts them all together at times like this. He says the cows learn quick to follow the elk and bison once they've opened up swaths. Says they don't have any problem eating behind them, even where the elk have messsed on it. Who knew?
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
My horses love pawing through where we've bale grazed-they go back instead of moving to new spot then they paw around in it as the snow melts-maybe anything thats missed is fermenting a bit-there isn't much waste at all once they've done that.
 

Big Muddy rancher

Well-known member
I coaxed my cows closer to home today. The snow is getting hard in places. They weren't to far from the gate I had to get them through to start for home. I took a couple bales on the processor and doled them out and got a count. Then I had to go back the long way around after seeming to almost home. :?
Tired bouncing around in the tractor tonight.

The cows looked pretty good. The Herefords I bought last year are a bit framier then my cows and they showed up a little rougher but still doing pretty good. Even had 3 of the neighbors that are doing just fine with mine. He's the guy that freaks if I get a cow in with his but these have been with mine for 2 months. :roll:
 

balestabber

Well-known member
i had 20 acres of corn one year,that was pretty much surrounded by timber.it was a late harvest with alot of waste and good grazing.

after a skiff of snow,then followed by an ice storm i went back to feed a bale
of hay.there must have been 50 or more turkeys strung out on that 20 acres of stalks scratching like a bunch of chickens.followed by pheasants,quail then cattle.the cattle were letting the birds do the work.

darndest thing i ever seen.
 

leanin' H

Well-known member
I wondered how swath grazing would work when the snow gets crusty. The guys who winter out on the desert have that same worry. It is a great way to winter cattle when the snow isnt too deep or crusty I'll bet. Good luck with the winter.

RSL, when we gathered our "lost heifers" we were amazed at what great condition they were in. But we had lots of good hard grass above the snow and plenty of browse like winter fat that they had made a living off of. Their mothers had blessed them with the know-how to thrive under adverse conditions. Years ago a rancher bought these big framed, fat, mountain cattle from eastern Utah where the grass is belly deep all summer. He brought them out here to the desert and they just fell apart. They wouldnt/couldnt range the ridge tops for grass and didnt know what browse was. They fell off early and never recovered by that fall. He got them in decent flesh by spring but at the cost of a lot of hay and supplement. He ran them for another summer with the same result and then they went to the salebarn. I am sure that with enough time some would of adapted but that would of been a pretty expensive experiment.
 

per

Well-known member
I talked to a guy today who's standing grazing corn has filled with snow to the top. :shock: Another spring project. :!: We call that deferred rest grazing. :lol:
 

Big Muddy rancher

Well-known member
per said:
I talked to a guy today who's standing grazing corn has filled with snow to the top. :shock: Another spring project. :!: We call that deferred rest grazing. :lol:

So in other words he put his stock piled grazing in cold storage? :D
 

RSL

Well-known member
Over the last 10 years or so, we have probably pushed our cows harder than in the previous 50. We have noticed that the cows that grazed standing native as heifers, are better grazers than the older cows, but the newest generation are better yet. It is pretty interesting to see the discussion from around the board.
I think type is important, but I wonder if you can't transplant a grazing teacher from one group of cows, into an unseasoned group and gain some advantage.
 

Yanuck

Well-known member
RSL said:
Over the last 10 years or so, we have probably pushed our cows harder than in the previous 50. We have noticed that the cows that grazed standing native as heifers, are better grazers than the older cows, but the newest generation are better yet. It is pretty interesting to see the discussion from around the board.
I think type is important, but I wonder if you can't transplant a grazing teacher from one group of cows, into an unseasoned group and gain some advantage.

I watched or read (can't remember which :? ) a few yrs ago about teaching cattle to eat weeds, and thats how they did it, by having a "teacher" and the rest would follow suit
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Yanuck said:
RSL said:
Over the last 10 years or so, we have probably pushed our cows harder than in the previous 50. We have noticed that the cows that grazed standing native as heifers, are better grazers than the older cows, but the newest generation are better yet. It is pretty interesting to see the discussion from around the board.
I think type is important, but I wonder if you can't transplant a grazing teacher from one group of cows, into an unseasoned group and gain some advantage.

I watched or read (can't remember which :? ) a few yrs ago about teaching cattle to eat weeds, and thats how they did it, by having a "teacher" and the rest would follow suit

If there is an art to teaching cattle to eat weeds, does it take similar talent for people to smoke weed? Somehow this question lingers even though I have tried to bannish the thought. :? :???:
 
Top