last move (2 min video)

[Hereford76]

if you cringe looking at herefords - you've been warned.

Last move before i split the breds and move to separate calving grounds. about a month to go and excited to start.

i ran out of tape shooting this - going to try again with a new tape to get them all.


http://ngrbulls.com/Movie 2-24-2102.wmv

 

[Nicky]

Boy they look good!!! Mike said "that's northern montana in feb, and the cows look like that?"

 

[burnt]

Well it will take more tape than that to make me tired of watching them! They shouldn't go hungry for a while with all that grass. Looking really good.

 

[Soapweed]

They look like mommas on a mission. They're in perfect condition for this time of year with calving time coming soon. Thanks for the video.

 

[gcreekrch]

Very nice H76, want to trade some snow for some of that hard grass?

 

[Haytrucker]

Thank's for the look at your part of the world. Are some of those cows taller when they lay down? Good-doin' capacity is written all over those momma's.
I'm guessing they reflect a bit of an easier winter than usual; what is your expected BCS at calving time?

 

[Hereford76]

Very nice H76, want to trade some snow for some of that hard grass?

i wouldn't want to take advantage of you... the cows make the grass look better than it is!

all the winter ground is tame grass - the stuff they are moving thru is crested that i use to run yearling bulls on in the spring. they just came out of a vartiety of wheatgrasses alfalfa and some rye grass. save the hard grass for summer.

if we made the trade then i probably wouldn't have hard grass!


Haytrucker - yes its been a real mild winter, dry but after the last three its been a nice change. the cows usually are right around 5 BCS at weaning and its been a cakewalk for them to maintain out rustling.

thanks guys for the comments

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

Very nice H76, want to trade some snow for some of that hard grass?

i wouldn't want to take advantage of you... the cows make the grass look better than it is!

all the winter ground is tame grass - the stuff they are moving thru is crested that i use to run yearling bulls on in the spring. they just came out of a vartiety of wheatgrasses alfalfa and some rye grass. save the hard grass for summer.

if we made the trade then i probably wouldn't have hard grass!

Just wondering, why do you save the hard grass for summer?

 

[Hereford76]

Very nice H76, want to trade some snow for some of that hard grass?

i wouldn't want to take advantage of you... the cows make the grass look better than it is!

all the winter ground is tame grass - the stuff they are moving thru is crested that i use to run yearling bulls on in the spring. they just came out of a vartiety of wheatgrasses alfalfa and some rye grass. save the hard grass for summer.

if we made the trade then i probably wouldn't have hard grass!

Just wondering, why do you save the hard grass for summer?

well what i call hard grasses are warm season and if i use them in a deferred rest rotation and give them as good a chance before grazing from June thru August- we can get thru little 2 or 3 year mini droughts. the natives around here are extremely acceptable to invasion and it doesn't take much to knock them back. you can tell all the ranches that had sheep in the homestead days or abused very long- nothing but cactus, sage or shrubies.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

i wouldn't want to take advantage of you... the cows make the grass look better than it is!

all the winter ground is tame grass - the stuff they are moving thru is crested that i use to run yearling bulls on in the spring. they just came out of a vartiety of wheatgrasses alfalfa and some rye grass. save the hard grass for summer.

if we made the trade then i probably wouldn't have hard grass!

Just wondering, why do you save the hard grass for summer?

well what i call hard grasses are warm season and if i use them in a deferred rest rotation and give them as good a chance before grazing from June thru August- we can get thru little 2 or 3 year mini droughts. the natives around here are extremely acceptable to invasion and it doesn't take much to knock them back. you can tell all the ranches that had sheep in the homestead days or abused very long- nothing but cactus, sage or shrubies.

I would think we should have similar grasses,Needle and Thread, Green needle grass,some Western Wheat, a bit of Hookers oat grass. I try to keep that for winter graze and use up what i can of Crested Wheat/alfalfa, Russian Wild Rty and Meadow brome and or Smooth brome for early green up and into the summer as long as I can. They seem to not want to eat wolfy Crested around here. Although yesterday I had some cows out on a big Crested field but I think with this weather the bottom has maybe greened a bit. What ever works for you is fine with me.

 

[Hereford76]

Just wondering, why do you save the hard grass for summer?

well what i call hard grasses are warm season and if i use them in a deferred rest rotation and give them as good a chance before grazing from June thru August- we can get thru little 2 or 3 year mini droughts. the natives around here are extremely acceptable to invasion and it doesn't take much to knock them back. you can tell all the ranches that had sheep in the homestead days or abused very long- nothing but cactus, sage or shrubies.

I would think we should have similar grasses,Needle and Thread, Green needle grass,some Western Wheat, a bit of Hookers oat grass. I try to keep that for winter graze and use up what i can of Crested Wheat/alfalfa, Russian Wild Rty and Meadow brome and or Smooth brome for early green up and into the summer as long as I can. They seem to not want to eat wolfy Crested around here. Although yesterday I had some cows out on a big Crested field but I think with this weather the bottom has maybe greened a bit. What ever works for you is fine with me.

needle/thread, prairie june, sweetgrass up north, sparse green needle and western, but the predominant is buffalo and inland salt grass. every now and then i see kentucky blue grass on the sod too.

i don't claim to be right - there must have been a good reason my old man always said "that's why i don't pay you to think" :lol:

 

[Hereford76]

heres some of their progeny

 

[littlejoe]

"you can tell all the ranches that had sheep in the homestead days or abused very long- nothing but cactus, sage or shrubies"

Is fringed sagewort a problem for you? That and blue gama (for you folks maybe farther south, the gama i'm talking about is extremely short, shallow rooted and sod forming---don't produce much and hard to start anything else)

Anyway, is it? We got plenty of beat up ground like that---gradually getting better grasses to creep in by rest, rotation, have spiked some of the less rocky stuff. But the fringe sagewort---I've had good and bad luck with chemical-----have found out that really late season hoof action does lotsa good on it.

 

[Hereford76]

"you can tell all the ranches that had sheep in the homestead days or abused very long- nothing but cactus, sage or shrubies"

Is fringed sagewort a problem for you? That and blue gama (for you folks maybe farther south, the gama i'm talking about is extremely short, shallow rooted and sod forming---don't produce much and hard to start anything else)

Anyway, is it? We got plenty of beat up ground like that---gradually getting better grasses to creep in by rest, rotation, have spiked some of the less rocky stuff. But the fringe sagewort---I've had good and bad luck with chemical-----have found out that really late season hoof action does lotsa good on it.

on some state land i use is the only place i've seen it maybe a problem. the state mined gravel on this ground and basically all that took back was sagewort. other than that i don't think so. i know when i go thru that pasture with cows the seem to love to eat it tho.

i think there is a decent variety - the gama here is usually on the toughest ground, the stuff exposed the worst to wind. we chiseled a smaller chunk of ground one year that was pretty much gama sod bound with good luck.

 

[George]

My gravel mine is small but what I do to reclaim is I cover the area we have finished mining with the over burden from the area we are going to mine then I feed hay on it to get organic material started and the hoof action really helps. If you can come up with some hay that has gone to seed the areas will bloom and in about 2 years you will be amased as it will really be going strong.

I feel the cattle are a required part of reclaiming the ground as for a while I had no cattle and tried to disc and seed and fertilize and just could not get things going right. With the cattle it is much less effort on me and a much greater result.

 

[George]

My gravel mine is small but what I do to reclaim is I cover the area we have finished mining with the over burden from the area we are going to mine then I feed hay on it to get organic material started and the hoof action really helps. If you can come up with some hay that has gone to seed the areas will bloom and in about 2 years you will be amased as it will really be going strong.

I feel the cattle are a required part of reclaiming the ground as for a while I had no cattle and tried to disc and seed and fertilize and just could not get things going right. With the cattle it is much less effort on me and a much greater result.

 

[littlejoe]

Thanks George.

We're in about 12-14" precip zone, winds up to 100 mph. A fairly 'brittle' envirionment. Fairly shallow soils. Takes a long time to turn things around--but guess it took a while for them to get to where they were. Organic matter and hoof action are good tools. And it seems like 'nuking' it once in a while is also good, that maybe it ain't how hard you hit it, but how for how long and how much rest in between.

 

[eatbeef]

very nice set of cows, hard to find a set of hereford cows that powerful in this neck of the woods