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Pic's from Fl

L

lukelangford

Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2006
Messages
17
Location
Florida Panhandle
I've seen a few of you guys post pics feeding in the snow and ice, looks daunting. In the interest of fair representation, thought i'd post a few from florida. We're up in the panhandle, had down to 24 for 2 days, warmed back up, back into the 70's now. Rye/ryegrass looks good this year, dry though.

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Jinglebob said:
Oh you sick, sick person! :x

I ain't sure if we was that green, last spring!

Thanks for postin' them. Makes me drool all over the keypad! :lol: :lol:
Click to expand...

OH, I agree :frowns: . That is just being cruel.

Cows look good though, and happy.
 
Ranchy said:
Grass looks good, but I'm wondering if your grass is like the wet parts of Texas are........where a cow can graze 24 hours a day on it, and still starve to death?

Thanks for sharing the pics!
Click to expand...

Rye and Ryegrass usually come in around 18pct CP and 60's for TDN. Layman, cows adding 2-3 lbs a day carrying calves. Tagged and weighed most of the calves in the pictures yesterday, with most 120-160 lb calves adding from 1.8 to 3 lbs a day, most gaining just over 2 lbs a day,14 day period. Couple of 350 heifers gaining over 4 per day!
 
makes me wonder what the hay I am doing living in the winter country?
However, there is nothing like the feeling of a hot coffee on a cold winters day after chores.
 
LOL we like coffee after a cold winter day too here in the south. Just cuz we don't have -93 (that was for NR) LOL don't mean we don't like our coffee.

Great pictures. Grass and cattle both look great.
We've been havin about the same temps.....few nights down in the 20's, but we are back up to 70 to 75 degrees durin the day. Makes me almost like winter. :P
 
That's a pretty good looking patch of ryegrass. With the lack of rain in the fall, we didn't get a very good stand this year. I always like seeing cows grazing green grass in the winter.
 
Nice pics...the cattle sure look good!

And, babies, you're so lucky to have calves! That won't occur for at least three more months for us...so I guess I will live vicariously through your pics.

When is your normal calving season? I presume most Floridian cattle are fall or winter calvers, is this true?

Cool! Thanks for sharing...don't think you'll have a white Christmas, and at this pace we won't either! 45 degrees here and it RAINED last night. Now, that an oddity for the Dakota prairie in December!

Cheers---

TTB :wink:
 
Ranchy said:
Grass looks good, but I'm wondering if your grass is like the wet parts of Texas are........where a cow can graze 24 hours a day on it, and still starve to death?

Thanks for sharing the pics!
Click to expand...

Never heard of this before? Is that why Texas is one of the most "cattle populated" states? :lol:
 
It's not that bad LOL Granted our grass doesn't have as much protein in it as the grasses out west, but there's a whole lot more of it. Where ya'll run one cow per 50 to 100 acres we run 1 to ever 3 acres because there's grass. And they don't graze 24 hours a day. There's lots of time that they are layin down. Usually in the heat of the day, startin about 10 am in the summer, they'll lay down under shade trees and stay there til 4 or 5 pm. Then get up and go back to grazin. Most of the time by 9 or 10 pm they've bedded down again.
I'm not referrin to rye grasses, just whatever's in the pasture. Which down here is mostly bermuda and saint augustine with some nut grass mixed in.
 
The reason that southern grasses aren't as potent as western grasses is the moisture content. A cow can only hold so many pounds of grass.

When it's high in moisture the cow simply cannot hold as much. She must let the moisture pass through her digestive system before she can load up again.

But I've never heard of a cow that's grazing 24 hours per day on grass and not be able to sustain herself. That's a new one on me. :???:
 
All of our snow melted off and the grass underneath is REAL green, guess that 3 inches of rain followed by 14 inches of snow will have that affect on the stuff... Our ditches ae filled to busting and our old ponds that have been mostly dry for 2 years are very filled now, good for charging the sub soil for spring growth, the swamp pastures are going to explode this spring... Going to be nce
 
Yeap there is St Augustine out there in places. It's not the same variety that folks grow in their yard tho. Least it looks a lil different to me, mostly grows around the wooded areas. The cows prefer the bermuda.....but will eat the St Augustine.
 
We sure don't have an abundance of grass here, but our cows NEVER eat 24 hours a day. They lay down about noon. And then they are back up to graze. If they start not laying down around noon, that is the first
indication they are running short of grass. Next they will be all grazing
in the same direction, and fairly close together. That is when they
are competing.

Yep, it's a fact.

First time I was told this I didn't believe it. The very next day I was
driving to a different town. Cattle were along the road, and there
they were. One bunch in a pasture grazing around a hill, all facing
the same direction and very close together. The grass was very short
in that pasture. I've seen this same thing many times since. I'm now
a believer. Cattle tell you lots of things, if we just learn to see.

I observed some cattle the summer of 2005 at our old neighbors
place in Western Montana. The cattle were on irrigated pasture and
they never stopped eating. Never. (Well, maybe at night. They were
black cattle). Anyway, if they had just put some old hay out for
those cattle to satisfy their dry matter requirements, those old cows
would have been much more content. I sure like to see cattle on dry
pasture after learning some things I never knew before. Lots less
problems for sure.

BTW, we tested spring grass in this country and it ran 16-19%
protein. Was 50% moisture so we have started putting some
old hay bales out, just setting them on end and the cows use that
for dry matter. Amazing how it helps body condition and breed up.
They won't eat it like they do in the winter, but they will eventually
eat it all up. Can be some pretty bad stuff, too.

This fall we tested some grass here. 3.5% protein and very high
ADF. Not very digestible, needs to be supplemented with some protein
for cows to keep body condition.

Just some observations you may or may not be interested in.
 

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