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The Next 6 Weeks

the_jersey_lilly_2000 said:
Ok I'm gonna ask a question......just cuz I don't get it. What's the point of swath grazing......??? Why not just leave the grass standin? Does it hold more nutrients if it's cut and left laying? Looks to me like...(and this is only because I'm ignorant to this type of feeding) that it would be a waste of time and fuel to cut it , if they will eat it standing.
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The reasons for swathing are many. You can cut the feed at the optimal time to preserve the nutrients, You put it in swaths so the cows can locate the feed in deeper snow. The weather/wind will take most of the leaves and quite a bit of the grain off the stems and that is your best feed. In this country we normally don't get alot of rain in the fall so those swaths weather pretty good. Unlike hay cut in the summer. It also saves you the cost of baling and hauling the feed in and feeding and cleaning corral out. The cows seem to have less calving problems as they get more exercise then confined cows.
I am sure I missed some reasons but many on here can fill you in on the rest. :D
 
gcreekrch said:
I didn't realize it was BLM land, if some govt. whiz kid happened tby while you were disturbing their snow it would likely turn into a National Crisis. :roll:

If my memory serves me right the Harper was dealing with about 6 inches of snow, a rain and then a hard freeze that lasted for a week or so.
I'm not sure if the ground was native grass or third crop on their hayfields but they did not have to start feeding. I would guess they were keeping the disc out of the ground as muck as possible and only did so much area per day.
Kamloops is kind of a banana belt but like anywhere can get the extremes.
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Actually most of the cow pictures happen to be on private land but with the intermingled land ownership patterns around here some of the pastures are 50% or more BLM. Since my private isn't fenced separate they have a say in when and how much use the whole pasture gets. Some of the BLM range people I deal with like winter grazing since its not during the growing season.
 
i might be wrong - but looks like fireweed sticking up too - good protein.

my cows are grazing the same deal - only all the grain was harvested or rolled up and hauled off. the two neighboring farms i lease to winter graze had some good moisture after harvest and greened up the stubble. saw flies left the odd heads on the ground and the ground not suited for farming has good native prairie wool and natural protection in the breaks. the best winters for me are when they get hailed out - i think the insurance guys need to start giving me a kick back... we live in some of the highest priced hail coverage area of the state and since i started leasing some farm ground to graze it has somehow quit hailing.

the last two years i did some grain swathing for one of the neighbors i lease to winter graze. they swath to get ahead of sawfly... one night he rode with me and said "it is just now dawning on me that you might not be the best person for this job"
 
Ok now this makes a little more sense to me.

Here there's no way you could possibly do this type thing....not only do we have no snow.....but in normal years...the grass/oats....would have already gotten wet numerous times...and been rotten.
 
Northern Rancher said:
Hey 76 I saw some pretty goof buls at BannerLane Herefords today.
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i would have thought maybe those would be a little different than your kind.

always wanted to go look at that herd. they had a herd bull i liked - 37L (254E son) from lehr. they used 87D too. i bought some semen on a bannerlane bull - son of 37L and an 87D x volt bred cow born there awhile back and haven't used it yet. maybe this spring.

what did you see?

sorry randi!
 
Not sure what breeding they are-a catalogue is coming-but they had some 5-6 frame bulls that looked pretty useful to me. If your into eyeset there were a couple that were very good for that. Rob did say something about 87D but it takes a few conversations before I can get a pedigree stuck in my head.
 
Trinity man said:
Is there any tree up there? Every picture I see posted from Canada just shows open land.
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Most of the trees in southern Saskatchewan grow nice and orderly in straight lines. Farther north they aren't as organized and they grow all over the place. :wink: :lol: :lol:
 
Big Muddy rancher said:
Trinity man said:
Is there any tree up there? Every picture I see posted from Canada just shows open land.
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Most of the trees in southern Saskatchewan grow nice and orderly in straight lines. Farther north they aren't as organized and they grow all over the place. :wink: :lol: :lol:
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BMr, tell him about the time your dog ran away and you could sit on your porch and watch him for 3 days . . .
 
P1012528.jpg


That picture is from my neighbors plane facing north-our place is just on the far edge of that picture-if I'd taken one facing south there's about another 40 miles of bush and muskkeg-it's all crown land no stock ran down in there just loggers,moose,deer and wolves and big bear lol. sara was all excited last night they saw a timber wolf just across the street from 7-11 on the north edge of town.
 
There is trees up there. Maybe one day in will take a drive to Canada.

burnt thats to funny about the dog. If my dog ran away from here you would lose him in the woods in 5 sec.
 
Trinity man said:
There is trees up there. Maybe one day in will take a drive to Canada.

burnt thats to funny about the dog. If my dog ran away from here you would lose him in the woods in 5 sec.
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Thats kind of like our county in Montana-- nothing like the little Texas counties- as its bigger than the state of Delaware- and has about 3-4 differing geophysical areas- and can have as many as 5 differing weathers all at the same time...

I've seen days where the Missouri breaks were in the 50's/60's with a Chinook - and up near the border it was below zero with a blizzard going on... And about 3-4 differing weathers in between... :wink:
 
Oldtimer said:
Trinity man said:
There is trees up there. Maybe one day in will take a drive to Canada.

burnt thats to funny about the dog. If my dog ran away from here you would lose him in the woods in 5 sec.
Click to expand...

Thats kind of like our county in Montana-- nothing like the little Texas counties- as its bigger than the state of Delaware- and has about 3-4 differing geophysical areas- and can have as many as 5 differing weathers all at the same time...

I've seen days where the Missouri breaks were in the 50's/60's with a Chinook - and up near the border it was below zero with a blizzard going on... And about 3-4 differing weathers in between... :wink:
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It is funny with the weather. I talk to my boss one time in Amarillo and he said they had 9 inches of snow on the ground and down here it was in the 70's and sunny. With me being as thin tall person cold and I just don't mix very well.
 
Yeap dogs here can disappear in just a few seconds as well. And I got one wiener dog that insists on escaping thru the bars of our yard fence...poof he's gone. And he goes deaf soon as he gets on the other side of them bars.....lol
 
We have a few trees, but the only native ones I think are in the big coulees. Other than that, if you see a tree, it is a pretty good bet that someone planted it.

Here is a view facing North, off one of the big hills. The tree up close is a native. At the top left corner, is about where we live.

tn_DSC00596.jpg
 

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