While my cattle are nothing compared to Angus and some of the other breeds you guys in the great white north can produce, my animals look as good this year going into summer as I've ever seen them. And remember, for us, "summer" means very dry with little pasture production. Just yesterday I commended Epi on just how good they looked.....not only the bulls we're fattening for market but also the cows which often look thin at this time of year.
The rainfalls we got in 2010 sure did go a long ways to get me where I am today with these animals, but I'd also like to believe that I'm finally beginning to get some of this figured out.
We planted a lot of new pasture this past year and also produced some decent grain sorghum. While I still have one small section of sorghum that was under irrigation yet to harvest, the rest produced really well (some harvested twice) and the animals are enjoying cleaning up the harvested fields. I'm hoping to leave my animals were they are for the rest of February and then rotate them in March/April to other areas that are basically untouched. By mid-May I'm hoping the rains will begin to fall and we'll be off to the races once again.
The only wildcard in all of this are the fires that spring up every year. I'm already seeing burning hillsides in the distance at night.
The rainfalls we got in 2010 sure did go a long ways to get me where I am today with these animals, but I'd also like to believe that I'm finally beginning to get some of this figured out.
We planted a lot of new pasture this past year and also produced some decent grain sorghum. While I still have one small section of sorghum that was under irrigation yet to harvest, the rest produced really well (some harvested twice) and the animals are enjoying cleaning up the harvested fields. I'm hoping to leave my animals were they are for the rest of February and then rotate them in March/April to other areas that are basically untouched. By mid-May I'm hoping the rains will begin to fall and we'll be off to the races once again.
The only wildcard in all of this are the fires that spring up every year. I'm already seeing burning hillsides in the distance at night.