Combine Herds and Calve on Green Grass

Combining here the first two points of profitability and harmony since, honestly, they could switch places. Both cut down on labor significantly and typically increase calf survivability.

However, after this entire year plus a few months of almost constant mud and having unfortunately purchased several unadapted cows, I’ve come to realize that if one is to combine herds into one mob, you must allow a great deal extra winter grazing forage to allow for substantial trampling waste to keep them out of the mud. It is true that there is some value to trampling, but feeding the microbes is more efficient by cycling it through the stock. It seems i can never learn all the lessons i need to in the course of one lifetime.

For reasons I’ve discussed before, my cows have been calving in mid-April – knowing that that can be a challenging time of the year. A real problem with calving out of sync is the problems continue through the year with breeding out of sync and weaning out of sync. This year (2023) my cows should start about May 1. Next year, i may move to May 15.

Your time is just as important as anyone else’s – be sure you are paying yourself and others a fair wage with benefits or your operation is a hobby and not sustainable nor regenerative.

Another issue is a problem with calving in a managed/movement grazing scheme is leaving calves behind. This happens all too much. Although it takes some planning, it may be best to not disturb the cows whilst calving and give them plenty of space. Sure, this will result in some loss of grazing efficiency, but having relaxed cows and heifers with better opportunity to bond will likely outweigh the loss of grazing best practice.

Cleanliness is paramount in a calving paddock as is being well drained with no ditches or draws. It may very well be that those need to be fenced out to avoid calves dropped into ditches and cows and/or calves smashed and killed in the mud. This has been a very expensive journey for me in that regard, even in the summer as cows are seeking cool.

Life is a balance. Harmony – Decide your goals, temper them a bit with time and grace to make mistakes. Learn from others’ mistakes since you do not have time to stumble over the same rocks. Do not forget your family and their interests and don’t underestimate how quickly the years will pass and your strength and stamina will begin to wane. Position your operation to handle the unexpected changes life will throw your way. Sharpen that pencil.

Dr Dick Diven (Low Cost Cow/Calf) suggested that in toxic endophyte country like ours in north central Missouri, fall calving may be a way to avoid the highest toxins during breeding season. However, that is completely out of sync with nature and results in huge wintering costs trying to maintain a nursing cow on winter stockpile or hay. The best time for cows to calve here is May-June – the same time during which bison have been naturally selected. Manage the toxins in your pasture and select animals which tend to thrive despite ingesting them.

Create something beautiful today!

Finally, my brethren, whatever is
true, whatever is honest, whatever is
just, whatever pure, whatever lovely,
whatever of good report, if there is any
virtue, and if there is any praise, think
on these things. Philippians 4:8 HRB

Adapted Animals

Regardless of how you choose to graze, feed, or manage your livestock, adapted animals are crucial to your environment and any possible success. Build your own landrace breed specifically selected for your environment and management.

Point 4 of my blog entry, Quickest Ways to Profitability & Harmony mentions the importance of adapted animals.

I cannot emphasize enough how critical it is to find and develop adapted cattle or other livestock. The difficulty certainly is in finding the initial stock and it’s quite likely you’ll find some you think will adapt, yet it will be – maybe – only 10% to 20% of them can even survive much less thrive under your management, grazing resources, and weather conditions. It’s a long expensive process to get started since you may find that NONE of the animals you purchase will make your selection guidelines for adaptability. Make sure your budget is strong for this stage. Don’t go into debt – have a job or good investments to keep food on the table as you navigate this massive fallout stage. Culling rigorously is critical early on and only keep as replacements animals which have met all your criteria.

For example, a cattle buyer wouldn’t buy calves from Florida to put in an Iowa feedlot! The calves would be completely unadapted and would not do well at all – especially in the winter – although feeding corn can overcome some nutritional deficiencies.

Moving stock from one climate to another is almost always a recipe for disaster or a very expensive selection process. It’s far better to find stock grown in your own weather and ground conditions. Open cows and flat out death less may be substantial. Remember that semen or embryos from a different area will be the same. You will likely be going backwards with each generation of introduced genetics. Be wary of applying bandages contrary to your specific goals or you won’t be able to select the best animals for your purpose.

Some will encourage you to purchase bred heifers or cows, but I’ve been unable to justify that decision since there are simply no stock to be found – even expensive stock – that will stay in the herd for long (cows, bulls, or replacement heifers). After 30 plus years of trying to introduce animals, far and away the best is to retain my own heifers and bulls (some say you need a minimum of 100 cows to be able to select bulls from your own herd). Take your time, build slowly. Buy the best you can afford from reputable breeders who grow animals as close to how you will – won’t be perfect, but it’s likely the best place to start.

The cost of raising and developing your own replacements is substantial – compare that to buying and having a lot of fallout. Remember to include the extra labor and pasture to develop them. Will you hold them an extra year before breeding? then a separate pasture is needed to keep them from the bulls. Farming and ranching have expenses coming at you from many angles! Beware.

Another consideration that i have fallen prey to is buying cows in my area that seem adapted, only to find out they’ve been on corn since they were born! It is very likely that their rumens will ever adapt to grazing and may even die especially with highly toxic endophyte fescue pastures. That’s an expensive mistake – speaking from experience.

Other important decisions before buying:

1. what are your marketing goals – commodity or special niche? Both can be upgraded to ‘value added’ status. Value added in commodity may mean breeding for black cattle, but consider whether or not they will thrive without expensive inputs. It’s all a balance
2. Selling adapted breeding stock is a long term commitment. Until you establish an adapted line and build a reputation, much of your production will go the commodity route. Don’t think that you will receive a great premium at the get-go. Overestimating your income will come back to bite you in a hurry.
3. What class or species of livestock most closely meet your skills, market, and interest? What is the weather like in your area? Some places are simply not fit for man or beast in the wintertime. Especially as we get older and fighting the elements also gets old.
4. Build an excellent perimeter fence on your property BEFORE getting any livestock. Contact your local extension agent for the definition of a legal fence in your state or county, then build better. Stock getting out is a good way to ruin relationships with your neighbors and you will need to be on good terms with them.

Compare these two Angus cows. Photo one is clearly not adapted to my management and is very likely not bred. This is one of the 3-year-old cows i bought as a pair in spring of 2022. She suffered through the green growing season, raised a poor calf, and has not done well through an admittedly tough, very muddy winter of stockpile grazing. However, the 6-year-old cow to the right is an adapted home raised animal, raised a good calf, is in acceptable condition, and looks very much bred to calve early in the season. These cows were grazed in the same mob these past 12 months.

No hay was fed, but protein tubs were provided to help utilize the mature stockpile.

The above photos show the great importance of selecting for adapted cows. Do not make the mistakes i’ve made.

CREATE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL TODAY!

Shalom

Consider this 3-year-old purebred Corriente cow with her first calf. She raised and weaned off a healthy calf grazing right alongside the two cows pictured above. Her calf sold for $250 MORE than what she cost for me to purchase. Now, there is very strong calf market in spring 2023, but it does show that careful purchasing of adapted animals can result in good profitability. Be mindful, however, that thin breeds like the Longhorn or Corriente will always bring less at salebarn and grow more slowly. Study the market and buy what seems to be undervalued.

Effects of Grazing Mistake

While there is an abundance of stockpiled forage, this standing forage in February is not good quality. For dry pregnant cows, it’s fine – but not for nursing pregnant cows which have suffered condition loss despite having high protein tubs on free choice offer throughout the winter since protein levels are too low in the available non growing forage for that class of cattle. There is a way to have better quality stockpile even well into winter.

Going forward into this year of 2023, the plan is to graze one time through the forages in the spring when the plants have reached sufficient growth levels to not cause diarrhea in the cows. This will be when the lower leaves are slightly yellowed, plant height maybe 6-9 inches tall, though that will vary in plant species. This will allow the plants to start their final growth to maturity a little bit later in the year so they will not reach maturity until the very end of the growing season rather than late summer, resulting in more green (protein) in the plants thereby providing better nutrition for cows during the winter non growing season.

The challenge is to find that sweet spot so that the grasses can be non selectively (total grazing) grazed through yet not overgrazed (regrazed before forages are recovered) by set stocking (not moving or bothering) the calving cows (mine begin May 1). Managing cool season and warm season grasses requires observation.

To compound my problem of allowing the young and old nursing cows to lose weight was to push them too hard in grazing dry forages which had no nutritive value. Though it will benefit land next year, the practice caused the cows to lose far too much condition. The decision i made to give the cows some relief and start their return to good condition before May 1 calving was to wean their calves by February 12.

Winter total grazing cattle here one can see i forced the cows to eat old sedges which are typically unpalatable with little nutritional value.

Not to be forgotten is the importance of selecting genetically adaptive cattle. To increase the number of mouths on my farm, i purchased 40 Angus 3-year-old pairs which originated from Montana and South Dakota – clearly not our high humidity, deep cold, toxic endophyte fescue environment with managed grazing. They have had a tough time getting used to life in north Missouri and a few have fallen out. There are also several first calf heifers and ancient cows which have struggled in maintaining body condition.

Not having enough stock last spring is a large part of why my pastures were not grazed properly and resulted in the poor stockpile. However, Jim Gerrish reminds us too stock for winter grazing. This may mean removing enough animals to graze without hay through the winter. Real Wealth ranching protocols is different than more well-known grazing schemes in that one will know earlier in the year whether or not there is enough forage available.

Create beauty and harmony in your life!

To Burn? Or Not To Burn?

Burning grasslands is a landscaping management tool used by many to burn off old, thatched grasses and forbes which are preventing new seedlings from growing thereby creating dead zones where nothing is growing. It’s not necessarily a ‘bad’ management tool, but i prefer not to use it because:

1. it releases carbon and smoke pollution into the atmosphere
2. completely eliminates all habitat for small wildlife
3. often burns up those small critters overtaken by fire and smoke
4. can be dangerous by getting away due to high winds and massive fuel (dry grasses)
5. for safety, burning requires multiple people and management equipment to prepare the site in advance as well as continued monitoring

These are reasons i choose not to burn -plus honestly, fire simply scares me. Brush piles, i’ll burn, but even those can get away.

Many articles will argue first that fire is nature’s way of managing grasslands. Hmmm – maybe, but unless the prairies and plains are mismanaged, there are very, very few situations in which fire is ‘natural.’

It is true, however, that if you have land enrolled in CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) and you receive payments from the government for letting land lay idle year after year, then mowing or in some situations fire or chemical is required to keep those payments coming.

My choice is let the livestock, and to a lesser extent, wildlife, manage the grasslands with far less danger to man and beast, less erosion, natural fertilization, increased forage diversity, no pollution or carbon release, and small creatures, like mice, turtles, voles, moles, and other ground nesting animals are completely unharmed.

I am talking about a managed grazing technique called ‘Total Grazing.” Total grazing is not over grazing, it’s not grubbing the plants into the ground, it’s not selective grazing. All plants are grazed AFTER they have been allowed to grow tall and even to full maturity if needed before being grazed. This results in a balanced diet for the animals, habitat for nearly all wildlife until grazed, and lets those plants develop deep roots which stabilize the soil and prepare for growth. Thatch is grazed along with the green portion of the plants opening up the space for more desirable plant species. Deep roots create humus, organic matter is not humus. Organic matter still needs to be broken down and incorporated into the soil profile before it can even think about becoming food for soil microbes. Roots are ready made snacks. Grow fat roots for fat plants for faster recovery, but don’t graze until the plants are at the proper stage and don’t allow that second bite. Total grazing spreads out the manure across the paddocks for even coverage of nutrients.

Total grazing requires a good amount of education, just like burning, before diving in. Animal adaptation, observation, mobbing and shifting stock at the appropriate time, not allowing that second bite,

OR

CREATE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL TODAY!

Landscaping

Having been involved in total grazing protocol for only 2 1/2 years now and still being understocked for such a venture, I’m only starting to see some grazing pressure on tree sprouts and multiflora rose bushes. Therefore, i’m still full on with cutting sprouts and treating stumps with Tordon.

Granted, control would be much faster if the time spent moving the cows 4 times a day at the right time would be effective. However, distance, time, and weather simply won’t allow it. However, i bet i’m getting close to at once a day over the course of the year.

This morning, at long last, i’ve met with a couple men who are equipped to clean out the junk trees along my ditches and draws so that quality trees can be allowed to grow (if they are away from the ditch), the ditches will be cleared of shade, so mud will be greatly reduced, which should result in my losing fewer cows to getting stuck and dying each year. On top of that, without trees on ditch banks, deep rooted native grasses will be allowed to take hold and stop the erosion caused by rushing waters. Trees simply are not designed to hold soil in place. Managing trees and brush will much profit the land, wildlife, water quality, viewshed, and timber harvests of the future.

Using livestock and a few small tools early on is a good plan, but, in my case, i’m way behind the eight ball, so big equipment, strong backs, and expertise will be the most effective use of time and money to get my farm in good working order quickly.

On this tiny plot after total grazing, i lopped about 140 tree sprouts and 30 some multiflora roses! I was glad to find several sprouts had had the tops and buds chewed off, others were broken off. Both signs of cattle molesting the plants for nutrition and a bit of a scratch.

Sure, it’s not knocked back enough to kill it, but smaller ones could be decimated. In the meantime, i keep after them.

Shabbat Shalom

Create something beautiful today!

Thoughts on Heifer Development

I didn’t think i’d ever go back to calving out 2 year old heifers (exposing to the bull at 13-15 months) since calving out as 3 year olds is so incredibly stress free on the heifer and myself. A high percentage of 2 year olds will become pregnant and zero will need assistance at calving.

Since beginning total grazing and recognizing that i need to grow my herd numbers significantly and quickly (due to being understocked), i decided to take a chance last year with the 14 yearling heifers and have them bred alongside the main cow herd. As shared before, these heifers had a pregnancy rate of 76% (vs 90% + as 2 year olds) and one heifer died, along with her calf, at calving due to difficulty (front leg was back) and another heifer had her calf fine, but it was dead (don’t know why).

It will be interesting to see how many of those will breed back this year. However, I have discovered that those which calve first time as 3 year olds don’t breed back at much higher, if any, rate as the 2 year olds. I don’t know why, but that has been my experience.

This year, to hopefully avoid more calving difficulties, I have kept the 21 yearling heifers separate from the main cow mob and they are joined with a 2 year old 1/4 Corriente x 3/4 Red Angus bull out of one of my good adapted cows (#433) and a 1/2 Corriente x 1/2 Red or Black Angus yearling bull out of my good purebred 21 year old Corriente cow (#160). This should eliminate any calving difficulties but will reduce the value of each calf because of the Corriente influence. This should be less of a hit than dead heifers, calves, and/or having to assist.

After, the bulls are removed from both the cow mob and the heifer mob, the two groups will be put together into one group for grazing through the winter.

Another thing i may do is wean the calves off the first calf heifers and feed the weaners through the winter allowing the heifer to rebuild body condition better for her next calving event. Haven’t decided on that yet. Sounds like work.

Considerations:

Pros for calving at 2 years

1. selecting most fertile stock
2. entering production a year earlier
3. open heifers can be kept for trying again the next year or selling as grassfinished beeves.

Cons for calving at 2 years

1. keeping a separate mob before and during breeding season
2. possibly having to wean/feed calves
3. increased incident of calving difficulties

Farming and ranching are dynamic businesses requiring flexibility, creative planning, and constant learning. The ability to identify a problem is a must as is adjusting the plan and expectations to remedy the situation as quickly as possible. Finding and purchasing cattle to graze and perform in a managed grazing (in my case now total grazing) is next to impossible. Growing the herd size with your own adapted animals is a slow process, but has shown itself to be the better answer for me in all animal groups; heifers, bulls, and cows.

Shabbat Shalom!

001 is not the fanciest bull in the land, but this 2 year old has shown himself prolific as a yearling, sound on his feet, and clear eyes. He is out of now 8 year old cow who has been a consistent producer. He is quiet and easy to handle. He is 1/4 Corriente and 3/4 Red Angus.

This yearling bull seems to be whispering sweet nothings in this heifer’s ear!

Here’s theyearling bull i chose to join with the 2 year old bull. Although it’s likely the 2 year old can easily service 21 heifers, I’ve had a bad experience having only one bull with a mob – they ALL came up open (not pregnant) That was a very expensive mistake. This 102 bull is also home raised and not fancy, but out of my 21 year old purebred Corriente cow – so adaptation, longevity, and soundness are built in. He is also clear eyed, slick hided, of good disposition, and healthy from birth. He is 1/2 Corriente and 1/2 Red or Black Angus (his coloring makes it tricky to call). His mum is solid red.

Cows Grazing Weeds

We know that goats and sheep are excellent for eating weeds and brush and cows – not as much.

However, with adapted, trained cattle in a nonselective grazing protocal really do a fabulous job with a whole lot less labor and infrastructure (ie – fence that will hold water)

Compare these two photos taken before and after mobbing with total grazing principles.

Before

After

Shabbat Shalom!