the complete guide to creating great pastures for your Dexter cattle
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 พ.ค. 2024
- If you are considering creating pastures for your Dexters or other cattle by reclaiming overgrown fields or crop land, or if you are searching for the best ways to maintain your pastures in optimal health, this is the video for you! I offer a complete guide to creating and maintaining great pastures, including 4 different methods for how to plant pasture, how to evaluate, test, and prepare the soil, the best pasture plants for both grazing and hay production, how to maintain your pasture to increase its production year after year, and the best methods for grazing your pasture.
website: justafewacres.com/
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email: peterelarson3@gmail.com
I have purchased books and listened to seminars by all the well known regenerative advocates and was always left with the question, how do "I" get started. This video breaks down that process into practical instruction. Now, two years later, I must say that EVERYTHING you advise in this video is spot-on. And, since I don't ever leave comments, I'll add a thank you for always sitting down at the end of your videos to rationalize why you do things. Fatherly advise in a way. My wife and I really appreciate it, and all you do. Thank you!
Hey, that’s great! Glad to hear you are on your way!
I TOTALLY AGREE. We are buying some acres and totally need to replenish the land. Just beginning is hard as you want to do it right!
Just revisiting this video in 2023 and it’s remarkable how this channel has progressed in terms of subscribers from celebrating getting to 1000. Well done Mr.Pete, you’re now over 400K! Not only did you transform your pastures but your channel has blossomed as well! 👍🏻
Regenerative Ag is coming back... finally.
It is amazing how quickly the soil can come back even after almost a century of mono-cropping mismanagement...
Thanks for your videos, glad I found you.
Regenerative Ag has been utilized by farmers since the late 80’s. Media won’t report on it though... it’s all about ‘climate change’
"Our best crop is rocks.". That brought a chuckle! I really appreciate the helpful information you share here on your channel.
Thanks Silas! I wish I could sell those rocks "self service."
Silas DeRoma - too bad the Pet Rock fade has faded.
Tree Climbing maybe it’s time to bring back the pet rocks 🤣🤣. I still have mine in it’s little box
@@JustaFewAcresFarm "Pick Your Own: rocks"
Coulda made a fortune back in the pet Rock daze/craze
More than 1 year later and I find the information here to be timeless wisdom!!! Thank you so much for being the kind of human being who would rather help another human being than to suffer through either hearing or seeing their failure. In my book, that’s what angels do. 😃👍
We started about 15 years ago with having pine woods removed destumped and the ground graded by a pro with the right size equipment. Saved us time and money. We seeded and covered the seed with hay in any spots that were bare as the grass grew. Added lime. We hand picked up an old garbage dump and any old glass, etc. as it washed up. The grass took hold and we rotated horses on it for a few years. Then we got into dairy goats and eventually sold all of the horses. Now we rotate the goats between two established pastures. We never use fertilizer, but do mow about three times a year as we found that there is less edible grass after it goes to seed. Also, mowing high with a bush hog puts down carbon. Works very well for us and the herd. Pastures are lush and diverse with very little trash grass or weed.
I just hope young farmers are watching this video what a excellent workshop,thank you ,not a stone left un turned ,hahaha.
Young farmer (more of a homesteader) here, watching this.
We are :)
I learned more practical knowledge on farming from this video than I have in my entire life.
When we moved to our acreage, it was all weeds, 7 foot tall weeds. I mowed it down with a single blade snapper from the 1980s. Admittedly, I sprayed a lot. I pulled weeds for the first year relentlessly. That’s great information that you gave. From my experience, mowing was the key. The weeds were so bad for the first and second year. I kept mowing. The grass seed was in there and the grass won and I haven’t done anything with my pastures for about six years and they still look absolutely fabulous. Oddly, the sheep took care of the Canadian thistle. They loved it. Weird. Canadian thistle used to be our number one enemy.
Mine is iron weed....😖 but getting better after one year of mowing
@@tennesseegirl5539 It took me two years of mowing and spraying. Admittedly I did spray hard. I had huge pastors of Canadian thistle and other stuff I don’t even know what it was
Hard work pays off. Plus, I find it very relaxing. I enjoy mowing. My horse was so fat this year and healthy, I only fed her oats once a day and she looked better than she ever has!
@@tennesseegirl5539 I enjoy mowing also. I haven’t had time. This last season I only mowed one time. I’m the only one doing chores you’d think with a house full of kids I could enjoy the place a little more.
@@todphillips3935 that's too bad. My Dad made me work at home. I hated it then but now I'm glad he did.
Thank you SOOO much for this video, I love them!! My boyfriend and I just bought our first farm, and we need to revamp our hay fields and this video told me everything I needed to know! I LOVE your channel!
Curious how it ended up going! :) Did you guys end up using any of Pete's methods? We're thinking of taking over 25 acres of clear cut logged land and are thinking we'll use pigs and seed after them.
Western Sweet Timothy grass, Red clover, a little Alfalfa. If you hunt around youtube, you can find Department of Agriculture videos from the 50's/60's where University study was done on "forage blends" looking for nutrition, energy, and just as importantly, how the cattle actually feed on it. Somewhere in the 80's people quit putting Timothy grass in, and soon after clover because "it didn't dry as fast" for the clover and "not as much energy" for the Timothy. Cattle like variety, it makes them happy, happy cattle will eat more, which means they gain more(or make more milk) Timothy grass is a godsend if you plan on baling any hay. Fluffs the windrows, drys fast.
You can do the soil test before you till. Doing it that way you can make a plan before you start. Plow, top dress, use the drag to "mix it in".
As for planting, moldboard plow and a spring tooth drag works best. Don't be afraid to burn a little more fuel to cover with the drag an extra pass, it will save your seat and teeth later when you have to mow and bale the hay on the field. Especially the headlands. Make sure the teeth on the drag are down in the dirt! Especially if you bought a "classic" drag, the teeth were designed to bolt shovels on, but most farmers didn't bother it was too much work and the drags were inexpensive. They should be down in there enough to make the tractor work, otherwise you won't smooth the field and bust the clumps well. I WOULD DO THIS EVEN WITH CASH CROP LAND for pasture use. Odds are really good cash croppers were no tilling(doesn't work, been proven but its faster and DNR likes it for erosion) or using a heavy disc to stir the top up and replanting. Tilling deeper to make the soil "lighter" as well as bury all the trash on top makes the seed bed much nicer.
Plows and drags are inexpensive even if you have to buy, and will hold their inexpensive value if you want to sell them later. Make sure to check condition of the shares on a plow if you pick one up. Look for welds. Old Oliver plows work best, Case is good(because Oliver made them) and Allis Chalmers made a nice plow. IH plows work good in lighter soils, or black earth. Melroe plows are excellent, but require more ground speed. JD plows work well in wide widths(like 16 or 18") at slow speeds. They will all do the job if set up properly.
Grain drill will be most accurate. A nice old Moline or Oliver "Superior" pulled out of an old machine shed works wonders. We planted with a "big steel wheel" 8 foot Oliver with wood bins on it all the way up till the late 80's, when we bought the neighbors old Brillion because it had the cultipacker rolls built into it.
For stones we used an old manure spreader with the rear end missing(the usual demise of the machines anyway from back then, beater would rust to bits). We would knock the floor out and put thick planks in. Fill the wagon, but not extreme, back it into the low land or otherwise, grab the planks and twist/turn on edge. Rocks fall out the bottom. Obviously don't overfill or it will be too heavy. Bucket tractor is still easier, but if you have a big crew of help the wagon is faster.
People raising beef as a hobby should really watch videos like this. Sending the cattle down to whatever area you have and letting them eat whatever swamp grass, quack grass, etc. they can find is a good way to get underweight cattle, and they will taste bad too boot if you have them butchered. Nothing will make you stop and say "huh." and look a the person next to you at the table then biting into a nice looking piece of beef roast and finding out it tastes like Canary grass that got rained on 4 times. Proper forage makes the food taste better, it's not just all for the cattle's enjoyment.
Thank you so much for all this valuable information!
wow, you've gotten 200 times more subscribers in 18 months! the homestead movement is huge!!
It needs to be, for the future.
Gentleman sounds like a professor giving lecture. 👌
Another option when mowing, is adding wood ash to an existing pasture. The high potassium in wood ash really explodes any of existing legumes. You can pay the trucking fees and have a lot of it brought in as the ash is given away for free. We use the wood ash from our wood stove as well. We burn 3 to 4 cord of wood a year, I spread it throughout the winter. My pastures were pretty rough when I started, but the red clover is now blowing up.
Wow, that may be one of the best how to videos I’ve seen. I think your options are spot on. We are living that scenario at the moment.
I have a small gardening business and manage my 2 x very large allotments (parish council rental plots) over the last 25 x years here in England UK. I have established the most wonderful grass garden lawn for a client this spring. From a virgin builders plot of very poor soil. It is quite remarkable that each step you have mentioned on an agricultural level are almost identical to what I have done with my client's garden landscape project. Except.......no cattle grazing this (field) lawn! HaHa. Bravo sir - excellent, most enjoyable TH-cam video.
We have the largest pig producer in our country a few miles away. Apart from the breed stock on his own farm, all the weeners and up live in outside "free range" pens about the size of half a soccer field on other farmers land. About 10 in each pen, they have an arc, get fed and watered everyday and have a decent life before their one bad day.
The farmers get paid a little, but their fields get thoroughly cleaned of weeds and roots. Copious manuring and tilling. End of the year's contract, a drive over with a chain harrow and the field is set for cropping again.
Economic changes mean many farmers locally are slowly changing from arable to pastoral. The fields do really well post pigs with grasses sown straight away, and can be certified organic pasture a year earlier if you want.
Pigs will do the same in woodland and with appropriate fences along hedgerows, destroying the brush and weeds and prevent over crowding of saplings so management is much simpler.
I'm hoping my pigs do this! They're off to a great start!
As nature intended
Amazing video! Every sentence is jam-packed with great advice. Thanks very much for this presentation!
Pet, this is Larry, I am with you on felling about the small farm. I will pray for every day
We have a 30 acres horse farm, and trying to buy 12 more strictly for hay. I came across these videos and they are awesome. Very informative. Thank you.
Great video, learning a lot! Another option for seeding pasture/hayfield in between a drill and a broadcaster is a Brillion style seeder, kind of a combo of a broadcaster and culti-packer. Old ones can be found fairly cheap and they're very simple, mostly ground driven things I believe. At least ours is.
I very much enjoy your videos. I am a pharmacist in north Florida and livestock farm. I have beef cows and Kiko goats. I cut my own hay as well. I have picked up some great ideas from your channel. Thanks.
Great vid. Appreciate you taking the time to explain in detail how you achieved excellent pastures for your cattle. Thank you. From Missouri
You are such a joy to listen to. You really enjoy your life. I share your joy.
I love having the time to check out some of your older stuff, Pete. I have seen most, now. I have the first one of the two you showed here on the farm we just bought, it has been let go about a decade and January and February of this year, our first 2 months, were fraught with running the chainsaw and burning brush. I got a tractor, sorry, it's not red, and I got it fixed up now I am fixing up the old bush hog from the back 40, then I can truly begin working on the pastures.
Nice down-to-earth examination of the process. Thanks!
So glad to come across your account. Really nice video. Its awesome to hear you thank your subscribers for reaching 1000 and to see 1 year later you're over 200k!!! That's insane. Congrats.
Just subscribed today and I am thankful I found you. How incredibly important this is. I travel all over the country and all I see are overworked fields depleted, dead and dried up. Looking for land for small-scale homesteading and creating pasture is where I will begin. Thank you!
Sadly I found this video to late. Now I Can se all the mistankes I made when making my field.
Thanks for a Great video though!
Never is too late
Thank you for blessing us with all this valuable information. Hay crop science in a nutshell! 😇
Pete teaches me a ton with every video. Now I just have to see if all this works on hilly pastures.
Thank you for the information im from southern Arizona and i really been wanting to get into hay as my first crop keep up the great work
Always a pleasure to hear your voice. Thank you,
Thank you for the great information. I appreciate you sharing your land knowledge
This was a great informative video! Just what I needed. I am a first time farmer with zero knowledge and a nearly dead old corn field as my land. Lots of sunflowers and weeds and only scrub for the goats. Have to hay feed my horses entirely. Didn’t know where to start! I have only been able to overseed winter rye so far,Thank you!
Thanks for the very direct and professional instruction. I really appreciate it.
Great video and explains why my field is getting more lush grass every year with only mowing. a good to the point video.
I have found bush hogging 4 times a year really helps establish grasses and choke out the weeds.
Love all of your videos !
Tons of information and always right to the point!
Great info! We will be starting our new pasture this year and this helped a ton
7:12 hey that drag harrow looks familiar lol, not upset in any way for using the video clip, thank you for being around my channel. Found your channel few years ago, really enjoy watching your videos. Stay warm Pete!
You mentioned getting your 1000th subscriber in this video. Now, 16 months later, you are at 170,000 subscribers. Congratulations! Build it (good content) and they will come. 😊
Really appreciate how you lay out these options. May the Lord bless and reward you for bringing all this stewardship information back to the people. We will keep this wisdom and pass it on to our children.
We can’t yet afford a tractor... so here we go. I chuckled at “character building exercise” for the kids. Same here.
I love watching your videos so much good information I’m glad I subscribed to your channel, next your I’m gona be starting my own family farm we can’t wait!!
Am trying to get some pasture going this fall ( if we ever get some rain here in the Midwest) . We just have a couple of acres but you’ve given me some great ideas . Thanks for an informative video!
WOW. What a GREAT find this video is. You answered all the questions I was hoping the CSU Extension Agent would. I just met with him earlier today, and he said to spread Urea over the pasture, incorporate it as best I can with a drag to maximize grass growth, and not to worry too much about seeing clover right now. It's first week of September in Western Colorado.
Seriously, THANK YOU ENORMOUSLY for sharing this exceptionally educational How-To guide to pasture regeneration. You bet I subscribed to your channel right away, saved this link, and shared it to fellow grass farmers for grazing. Thank you for including very critical points about exactly WHEN TO GRAZE AND/OR WHEN TO CUT FOR HAY as well. Incredibly helpful information here.
Love your insight and humor
this is a lot of great information... I'm going to have to watch this one over and over to make sure I get it all! thanks Pete!
Wow an I just subscribed . I’ve been raising few beef for 40 years . I started like you did brush hogging an grazing An it’s come back good . I agree with everything you say here your a smart man like me lol
I work alone so to handle rock I use a skeleton type rock bucket on my skidloader.The skidloader is like having two of me but one doesnt get tired.Plus the rock bucket is made to grub out boulders and large rocks.I once hand cut a cow lot full of canada thistle with a blade type weed cutter.It was late afternoon mid to late July.That evening the cattle came up and ate all those wilted thistles like they were candy.I was surprised.The weed inspector made me cut my pastures thistle.The cows had paths all through them.I was curious so I crawled on a path or two.It was cool in the thistles and grass was growing really well under them.But I had to rotary mow it or face a fine.The state University thistle study field was across the gravel road.They didn't mow it .It was wild,8 -9 foot tall thistles. I mowed mine and the pasture immediately burnt up.Then Russian ryegrass moved in,produced a heavy thatch and now it needs tillage.So the thistles actually werent the worst .Apparently thistles have a deep Taproot and bring up sulfur.
Went back wacth again. Thank you pete
Amazing the amount of growth on your channel!! Congratulations!!!
Really enjoy your videos! Very informative and easy to understand. Thanks for the good works.
So glad I found your channel. Great info! 👍
And now you have over 65K subscribers! Not surprised. Your content is excellent!
And now 154,000.......way to go Pete.
Such a helpful video to a new farmer like me, thank you so much!!
I spent my childhood picking rocks. It is indeed character building as well as sibling bonding. We used what was called a stone boat, a heavy metal sled that was low enough to lever the big rocks on and off. I still have a beautiful large 35lb chunk that is multi-colored red/white/blue that decorates my gardens and reminds me of times gone by.
Exactly the info I have been looking for. Thank you so much for your wealth of knowledge!!
Great video Pete - love your tractors
1,000 subscribers a year ago....now at 148,000 subscribers....you are obviously doing something right. Glad I found your channel !!
I found this very helpful. Thank you!
-Steve
So informative, thank you so much, I am looking forward to hearing more from you.
First thing. Get electric fencing. Use a hot tape front and back worked out on a days grazing for your whole herd. Sow seed directly into that days grazing area just using the broadcast method. Put your whole herd concentrated into that area for the day. Your livestock will hoove that seed to the soil surface and due to the high density stock numbers will tromp any uneaten hayed off grasses to the ground where it will help cover the seed and retain moisture. If you have very high grass like in the first shot vetch is very good mixed with other species. The next day another area of a days grazing next to the first one is done the same. It’s important to move the back fence behind so as to stop stock from going over the ground they have just been on. This process is repeated until you’ve reseeded your pasture. It’s important to have the right amount of stock for the land available so you allow pasture recovery and it’s only grazed once you see the first yellow leaves so as to retain some litter and provide enough roughage for correct rumen function. This is all a very cheap system and over time as you establish more perennial diverse species you will at least double,your stocking rates because basically you’re growing more feed. I strongly disagree that your stock won’t eat thistles and that they should be mowed down. You should never mow, it’s a waste of fuel plus it’s a miss understanding of the function of thistles because they are mother nature’s chisel ploughs that provide biological services for free. They are tap rooted and once they die provide a deep watering and aeration service for zero cost plus they pump sugar exudates into the soil feeding micro organisms. They also provide a lot of habitat for baby lady beetles because they produce sugars that attract aphids. None of this can be achieved without a planned grazing system. You need to estimate your feed days for the next six to eight weeks and make stocking rate adjustments to match the feed estimates. If you don’t do that you will be buying fodder and there is not much point in doing that.
Interesting, thanks.
👍🏼😎
A donkey or some goats might eat the thistles.
Congrads on 1000 subs. Keep up the great channel. I am an old farm boy and I love the way you operate. Reminds me of my youth in Alberta.
Pete, thanks for the very timely and informative presentation. Smoothing my field is one big concern. It beats me badly just mowing. So one objective I have is to smooth it so I can move at a faster speed. I'll be revisiting this video.
Well put together with old school methods. Thanks!
Thank you thank you, thank you! I'm looking at purchasing an old farm that has 13 acres of old farmland, and no one has been able to tell me how to turn that into pasture/hayfield.
Pete - incredible help here. Thank you.
Just found your channel today, suscribed and have watched several of your videos. One thing you didn't mention and may not have available in your area. We can rent a no till seed driller from our county farm service. As well as they sell seed. We use that method to revitalize pasture and hay fields from time to time. There is a per day charge as well as an acre charge on it. It has a meter. I does take a a decent size tractor to pull it. We can also rent a heavy roller at a pretty modest price to help put rocks back down in the ground or to roll if you seed after tilling. You produce interesting and informative videos. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Pete. great video, very informative, exactly the help i needed!
Exactly the video I was looking for!! Subscribed
Congratulations on the 1k! We are trying to start our dexter herd next year and are soaking up all of your great knowledge for across the farm!
Thanks Todd!
Wow. What an informative video. Thanks. You learned a lot doing this.
This is the second time I've watched this video. First time I didn't really understand it all. It required a bit of experience first. I have 2 acres pasture and I am running a small flock of sheep and goats on it. I can see the wisdom in all these steps now. After my first discing and harrowing, rocks were everywhere... Amongst other other junk found in the fields. And there are many weeds the goats or sheep just don't want. And if I wait too long to graze it or mow it, the grass goes to seed and dies back. So after watching it again, it all makes a lot of sense now.
What a great video!! Very informative and concise. You are a very excellent teacher,👍✨
Really liked the video, very helpful. Just getting ready to burn mine off and follow similar patterns. Hope alls well, wish you the best.
Very well done and thorough video. Thank you. I'm taking back a 20 acre farm that half was rented out and the rest over grown
I laughed out loud - "our best crop is rocks." 😆😁
Great video with a lot of useful information!
great video; so helpful for pasture renovation and establishment
I so much enjoy your detailed review of a Liam husbandry and East till basics. I do not know if you get time to review much history but I think you would enjoy the farming management of medieval European farms. Roughly similar in size. Farm management parallels your activities. Really interesting and satisfying to watch your channel and enjoy. Thank you for sharing your window. Sometime perhaps note somewhere on your channel where one can purchase some Dexter beef. Looks like a well marbles grass fed. My back ground is Hereford purebreds. Lots of corn but pretty docile animals also. I grew up in a 400 acre farm central Iowa. Different issues different answers.👍👍
Invaluable info and advice -- 1 acre or 100. Thank you!
Such useful info.. Thanks so much from Africa.
Just an excellent presentation...Thank you!
WOW 1 year ago you had only 1000 Subs now nearly 100,000 Subs. Way to grow the audience. Clearly people have a big interest in home grow organic food.
Great video Pete!!! That bright red bracket holding the alternator looks great!!!
love your vids , greetings from Czech republic from horse and sheep hobby farmer
Great information. Great presentation. Thanks!
You're a natural educator. Thanks for the great vid.
Fantastic info and to the point. Thx for sharing!
1000 Subs on this video! Look at your channel now. Doing awesome. Well done and keep up the great content. Debating rejuvenating our pastures as the drought has taken it's toll on them.
Love going back and watching your older videos... We have 100ac of rocks to pick... Starts next week :P
Another brilliant video. Thanks!!
This will help me a lot for planning my pastured farming. Hope it will worked. Thank you sir,Subscribed.
Thank you for all the fabulous information!
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
Thank you, very interesting video I learned a lot.
Thank you Sir!
Ashland, Ohio
Excellent Pete 👍
This helped a lot!! Thanks!
great info for beginners and well rounded. thank you :)
Great video s... Keep them coming lad.. 👌
The only guy ever to say "unfortunately its startung to rain" while trying to grow pasture lol.