Would love to know how you established the cover crop in the previous hay stand. Also after the intensive graze this summer. Do you plant anything else for the next fallow year.
We don’t normally use cover crops. We did this year because we got the lease in late 2023 and didn’t have an opportunity to stockpile. This farm is also predominantly warm season forage and I didn’t want to wait to start grazing. I used an old John Deere 750 no till drill to drill directly into existing forage. It had been recently hayed, so the cover came up super easy
Great channel and I really align with your thoughts and process. I'm a big follower of Greg Judy. Not in the cattle or ranching business whatsoever, but soil biology is a bit of a hobby for me. I love large-scale projects that transform soil and damaged landscapes. I understand you added the perennial rye. Did you run an aerator? Might help with the hard pan? Interesting that you are resting half of your space for nine months. Do you get much more benefit than if you had just rested it for 4 months? Seems like you would just get into senescence and those areas would benefit from a 4 hour light graze to further stimulate growth, right? Lastly, came across this video a couple years ago and thought you might enjoy it. I always thought that any rancher that uses mineral might be able to implement this biochar idea without too much difficulty, but everyone's setup is different. Not sure if Doug ever figured out if he is sequestering more carbon and/or releasing less methane. Love the dung beetles. Anyway, thank you so much for posting and sharing your path. th-cam.com/video/6-je_trSuYA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=tGLkzny7x25DvUAD
I love Greg Judy. We used a similar grazing style to his for years. We moved to a more intensive style of management full time this year so we could increase stocking rates and ultimately maximize sustainable profit per acre
Was just thinking of your channel the other day. Great to see new stuff popping up. So you say you down sized. What's your main breed of cows your running or is it possibly a mixture of em? Keep doing what your doing
At the 5:54 min mark you mention 1/8 acre and 4 moves. That is 4 moves per day, correct? Thanks for clarifying. Also in terms of a future video, hearing more about the cover crop choice and establishment would be great!
Not trying to be mean, but I can see a lot of death triangle showing in that herd, like they've been limited too much. Maybe they need more frequent moves or larger paddocks?
We want their rumen empty in the morning and full as they move into the final paddock. My footage is all taken in the mornings. You can look at the body condition on the animals and tell they aren’t starving. All the South polls are in a condition of 6+ (except my 18 year old cow) and the Corrientes are quite thick for Corrientes. Having said that, there’s no way a 1400 lb cow could handle this management style, but nobody should have a 1400 lb cow unless they are hobby farming or determined to go broke.
@@grazing365 👍very good! 12 to 16, i think is what the alleys were for going into our CAFO milk parlor or out in the sand stall pens. So that sounds excellent for cow flow! Great for a mob! Love hearing/reading the "how" and "why" of graziers like you, Gabe Brown, Allen Williams, Ray Archuleta, Jim Gerrish, Will Harris, Allan Savory, Steve Kenyon, Richard Perkins, Shaun of Integrity Ranch, Russ Wilson, Joel Salatin. My intro to regen ag was Joel's Pastured Poultry Profits; Salad Bar Beef; Gabe's Dirt to Soil; Judy's 3 grazing books; and watching lots of the grazier group presentations. Teddy Gentry's story of breeding South Polls is a neat genetic tale. Thanks for your clear explainations, for generally very graceful camera panning, and nothing but natural background sounds. Would love to see my brothers go regen, but their beefers are under roof. The sand stalls were ripped out and it is now a bedding pack. They l❤ve to run big equipment... A couple of the teen-aged nieces and nephews seem interested in multi-species grazing 🥰. Yippee! Blessings!
We stockpile whatever grows. We actually have very little fescue unfortunately. It’s possible to stockpile warm season grasses and carry them through the winter on them. You just have to be sure to supplement protein if you do. Their manure will tell you what you need to know. If it stacks, add more protein. If it runs, less protein, more fiber
@@grazing365 we use the manure to help us decide protein needs. It is a great tool. We also run Southpoll and they are amazing. For me the question is - yes you can stockpile warm season grass (let’s say Bermuda). After the first freeze the nutritional value drops considerably. Or you could have baled that same Bermuda pasture and fed a higher quality forage during the winter. I am not trying to be argumentative, I am just sharing with you our struggle in Bermuda country. Thanks for some good content.
No offense taken. I agree wholeheartedly. That is the question. I think with highly adapted animals you’re better off feeding stockpile. With more conventional genetics I’d either bale the hay and/or cull very aggressively to move towards adapted genes
With that split for winter forage, what ratio of cattle per acre would you run? For example if I was doing cow/calf model on my 70 acres in SC Missouri...
Depends on your cows. This type of management requires adapted animals. The typical 1400 lb cow would struggle being grazed non-selectively. If you have small to moderate framed animals, I’d start by grazing 1/2 my farm on 100% of the local recommended stocking rate. In other words, however many I’d stock on 70 acres in your environment, I’d graze that many on 1/2 the farm. The other half stockpile.
Radishes used to be considered the best for breaking up hard pan but guys like Gabe Brown, Allen Williams, etc are now recommending perennial grasses and their fibrous roots as the better. I’d agree
It probably isn’t the best we kept our bushogs but sold our hay equipment we brushog everything in July above the leaves on the grass then in fall we ll just get the weedest fields that keeps our land owners happy. I’m not sure what we would do if we didn’t already have the bushogs
@@user-uh9kn7et6p we have bushogs but we don’t want to touch half the farm each year for the entire growing season. That’s our grazing stockpile we use instead of hay. A lot of landowners are crazy about it
Recovering from surgery last year I found your videos glad your back. I told my land owners that pretty doesn’t make it profitable .
AMEN!!!!
So good to see you again Ben, you have been missed!
Thanks!
Glad you are back…. No rush Brother… when you have time to make a video… we will gladly watch… wish you all well…
I appreciate that
Good to see you back Ben. We have missed you. Another great video thanks mate. That looks like a nice lease for the cattle
Thanks! It sure is. We just need to get it stocked. Sold over half the herd prior to winter.
The grass looks great. The cows look to be enjoying that meal.
Thanks! I think they’re quite happy
Good looking cattle. Thank you for sharing.🐂🐂
You’re Welcome! Thanks for watching and commenting
Good to have you back!!🎉
Thank you!!
Would love to know how you established the cover crop in the previous hay stand. Also after the intensive graze this summer. Do you plant anything else for the next fallow year.
We don’t normally use cover crops. We did this year because we got the lease in late 2023 and didn’t have an opportunity to stockpile. This farm is also predominantly warm season forage and I didn’t want to wait to start grazing. I used an old John Deere 750 no till drill to drill directly into existing forage. It had been recently hayed, so the cover came up super easy
Welcome back buddy!
Hey, thanks!
48 inch rain. Nice!
It helps
Cows look good!
Thanks!
Great channel and I really align with your thoughts and process. I'm a big follower of Greg Judy. Not in the cattle or ranching business whatsoever, but soil biology is a bit of a hobby for me. I love large-scale projects that transform soil and damaged landscapes.
I understand you added the perennial rye. Did you run an aerator? Might help with the hard pan? Interesting that you are resting half of your space for nine months. Do you get much more benefit than if you had just rested it for 4 months? Seems like you would just get into senescence and those areas would benefit from a 4 hour light graze to further stimulate growth, right?
Lastly, came across this video a couple years ago and thought you might enjoy it. I always thought that any rancher that uses mineral might be able to implement this biochar idea without too much difficulty, but everyone's setup is different. Not sure if Doug ever figured out if he is sequestering more carbon and/or releasing less methane. Love the dung beetles.
Anyway, thank you so much for posting and sharing your path.
th-cam.com/video/6-je_trSuYA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=tGLkzny7x25DvUAD
I love Greg Judy. We used a similar grazing style to his for years. We moved to a more intensive style of management full time this year so we could increase stocking rates and ultimately maximize sustainable profit per acre
Welcome back
Thank you!
Was just thinking of your channel the other day. Great to see new stuff popping up. So you say you down sized. What's your main breed of cows your running or is it possibly a mixture of em? Keep doing what your doing
Primarily South Polls with some Corriente mixed in
At the 5:54 min mark you mention 1/8 acre and 4 moves. That is 4 moves per day, correct? Thanks for clarifying. Also in terms of a future video, hearing more about the cover crop choice and establishment would be great!
Yes, 4 moves into a new 1/8 acre each time for a total of 1/2 acre for the day
Not trying to be mean, but I can see a lot of death triangle showing in that herd, like they've been limited too much. Maybe they need more frequent moves or larger paddocks?
We want their rumen empty in the morning and full as they move into the final paddock. My footage is all taken in the mornings. You can look at the body condition on the animals and tell they aren’t starving. All the South polls are in a condition of 6+ (except my 18 year old cow) and the Corrientes are quite thick for Corrientes. Having said that, there’s no way a 1400 lb cow could handle this management style, but nobody should have a 1400 lb cow unless they are hobby farming or determined to go broke.
How wide do you mmake your water lane? Forages look very fine!
It’s about 12 feet
@@grazing365 👍very good! 12 to 16, i think is what the alleys were for going into our CAFO milk parlor or out in the sand stall pens. So that sounds excellent for cow flow! Great for a mob! Love hearing/reading the "how" and "why" of graziers like you, Gabe Brown, Allen Williams, Ray Archuleta, Jim Gerrish, Will Harris, Allan Savory, Steve Kenyon, Richard Perkins, Shaun of Integrity Ranch, Russ Wilson, Joel Salatin. My intro to regen ag was Joel's Pastured Poultry Profits; Salad Bar Beef; Gabe's Dirt to Soil; Judy's 3 grazing books; and watching lots of the grazier group presentations. Teddy Gentry's story of breeding South Polls is a neat genetic tale. Thanks for your clear explainations, for generally very graceful camera panning, and nothing but natural background sounds. Would love to see my brothers go regen, but their beefers are under roof. The sand stalls were ripped out and it is now a bedding pack. They l❤ve to run big equipment... A couple of the teen-aged nieces and nephews seem interested in multi-species grazing 🥰. Yippee! Blessings!
What grass types are you stockpiling? I am assuming the main grass is fescue. Thanks
We stockpile whatever grows. We actually have very little fescue unfortunately. It’s possible to stockpile warm season grasses and carry them through the winter on them. You just have to be sure to supplement protein if you do. Their manure will tell you what you need to know. If it stacks, add more protein. If it runs, less protein, more fiber
@@grazing365 we use the manure to help us decide protein needs. It is a great tool. We also run Southpoll and they are amazing. For me the question is - yes you can stockpile warm season grass (let’s say Bermuda). After the first freeze the nutritional value drops considerably. Or you could have baled that same Bermuda pasture and fed a higher quality forage during the winter. I am not trying to be argumentative, I am just sharing with you our struggle in Bermuda country. Thanks for some good content.
No offense taken. I agree wholeheartedly. That is the question. I think with highly adapted animals you’re better off feeding stockpile. With more conventional genetics I’d either bale the hay and/or cull very aggressively to move towards adapted genes
With that split for winter forage, what ratio of cattle per acre would you run? For example if I was doing cow/calf model on my 70 acres in SC Missouri...
Depends on your cows. This type of management requires adapted animals. The typical 1400 lb cow would struggle being grazed non-selectively. If you have small to moderate framed animals, I’d start by grazing 1/2 my farm on 100% of the local recommended stocking rate. In other words, however many I’d stock on 70 acres in your environment, I’d graze that many on 1/2 the farm. The other half stockpile.
I am surprised you didn't add radishes to help
Radishes used to be considered the best for breaking up hard pan but guys like Gabe Brown, Allen Williams, etc are now recommending perennial grasses and their fibrous roots as the better. I’d agree
Beautiful paddocks, what breed are your running?
The red ones are south polls and the Corrientes are the ones with horns and a face that only a mother could love
@@grazing365 good to know thanks
Did you lose your big lease?
We gave it up
It probably isn’t the best we kept our bushogs but sold our hay equipment we brushog everything in July above the leaves on the grass then in fall we ll just get the weedest fields that keeps our land owners happy. I’m not sure what we would do if we didn’t already have the bushogs
@@user-uh9kn7et6p we have bushogs but we don’t want to touch half the farm each year for the entire growing season. That’s our grazing stockpile we use instead of hay. A lot of landowners are crazy about it