No idea where to start

[Nicole Irene]

Hello all,

I have been reading for days and I need some *really* basic questions answered.

Background:
*5 acres in central CA (outside of Sacramento)
*2 pigs (Berks....they may be due July 4th, but we really have no idea, it was our, er, Hubby's, first attempt at AI)
*2 Nigerian dwarfs (cause they are just too cute)
*lots of chicks (that my daughter incubated) and others that are layers, all free range and we have to fight the pup for the eggs (and, wow, she is good at finding them!)
*2 ducks (cause they are cute and they were supposed to hang out at the pond, but are apparently opposed to water)
*3 rescue kitties and 1 other kitty
*3 dogs (the egg stealing cocker spaniel, our 13 year old SPCA and our 2 month old Great Pyrenees/Akbash to help combat our neighboring egg-stealing fox)
*6 Jacob sheep (food and lawn mowers, though not so good at the latter)
*1 cranky old Arabian for my daughter to learn horse back riding (he is awful with everyone but her)

....and, the cutest cow ever!! ;D Ok, I am biased, I know. Oh, and she is a jersey due in June.

Ok....having said all that....

hubby and I are both teachers with a passion for self sufficiency and we have finally managed to start our little hobby farm. I do consider it a hobby as we both work outside the home and it is costing us a ton of money.

Anyhow, we are trying to start "growing" food for our pigs. I don't particularly care for having to buy corn that is most likely GM. Unfortunately, organic in our area is very expensive. So, we are trying to start providing food for our pigs in the way of milk, pasture, home grown squash, apples and almonds.

As for the questions:

Now, for some reason I thought that jerseys were good at converting pasture to milk, but I guess that isn't the case? Does being in a moderate climate like the central valley of California make a difference?

I think we have more weeds at this point than "pasture". We have a ton of foxtails. Awful for our cocker. Anyhow, we bought 50 lbs of multi-purpose pasture seeds, but (brace for the really dumb, er, naive, question), how the heck do we plant an acre of seeds??? We have no tractor. I was thinking of letting the pigs tear down one area and then just throwing down the seeds?? Do we need to make sure the weeds are mowed down? Do we have to rent a tractor and till?

Thanks in advance!!

Nicole

[olivehill]

Now, for some reason I thought that jerseys were good at converting pasture to milk, but I guess that isn't the case? Does being in a moderate climate like the central valley of California make a difference?

Quality of nutrition makes a difference. Is she just on "pasture" or are you graining her too? If your pasture is mostly weeds it's highly unlikely to be enough to support her, especially while in milk. Also, because she's late in lactation that could be causing the taper off in milk production. (Or so I have read... I'm just learning about cows too.) Are you drying her off before she calves?

I think we have more weeds at this point than "pasture". We have a ton of foxtails. Awful for our cocker. Anyhow, we bought 50 lbs of multi-purpose pasture seeds, but (brace for the really dumb, er, naive, question), how the heck do we plant an acre of seeds??? We have no tractor. I was thinking of letting the pigs tear down one area and then just throwing down the seeds?? Do we need to make sure the weeds are mowed down? Do we have to rent a tractor and till?

You can broadcast by hand, it'll just take a while. Using the pigs as tillers is fine. You may want to drag a harrow (rent or borrow one) or an old bed spring over it after the hogs have gone through to level the soil back out. Or, if you have the fencing to do it, you can run the hogs on a small patch to till it, move them on to another and then run the chickens through behind them to even it out. Repeat until all of the land has been tilled and leveled. Seed as you go along. Yes, it's a good idea to keep the weeds mowed down. Otherwise they will go to seed and choke out whatever it is you're planting. Pretty soon all you've got is a pasture full of junk weeds.

[Nicole Irene]

We give her a big red scoop of grain every day (about 2 lbs?). We throw her a flake of hay occasionally, as well (ok, one flake today and we have had her less than a week).

She is not lactating; this will be her first birth.

Thanks for the advice; we currently have a pasture full of junk weed. So, we will try to fix one section at a time. I have no idea how we will ever eradicate that foxtail.

On a similar subject, we tilled under our 1 year old fruit trees to take advantage of the space while the trees are still small. We planted a bunch of squash and corn. Surprisingly, we now have nightshade coming up all over the place. I can only hope the squash and corn can get ahead of the nightshade and other weeds.

[wyomama]

You can graze off the foxtail before it forms seed heads. If you put the pigs on it or put the cow on it and overgraze it into oblivion, and then plant, that should give your desirable grasses a chance to take over.

You'll have to start with a section at a time - one project at a time. Keep the foxtail and weeds mowed as best you can where you aren't reseeding. I'm not a fan of tilling and seeding - when you are doing that with land that has been mistreated, you (as you learned) often just open up the ground and provide good growing conditions for a bumper crop of weed seed that has just been waiting. Nature abhors a vacuum.

[olivehill]

There is not much that is purposely cultivated for food that can out grow weeds. If you want those plants to produce you should weed around them. After that you can put down a thick straw mulch to help keep the work to a minimum later on.

Also be careful tilling under fruit trees. Many have very shallow roots. You could kill them by doing so.

After, and even during, this season you'll want to heavily amend the soil there, too. Corn is a VERY heavy feeder, it'll take all the nutrients in the soil and leave nothing for your trees.

[wyomama]

May 21, 2011 7:55:53 GMT -5 olivehill said:

There is not much that is purposely cultivated for food that can out grow weeds.

Yes, that's an important distinction.

[Jenn]

I am going to be BLUNT because you need to hear it if you really want to be self sufficient.

Is she losing weight? She needs free choice hay. One flake feeds a goat, a cow gets the bale.

The good news is you DON'T have to buy seed. It doesn't surprise me that nightshade popped up when you tilled. The "seed bank" is immense, full of seeds (good and bad) just waiting for the right conditions.

You WILL need to educate yourself on grass and how it grows. Pasture management caused the foxtails and pasture management ( along with fertilization, if needed) can get rid of them. I highly recommend the book "Grass Productivity" by Andre Voison....it is not an easy read, but it is the pioneering book and still the best IMO.

Ditch the horse if you want to feed your cow on 5 acres without buying in a LOT of feed. I am originally from Solano/Sonoma/Marin County and I know exactly the kind of pasture you are talking about. You may even want to focus on goats for a few years until you get your pasture in shape for a cow....or just be prepared to buy more feed during your learning curve.

There is nothing specific about being Jersey that prevents her from converting grass into milk. The nutrition has to be in the grass to begin with, now matter what the cow. The cow needs to be healthy enough to digest and assimilate the nutrients in the grass.

-Jenn

[Nicole Irene]

Thanks for all of the advice. I like blunt.

I have heard that tilling isn't great from Farmer Fred, our local radio talk show guy. The only reason we did that under our trees was because of the previous conditions. The prior owner (we have now been in this house a year) was fond of piles. So, we had piles of rocks (big ones, little ones, really little ones), piles of sand, piles of dg, piles of junk, piles of lumber and piles of dirt. All over. The first year we planted around it and this year we rented a tractor to relocate the rock away from my trees and garden. Then, we tried to just level everything out.

The back area is now our next project. Our animals look healthy...no one is losing weight. Unfortunately, our horse looks a little too healthy, to the point of looking like an old man with a gigantic beer belly. So, our pasture was good enough to bulk up our horse to the point that we needed to remove him from it. Now, we limit his pasture time. I heard Arabians were easy keepers.

Here is my blog if anyone would like to see pictures and tell me if something looks glaringly bad. Also, please excuse my generally sarcastic nature, as I usually only share the blog with those that know me.

woodwardhousehold.blogspot.com/

[Jenn]

She doesn't look to be in bad shape...I guess I am confused by the "not converting grass to milk well" comment. She's never been in milk, right? Is she clipped or is her poll hair really, really flat?

Horses and cows are very different in their feed requirements. They eat different too...a pasture that can fatten an easy keeper pet horse can starve a cow...even a dry cow, much less an in milk cow. A cow likes to eat with her tongue. She prefers at least 6-10 inches so she can wrap her tongue around the blades and pull. She can "bite" grass, but physically can't bite as close to the ground as a horse. There is very little nutrition for her at the bottom of the grass either.


Oh...a dry mustard or pepper filled egg will go a long way to discouraging egg eating.

-Jenn

[Nicole Irene]

May 21, 2011 10:42:12 GMT -5 Jenn said:

She doesn't look to be in bad shape...I guess I am confused by the "not converting grass to milk well" comment. She's never been in milk, right? Is she clipped or is her poll hair really, really flat?

Horses and cows are very different in their feed requirements. They eat different too...a pasture that can fatten an easy keeper pet horse can starve a cow...even a dry cow, much less an in milk cow. A cow likes to eat with her tongue. She prefers at least 6-10 inches so she can wrap her tongue around the blades and pull. She can "bite" grass, but physically can't bite as close to the ground as a horse. There is very little nutrition for her at the bottom of the grass either.


Oh...a dry mustard or pepper filled egg will go a long way to discouraging egg eating.

-Jenn

heh...I like the egg idea and getting revenge on my little stinker of a dog

Our "grass" is long right now. It is at least 8" up front (in areas) and more in the back. The sheep never even made a dent. I just don't like all of the foxtails I see and I have *no* idea what any of it is. Half the time, I don't even know if the sprouts in my garden are weeds or something I planted. My city girl upbringing.

Our cow has never had a calf (is she known as a heifer?), so I was wondering about her being mostly pastured in the near future when we are milking her. Our vet said she would be fine on pasture as long as we gave her a scoop of grain every day. However, I was wondering if that would be enough given all of our foxtails. I just want to make sure we are giving her what she needs. I'll take some pasture pictures and maybe that will help?

And, finally, yes, she has been clipped. She was raised by a 4H'er that took her to county fairs. She won "Reserve Supreme Champion" last year at the Dixon May Fair. You can tell she was hand raised because she follows us around like a giant puppy.

[Jenn]

Foxtail is a wild "barley". The fact that it has gone to seed means it is over mature and should be clipped. The clipping will decompose and feed the soil for the next rotation. Grass has a metabolism. It needs to grow and rest. You can increase it's metabolism by grazing intensely, then letting it rest completley before grazing again.

Part of grass management is finding the balance between immature and over mature. The best nutrition is when the grass is in it's vegetative state BEFORE it goes to seed....in really poor soil, I've seen grass go to seed at 2-3 inches in height. Some grasses, like bermuda, never get really tall anyway...some grasses, their "ideal" height is more like 14 inches.

-Jenn

[Nicole Irene]

Foxtail is a wild barley? Wonder if we can turn it into something useful, like beer.

I have included a link to our pasture pictures. We essentially have 3 areas. See:
picasaweb.google.com/Nicole.Irene.2007/May212011Pastures?authkey=Gv1sRgCJuu4t-d7c2jrgE&feat=directlink

Pasture 1 is about 0.6 acres. This is where we have our cow, now. We could easily put sprinklers out for this area and then seed after she grazes it down.

Pasture 2 is about 0.68 acres with built in irrigation. The sheep get lost in this area. Should we seed over or keep as is and just make it part of the rotation?

Pasture 3 is 1.13 acres. The prior owners kept their horses in this area and it is really hard packed. My husband wants to till it to simply break up the soil. Can/should we do that? Or move the pigs for awhile?

We were not rotating due to the low number of critters (6 sheep and a horse). They tend to rotate themselves. However, we now have the gates to the back 2 pastures to keep the cow separated from the ram.

[Jenn]

There is hardly any food in those pastures for your cow. I know it looks like a LOT, but it isn't. It's NOT about reseeding or tilling is about managing what you already have. Rye grass (a favorite of dairy farmers around here) wouldn't be good food either if you let it go to seed like that. Ideally, you want one days pasture access at a time...up to 3-5 days at most.

-Jenn

[Laura G in Idaho]

Took a look at your pics. You need to mow and irrigate. If the cow doesn't eat it down before it goes to seed, then you need to mow it for her.