Post by eric on Mar 3, 2008 7:36:20 GMT -5
Hi everyone,
My question is kind of a tangent to the discussion Chris in MO started, so I made it a new thread. Before I found this discussion list someone else pointed me to the Stockman Grass Farmer magazine and told me to ask for a sample copy for someone interested in dairy. Although the link to the greenleaf corn article that someone posted here recently was very interesting, I have to say I wasn't impressed with the copy of the magazine I got. The editor had a long and interesting article talking about smoking and the diets of Americans and the French, but it basically did nothing to educate me on managing pastures and forage crops. I was also disappointed not to find a single article dealing specifically with dairy cattle. I was also disappointed by an article talking about the feasibility of management intensive grazing with "small" herds of only 100 head -- I can't remember exactly the number, but it was entirely a different league than I'm in, and it was being talked about as the "small" end of the spectrum. Did I just get a poor example of the magazine, or is my impression fair?
My underlying question is what are the limits of management intensive grazing? First of all, on how small a scale can MIG work well? (How many head of cattle, roughly?) Secondly, what ISN'T management intensive grazing going to accomplish? I suspect in answer to Chris's question, for instance, that no matter how frequently or for how long he practices MIG, certain desirable species aren't ever going to get established without seeding/drilling under the proper conditions. Even more significantly, I suspect that even after establishing whatever new plant species he can, a mixed pasture just isn't going to be able to produce the kind of feed that dairy cattle can do well on year round. Aren't the species that thrive during the easy times of the year (spring) going to outcompete the species that might fill the gap in the hard times (late summer, mid-winter)? With dairy cattle it just seems to my rookie senses that MIG alone is still going to leave some big holes, both seasonally and in terms of protein content, that will need to be filled with purchased feeds. I'm a complete newbie to all this, though -- I think, for example, that the only perennial grass species I might even be able to identify is fescue and that only with luck -- so please educate me!
Yet one more question and I'll quit: when it comes to planting/seeding new things for our cows, where would you all go for specific information on the details of what things to seed, how to get those crops established, and how to manage the crop?
Thanks!
Eric
My question is kind of a tangent to the discussion Chris in MO started, so I made it a new thread. Before I found this discussion list someone else pointed me to the Stockman Grass Farmer magazine and told me to ask for a sample copy for someone interested in dairy. Although the link to the greenleaf corn article that someone posted here recently was very interesting, I have to say I wasn't impressed with the copy of the magazine I got. The editor had a long and interesting article talking about smoking and the diets of Americans and the French, but it basically did nothing to educate me on managing pastures and forage crops. I was also disappointed not to find a single article dealing specifically with dairy cattle. I was also disappointed by an article talking about the feasibility of management intensive grazing with "small" herds of only 100 head -- I can't remember exactly the number, but it was entirely a different league than I'm in, and it was being talked about as the "small" end of the spectrum. Did I just get a poor example of the magazine, or is my impression fair?
My underlying question is what are the limits of management intensive grazing? First of all, on how small a scale can MIG work well? (How many head of cattle, roughly?) Secondly, what ISN'T management intensive grazing going to accomplish? I suspect in answer to Chris's question, for instance, that no matter how frequently or for how long he practices MIG, certain desirable species aren't ever going to get established without seeding/drilling under the proper conditions. Even more significantly, I suspect that even after establishing whatever new plant species he can, a mixed pasture just isn't going to be able to produce the kind of feed that dairy cattle can do well on year round. Aren't the species that thrive during the easy times of the year (spring) going to outcompete the species that might fill the gap in the hard times (late summer, mid-winter)? With dairy cattle it just seems to my rookie senses that MIG alone is still going to leave some big holes, both seasonally and in terms of protein content, that will need to be filled with purchased feeds. I'm a complete newbie to all this, though -- I think, for example, that the only perennial grass species I might even be able to identify is fescue and that only with luck -- so please educate me!
Yet one more question and I'll quit: when it comes to planting/seeding new things for our cows, where would you all go for specific information on the details of what things to seed, how to get those crops established, and how to manage the crop?
Thanks!
Eric