Post by rosalind on May 7, 2016 14:35:51 GMT -5
2 acres is great for a cow/calf pair and even gives you some flexibility if you want to have a cow, yearling, and calf. Try your 3-4 paddocks, but consider a sacrifice lot (either up around the barn area or one of the main paddocks) where you can keep the cow in non-pasture months and where you can keep her if your pasture dries up. It'll keep her from overgrazing and wearing down the good areas.
I'd highly recommend a central alley that leads back to the barn (or close) and has a water trough near the entrance. Why? So that your cow always comes back to drink and so that she knows where home is. We milk our cows twice a day, and having a central alley with a water trough means that most of the time we can walk out when the cows come up to drink and lead them over to the milking area. Very simple.
50' apart for fenceposts sounds silly to me. Our exterior fence is all T posts and wood posts, but at most they are 20-30 feet apart. Our dividing fences that separate the paddocks are just fiberglass/plastic/metal cheapy posts and one strand of electric. It doesn't need to be more than that, plus if you decide to change your paddock layout, they're super simple to move.
We have a solar fencer. Bought the smallest unit Premier One has and it works great (they don't even sell one that small anymore, but it's worked for us on our 6 acre pasture and we still use if for new paddocks we're reclaiming). Might not be the cheapest option, but everything we've bought from Premier has lasted a long time and is still in nearly new working order. www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=51616
I'd highly recommend a central alley that leads back to the barn (or close) and has a water trough near the entrance. Why? So that your cow always comes back to drink and so that she knows where home is. We milk our cows twice a day, and having a central alley with a water trough means that most of the time we can walk out when the cows come up to drink and lead them over to the milking area. Very simple.
50' apart for fenceposts sounds silly to me. Our exterior fence is all T posts and wood posts, but at most they are 20-30 feet apart. Our dividing fences that separate the paddocks are just fiberglass/plastic/metal cheapy posts and one strand of electric. It doesn't need to be more than that, plus if you decide to change your paddock layout, they're super simple to move.
We have a solar fencer. Bought the smallest unit Premier One has and it works great (they don't even sell one that small anymore, but it's worked for us on our 6 acre pasture and we still use if for new paddocks we're reclaiming). Might not be the cheapest option, but everything we've bought from Premier has lasted a long time and is still in nearly new working order. www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=51616