anyone have exclusively grass-fed dairy cows?

agmantoo · #21 11/07/09, 08:56 PM

I can carry a broodcow and her calf on 1.24 acres, the cow for 365 days and the calf until it reaches approximately 550 lbs. Feeding no hay and no grain and I have done this for years. I have also ceased buying commercial fertilizer.

jirwin · #22 11/10/09, 09:11 AM

Snowville Creamery? Ohio. Check out this site. http://www.snowvillecreamery.com/

francismilker · #23 11/10/09, 11:29 AM

It's all about genetics and pasture management. I've got some jerseys that wouldn't stay fat on knee deep alfalfa and bermuda grass if they were on it year-round getting fed corn and cottonseed hulls twice a day. I've got others that will stay fat on ragweed. I'll know after this winter's feeding program which to cull and which to keep based upon fertility and body condition.
For now, I'm just waiting to see how it goes.

As far as putting commercial fertilizer on the pastures, I can't afford it anymore. I do use a small amount of my hayfields if finances permit though. I like to keep phospherous and potassium levels sufficient.
I've found the best most economical fertilizer I can get comes out the back end of the cows and chickens. I just drag a pasture with a hillbilly homemade harrow once or twice a month to knock down the piles and let the rain do the rest.

I will say I've recently gotten on a good spray regimen. For me it's cheaper to spray than to buy the diesel and time it takes to cover the pasture with a brushhog. Having an infestation with some really undesireable weeds I feel once I get them under some kind of control I ought to be able to handle them with rotational grazing.

agmantoo · #24 11/10/09, 12:22 PM

francismilker
I cannot support what I am about to type but I am of the opinion that something that I have not previously recognized has or is happening with my rotational grazing. I believe that with close allocating of the paddocks that the cattle have adapted to eating what was previously ignored and thought to be weeds. Following the drought of 2007, I started moving the herd daily in order to maximize the use of the forages. As the weather and the forages improved I continued the daily moves. We had a good wet growing season this year but I have noticed less weeds than any time previous. Come next growing season, I suggest you try limiting the cattle to a more restricted area and if circumstance permit maybe move as much as twice per day in the most weed infected area and not spraying at all. Remember that tolerant plants are not killed by spraying but surely they are stressed. I learned this from raising soybeans.
As for reducing cost of fuel and time have you considered brush hogging and dragging the manure in a single trip. I have a hitch now on my brush hog and can and do pull both. As I overseed, I pull the harrow and distribute seed at the same time.

Lazy J · #25 11/10/09, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 65284

Not a big operation and not getting rich, but that's not the point.

That is the key, the commercial dairyman wants to have a standard of living similar to his non-farming brethren. To do so they have determined that larger numbers of cows is the way to do this.

francismilker · #26 11/10/09, 02:41 PM

Agman,
Interesting point you make about the weeds. I too have noticed most of my herd will eat what I consider to be non-desirable weeds. Especially when they're young and tender.
What I'm having to spray for is bitter-sneeze weeds, bullnettles, and horsenettles.

The cattle clean the nettles out of hay exceptionally well. But, the bittersneeze weeds they ignore and spread the seeds out as they travel. I've also noticed they eat the mature seresa lespadiza well when it's in hay but will only eat it growing in it's young tender state.

If I can get the bitter weeds under a bit more control I think I can get atop of it with rotational grazing on regular moves for the cows.

To give you an idea of what I'm facing, I'm in SE Oklahoma where the only flat, tillable ground is along river beds and major creeks where years of erosion has created nice bottoms along both sides. I'm in the upland with very little bottom land. I'm atop a hill that is TOTALLY covered in scrub timber ranging in size of 4" to 16". I've got a good 6" layer of organic matter on top of red clay and sand rocks with ditches and ravines meandering through my entire place of 80 acres here at the homeplace. I've been selectively dozing about 3-5 acres a year and establishing bermuda grass. I was really on top of things until the drought of 2007 when I started buying hay that was extremely sub-standard to keep the cows alive. What I basically did was grossly overgraze my newly established bermuda and plant some pretty aggresive weeds.

Up to that times I was able to run one cow\calf to 2 acres. Now, it's more like 5 acres. No joke, in a matter of one growing season the weeds literally took over and my sod of bermuda underneath was in such stress from the previous overgrazing I was afraid to spray.

The intended repair: I moved all my dairy cattle with the exception of one home milk cow to my lease place where I keep my herd of beef cows and let the ground recover for a growing season. Then, I brought them back to winter here and stayed on top of harrowing manure and selectively setting out my 100% bermuda round bales on poorer spots of ground to build up organic matter in the soil. I also keep a sack of bermuda seed with me and toss a little on the ground before I place a round bale in a feeder ring.
Things are looking up with rotational grazing. I just feel I'm going to have to go about spraying for another year.

BTW, Most of my ground is not brush hoggable (SP?) even if I've had it cleared due to sandrock out cropping and I'm afraid I'll throw sparks and catch the place on fire in dry times. I have had some pretty good success overgrazing the grass with sheep alongside the cattle and they're slowing getting it done.

agmantoo · #27 11/10/09, 05:57 PM

francismilker
I know very little about bermuda grass as it does not do well here. We have a short bermuda that volunteers and it is more of a nuisance than a benefit. I am under the impression that bermuda grass does not stockpile well, does that force you to start feeding hay early in the Fall?. I grow fescue and clover and may have an edge in weed control in that the fescue is a cool season grass and being so chokes out a lot of the warm season trash in the Spring. If I do not let the cattle graze the grass too short nettle has difficulty getting started. All the farms around me are overrun with bitter weed yet for some reason I have nearly none. The five or six bitter weed plants I saw this year I pulled up. I have no explanation for the lack of bitter weed. I have observed the farms with bitter weed do all feed hay. I fed hay approximately 8 years ago and had some bitterweed then but it disappeared when I stopped feeding hay. When the bitter weed was present I would never let it go to seed as I always cut the tops off. What I do have that I would like to be free of is trumpet vine. The cattle will eat the trumpet vines but not to the point that the defoliating will cause the vine to die. The trumpet vine also survives brush hogging.
Your soil sounds better that what I started with as I had almost no topsoil, just the red clay. Fortunately I have few rocks. I do have a 30+ year told track loader and I have removed most of the trash trees and and filled in the washes. Over time and with maybe a head start, I have built a thin carbon layer and with the PH corrected I am able to grow grass on most of the farm. I get a lot of satisfaction on reclaiming the farm as I feel that you do too.

francismilker · #28 11/11/09, 06:39 AM

Agman,
Around these parts, Bermuda grass comes in a lot of different varieties. (Common, Coastal, Guymon, Wrangler, Sahara Numex, and many others to name a few.) Depending on it's type, it's very good forage grass and excellent hay. It does stockpile well IF you are not overgrazing. AND, if you put the recommended commercial fertilizer application on it just prior to the first hard frost. A lot of the nutrients remain above ground if this is done. I'm trying to get away from adding any commercial fertilizer due to the cost of it.
I do have some clover and fescue, but it doesn't respond as well to heavy grazing. It takes longer to regrow and doesn't take the foot traffic as well.

And, yes, I've been feeding hay for some time now. I'm no where near the point to have grass organized well enough to go through the winter with. I might if I was at a stocking rate of 1 cow to 20 acres literally. Sounds like you've got it figured to a fine art and are constantly willing to learn new tricks. Thanks for the helpful information.