market update

drought may be a problem but its not what is killing us. there's plenty of feed--every hay auction is packed with hay and you can buy as many tons as you want as long as you can pay what the mega dairy's pay.

Even if you feel that it is unfair that is the ''true market price'' for hay in your area!

I sold feeder calves on Monday. The price was down a bit but I was satisfied. Years back when fertilizer rose to the ~$800/ton price I saw that I was going to take a hit on the profit from the input costs to produce hay and that is when I decided to make a change. I am one of the first people to acknowledge that moisture is essential to grow grass but that is just part of the management required. Utilizing the grass that we do have is also essential. I was in one of the places on the weather map that was listed as severe drought last year. Using rotational grazing and maximizing what grass I did have I managed to keep the herd fed and I also managed to make it through to Spring without hay. Couple the savings of not having to buy feed with the decent prices I received Monday, I am not discontent with my feeder calve enterprise. If you are not rotational grazing I strongly suggest that you give it some major consideration.

__________________
Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!

if only we all lived in zone 7. fair or unfair I can not pay their price and keep the ranch. I used to be able to run the cows all year just like agman only I used afterfeed not stockpiled pasture, the pasture in this area does not lend itself to stockpiling--the grass gets tough and the cows will starve rather than eat it. fact of life is the mega dairies are trampling everything in their wake and just like walmart did to the mom and pop shops so goes the ranchers--the dairies have federal monetary support, the ranchers have to stand on their own and try to compete.

agmantoo, you do realize that even though you were classified as a severe drought you may have had more moisture than rancher1913 gets in a normal year. I absolutely do believe in the benefits of rotational grazing, but if the grass does not grow there is nothing to rotate to.

The great plains seems to be slowly turning to desert just as it was starting to do during the Dust Bowl era. The " Bread Basket" of the world was designed to be mostly in grass......not crops that leave the soil exposed 1/2 of the year.
Here is a good video in case anyone hasn't seen it. It was posted over on another thread.
http://www.ted.com/talks/allan_savor...ml?fb_ref=talk

How does rotational grazing work when the grass is under a foot of snow? Many of us have to feed hay there is noway you can feed an animal when the grass is brown and under snow. We keep one pasture for the fall that was not put into hay it lasted a while but when it was all brown we had to use protein tubs cattle can starve on that pasture. It cost me $100$140 a ton to put up hay last summer there was not enough grass on the irrigated land to make much hay I spend the same amount on fuel but put up way less hay.

The great plains aren't turning into a desert, it's just in a drought period which has happened over and over for thousands of years.

Like the Dust Bowl, this drought period will end when it starts to rain again, it's as simple as that. It doesn't matter if you plow it all up or don't plow up anything, droughts are caused by a lack of rain and the heat that comes with it.

I've seen that video, I like the ideas behind Holistic Management, I can stretch out my grass by managing my grazing, but I still need some rain to make the grass grow.

I hope for your sake and everybody elses you are right. As long as there is $7 corn and $14 Sbeans more or more grassland is gonna dissappear.

opportunity

How does rotational grazing work when the grass is under a foot of snow?

I have read of a number of people in Canada that do rotational grazing. Cattle can and will take their nose and push snow aside and eat the forage underneath. It will also surprise you how well a cool season grass such as fescue will stand up and hold good color.

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Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!