From city mouse to country mouse!

ronbre · #21 09/28/09, 09:33 AM

Welcome, so you moved into the heatbelt of texas..oh goodie..i have no info to offer on planting or growing or animals..as i'm from Mich..but welcome to the forum

michiganfarmer · #22 09/28/09, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyusclan

Welcome to the forums.

I would suggest putting livestock on your grass as opposed to haying it. Making hay requires either a lot of equipment or a lot of labor to cut it and put it up loose. You can try to find a neighbor with equipment that will cut and bale it on halves, but then you're selling or trading away your fertility. By running livestock on it you will actually increase the fertility and turn the grass into something more valuable (meat).

You can buy calves (or whatever you want to grow) in the spring, let them graze during the spring and summer while the grass is growing, and sell them off in the fall. You can even keep one or two to butcher for yourself. The others will make you a small profit or at least pay for your meat in the freezer. You can sell them at the auction markets at first, and develop your own markets to sell direct in the meantime. The more of your calves you sell direct the better your profits will be.

I agree. I like the idea of pasturing animals. It costs nothign to harvest the hay. Fertiliser is being applied right back on the feild wiht no fuel or tactor costs. You can buy 300lb feeder cattle in the spring, feed them for almost no cost till late fall, then sell them.

I keep a milk cow, and pasture her. She gives me a calf every year to raise to eat, and all our milk for 9 months of the year.

goatlady · #23 09/28/09, 12:11 PM

NObody in this area bales in small squares any more and the rounds are useless for goats! I have been paying $7.0 to $8.50 for 60# sq. bales of grass/alfalfa hay for the last 3 years here. It is trucked in from Iowa and THE only place to get it. The local straight grass is nothing but "filler" and bedding as far as goat feed would be concerned. I did find some at $6.00 a bale 3 years ago, delivered at 100 bales per delivery and half was moldy and must have been at least 2 years old it was sooo brown and brittle. Back to the local feed mill for the decent stuff for the girls. Straight 2nd cut alfalfa is the same price, but a tad too rich for the girls as a steady diet.

GoldenCityMuse · #24 09/28/09, 12:50 PM

Whew, east TX can be [& usually IS] HOT HOT HTO.

Lots of ticks, chiggers spiders, you name it they are there. My cousins used to live in Mt Pleasant, I so remember the sweltering heat.

Coming from nice dry NM, the Hill country was about the only place i would accept in TX.

If it was me, I would renegotiate the hay baling arrangement. Taking 2/3 is a lot. But baling it yourself is a lot of work, and keeping the equipment going is hard I understand.

Welcome to the Lone Star State from a native Texan.

LauraG · #25 09/28/09, 02:21 PM

Thanks everyone! Lots to think about. . .

And I've already gotten a good taste of the heat AND torrential rain in the past month. Whew! Not to mention the brown recluses that like to hang around like house spiders. . . found 2 in my bedroom in one day last week

They seem rather inclined to scurry away though than be agressive.

Also found a king snake in the garden, but I hear those are the good ones.

Just got done clearing out the old tomato garden and mixing in some compost so it'll be ready this spring.<--- 20' x 40' (only 1 more acre of garden prep to go)

Wind in her Hair, the previous owners left some onions from their spring harvest in the "barn/shop" they arn't good for eating anymore, but can I use them for planting new onions in the spring?