MiG farming

[furholler]

Anyone here practice MiG farming? I am thinking this is an awesome way to farm. I am rather new at it and am looking for advice on what the best grasses are to sew in my area? I'm in Southern MO. I own 5 acres with access to future paddock/ patures as we are surrounded by family owned land. My paddocks are fairly small with a good amount of Little Blue Stem, some fescue and Orchard grass. I know I need some Legumes, but what kind? Any advice? Thanks in advance.

[Kirby Greene, MscD]

MiG 15? MiG 23? What do Russian airplanes have to do with Pasture? Can you elucidate please?


Much thanks...

Kirby

[Hammer4]

management intensive grazing, also known as rotational grazing...

We are starting out doing it, I know agmanto on this forum does a lot of it...

I think it is a great way to raise cattle.

[Xandras_Zoo]

I don't know much, but maybe this link will help:
http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopE...sa/grazing.htm

[Up North]

Originally Posted by furholler

Anyone here practice MiG farming? I am thinking this is an awesome way to farm. I am rather new at it and am looking for advice on what the best grasses are to sew in my area? I'm in Southern MO. I own 5 acres with access to future paddock/ patures as we are surrounded by family owned land. My paddocks are fairly small with a good amount of Little Blue Stem, some fescue and Orchard grass. I know I need some Legumes, but what kind? Any advice? Thanks in advance.

Yes, it is an awesome way to farm. We have been in the process of conversion from a traditional confinement/crop farm to a MIG farm for eight years now. Every year we convert more land to MIG, and every year we burn less fuel and electricity, and require less machinery than the year before. Yes, our per cow production is less than prior to conversion. But our costs are much less, hence the spread between gross income and costs is more favorable using MIG, at least it has been for us.
A few things we have learned: Works best to match the livestock to the existing conditions, rather than spending a fortune to change the conditions to match the livestock. Frequent moves to small plots of fresh grass will be the most profitable. Twice a day would not be excessive. Once a day, or even once every two days will yield acceptable results - depends on your labor and fencing resources available.
The first year, you should plant nothing but fence posts. Grass of most any variety can produce good feed if kept in a young, vegetative state thru manangement intensive grazing. Get good perimeter fence established, then learn to dole out proper areas for cattle you have and manage system to it's fullest potential. When you have done this, then start process of adding legumes and other species.
To gain understanding of why you do what, go to www.stockmangrassfarmer.com and request a free sample of their publication. That done, go to their reference library and review book choices. Can personally recommend Quality Pasture by Allen Nation, and MIG by Jim Gerrish. An investment, mind you, but they will pay for themselves if you are serious about applying MIG to your farming operation.
Best of luck in your new venture.

[furholler]

hammer4, how are ya? Know who this is? I'm glad to hear you are starting into a MiG operation also. We need to keep in touch and bounce ideas around. Anyway, I am a new subscriber to the Stockman Grassfarmer, love it. I have three small paddocks and rotate about every two to three days. Does any one here suggest letting the cattle eat the pastures down to nothing in order to plant, or keep doing the way I am and sow latter? My pc is down and I am using someone else's so it may take a while for me to respond.

[agmantoo]

I have a commercial beef herd that is rotationally grazed year around.

[Hammer4]

Hi Mr Furholler, good to hear from you.

I think most recomend to plant only fenceposts when you are starting out doing rotational grazing. I wouldn't recomend allowing the animals to eat pasture down that low, it really damages the roots when you do that from what I read. If you want to introduce new seed to the pasture, one good way to do that is frost seeding ( sow the seeds late in winter onto the hard ground, let the natural spring thaw and water plant them ).

[Up North]

Furholler- Follow nose to eye rule, i.e. when a cow has it's head down grazing, if you can see it's nose, move cows to new area. When they go to new area, you should be able to see it's eyes ABOVE the grass!......
Most profitable to enhance existing sod and build on it via overseeding- if you feel you need to start seeding, start with clovers. Enjoy stockmangrassfarmer - it's one of few publications that puts profitability ahead of gross production.

..Follow advice given by Agmantoo - That Cat's got it going on, LOL!





listen

[Jena]

I did rotational grazing, moving 50 or so beef cows every three days. It worked great.

You don't have to do it all at once. One of the best things is that you can grow into MIG. The first year, I created my paddocks with a single hotwire. The next year I divided them further. I had plans to divide further still, but had to abandon them.

My pastures improved simply from the grazing practices. Don't be in a hurry to replant, you may not need to. Legumes are easily added with frost seeding (which I did at the end of the first year).

Knowing when to move is an art. You get the knack for it by watching your grass really well. There are times to move them through quicker and times to move them slower. It depends on the weather and how fast the grass is growing.

Water is an issue. Don't be afraid to design your paddocks in any shape or size that allows you easy water access. I had to haul a trash pump and tank to some paddocks and that got old really fast. I did have a 1500 gallon tank I was going to set up to water those paddocks by gravity, but had to abandon that idea too. Water should be one of the first things you consider when setting up your system.

Have fun
Jena

[Up North]

Jena is right about water issue. If lay of land allows, try to lay out paddocks so they all lead to a central water source. You may want to research the use of a REEL and polytape or wire to do flexible interior subdivisions. They can save you a lot of time and effort.

[Ronney]

Thankyou Kirby, I didn't know what MiG was either - even although that's the way I farm and the only way I've ever farmed

Cheers,
Ronnie

[Faith Farm]

I also am in the early stages of MIG for 30 head
on 60 acres of grass. I have them in 3, 7,10 15 and 17 acre
paddocks attempting to reduce these into @ least 2 acre lots
each. I do add red glover seed to their feed which they get
once or twice a week just to keep them coming to me and
to check their progress. It's calving season with calves
hitting the ground every couple days. The clover seed mixed
with manure should get off to a good start. Our biggest problem
now is lack of rain. Two days of rain in 3 months. The grass is
not growing fast enough so I plan to put them on a 5 acre paddock
and a 3 acre field for a day or so which I reserved for hay. Them up to
the back 27 acre paddock which I hope to reduce into 2 acre paddocks.
The white step in posts with poly wire is a dream to work with but
it does break easily when under stress. Don't ever wrap wire around
the thin clips, use the thicker post to wrap @ keep wire from sagging.
AGMANTOO is the man to listen to. He has his act together.

[Up North]

Originally Posted by Faith Farm

I also am in the early stages of MIG for 30 head
on 60 acres of grass. I have them in 3, 7,10 15 and 17 acre
paddocks attempting to reduce these into @ least 2 acre lots
each. I do add red glover seed to their feed which they get
once or twice a week just to keep them coming to me and
to check their progress. It's calving season with calves
hitting the ground every couple days. The clover seed mixed
with manure should get off to a good start. Our biggest problem
now is lack of rain. Two days of rain in 3 months. The grass is
not growing fast enough so I plan to put them on a 5 acre paddock
and a 3 acre field for a day or so which I reserved for hay. Them up to
the back 27 acre paddock which I hope to reduce into 2 acre paddocks.
The white step in posts with poly wire is a dream to work with but
it does break easily when under stress. Don't ever wrap wire around
the thin clips, use the thicker post to wrap @ keep wire from sagging.
AGMANTOO is the man to listen to. He has his act together.

Unfortunately nothing works very well if it doesn't rain. Faith Farm there is an interesting article about a Nebraska grazier's drought management strategies in the July, 2005 issue of the stockmangrassfarmer publication
if you can access that issue. Might be a helpful idea or two there.

[agmantoo]

Faith Farm.....go to http://www.kencove.com/ShopItemIG.php?item=Step-In+Post and scroll down to the RPT step in posts. At $1.95 this is undoubtedly the best temporary post on the market. Buy some of these and you will trash the flimsy PVC/plastic ones. Inadequate rainfall is hitting both of us hard. I have learned that usually one extremely is followed by another so maybe it will start raining soon and we will have a wet summer. Continue to cut the paddock size until the cattle are getting all they can graze in 2 each 45 minute time periods per day. Move to the tallest grass you have each time you move, even it that is the area you grazed more recently than other paddocks. You want to NOT stress the grass by over grazing and you need to get the cattle OFF the paddock before the cattle graze below 3 inches. Keep the manure pies broken up and scattered so that the cattle will graze 100% of the areas. Did you fertilize in the earlier part of Spring and how is your PH? Remember that in difficult times that it will not hurt the cattle to lose some of their body condition. We will have a good opportunity to replinish that loss in the Fall. During warm weather it does not take as much feed as during Winter. When you can see 2 ribs on one side then it is time to pull the emergency plan (hay) out. In 3 years I have only fed 5 round bales and they wasted that. You are stocking at approximately 2 acres per cow/calf and I am tighter than that at this time so you should be fine. Do not let your pastures go to seed. If you do, the grass will stop growing. Keeping the heads cut off will enhance the growth when it does rain. Additionally, with the grass cut, it will grow some off the heavy dews we have been experiencing. Good Luck and hang in!
PS....ask your extension agent if arrowleaf clover grows readily in your area. I find it superior to all other clovers I have tried. Arrowleaf grows low and lush if grazed hard and does decently even in dry periods.

[Philip]

So MiG farming is simply rotational grazing as opposed to set stocking, or have I got it wrong ? I thought rotational grazing would be the norm rather the exception, or am I misreading this whole thing ?

[Up North]

Originally Posted by Philip

So MiG farming is simply rotational grazing as opposed to set stocking, or have I got it wrong ? I thought rotational grazing would be the norm rather the exception, or am I misreading this whole thing ?

Phillip - I think you've got it right. In New Zealand, it probably is norm as y'all have learned to use resources to the fullest due to limited amount of land. What can I say, it has not been norm in North America probably because there was such vast resources available historically that these efficiencies were not pursued to the fullest. Now there is a grassroots(no pun intended) movement afoot in North America to adapt these practices. As I understand it, the term Management Intensive Grazing was used to put emphasis on "management Intensive" , i.e. developing, watching grass and moving cattle often. Ultimately, it is the same as rotational grazing.
The folks that developed the term MIG were trying to distinguish between farmers who move livestock to new grass often(every 1-3 days) verse farmers who moved herd to new pasture every 60 or 90 days and called it rotational grazing.
Well, I've mucked that explanation up. Anyone can feel free to explain it better.

[.netDude]

Originally Posted by agmantoo

In 3 years I have only fed 5 round bales and they wasted that.

agman, where are you located?

[arabian knight]

Originally Posted by Hammer4

management intensive grazing, also known as rotational grazing...We are starting out doing it, I know agmanto on this forum does a lot of it...I think it is a great way to raise cattle.

My vet friend who milked 75 cows did rotational grazing. And was a proponent on it. It was real neat. The cows came in to be milked spent only that amount of time in the barn and then Back out on pasture. The pasture then was only fertilized naturally and that was a good thing because his milk then was organic where he could get 4 bucks More a hundred wt. then if not organic....

[Bret]

I am using MIG for a small Angus Hurd. I love growing grass and legume mixtures as much as growing cows and calves. I move the cows every 1-3 days depending on the type of area. Peaks grow less grass than valleys.

I use poly wire and the white step in posts. Cutting, tying and splicing is easy. I agree that the plastic sometimes breaks.

I just added a 400 foot roll of black 3/4" poly pipe and a couple of one hundred foot hoses. I move a small water tank to each paddock.

The water tank is a blue tub that a protein suppliment came in from TSC. It is fixed with a float valve that clamps to the top. I fashioned an upside '"j" shaped pipe fitting assortment for the value so that I can hook up the water from the bottom of the pipe. This prevents the hose from kinking.

The goal is to maximize the pounds of forage per acre. Forcing the cows to clean up a small area in a day means they will eat everything...including thistles and nettles. (Even these are ignored if they get too stemmy.) In the cool season, you can broadcast seed in the paddock and cows will step it in for you.

I graze until all species are clipped. They start with what they like....grass....clover.....alfalfa...and then the weeds. Once they leave a paddock, they don't see it again until it is 8-10 inches high. This recovering is 3-4 weeks in the cool seasons and much longer when it gets hot.

This will evolve for you. Have fun.