Weight from grass

agmantoo · #1 10/11/08, 10:05 PM

Here is my young bull that is product of my place. He is 1/8 Murray Grey & 7/8ths commercial Angus that has been only on grass his entire life. The first 6 months after weaning he encountered the worst drought in memory for this area. Obviously I am pleased with his performance. Weight from grass - Cattle

KSALguy · #2 10/12/08, 02:05 AM

very nice, what age is he? he has done really well and looks like there is plenty of grass to go around,

grass fed is the best IMO we had alot of that back home in the midwest

Ronney · #3 10/12/08, 04:07 AM

Looking good Agman as do the others, or what I can see of them. Proveing what we grassland farmers already know

I take it that you intend to breed from him?

Cheers,
Ronnie

topside1 · #4 10/12/08, 07:16 AM

Agman, you sure run a excellent operation....Maybe one day I'll be in your area and view your top notch herd. Great to see that the grasses are green this year....TJ

agmantoo · #5 10/12/08, 08:24 AM

The young bull is approximately 18 months old. Here is another picture of the grass that was taken yesterday. What a difference water makes! I feel honored anytime that folks from this site can drop by. I had a nice couple from Florida visit on Friday.
Weight from grass - Cattle

tyusclan · #6 10/12/08, 08:57 AM

Nice bull, Agman.

Amazing that only 1/8 Murray will still shade the color that much.

Up North · #7 10/12/08, 09:58 AM

Looks Good!
In your system, what stocking rate in adult cattle/acre do you estimate that produces these excellent results?

agmantoo · #8 10/12/08, 10:38 AM

Up North
It is difficult to give a conventional answer with my year round calving and no baled hay. In the period of a year, I have the herd of mature animals (~100 head) plus their off spring on ~150 acres of grass until the off spring reach feeder calf weights (550 to 650 lbs) that I feel best meet my objectives, be it price or available forage. PS...this grass in the pic had lime applied 3 years ago. Nothing has been applied since other than the cattle spreading their manure as they graze. I bought no commercial fertilizer this year. I did manage to get some litter for the area where I clear cut the trees 2 years ago. The clear cut area is not in my grazing plan as yet. The drought hurt that area badly as the roots were not deeply established. The grass is now rebounding and is spreading to cover the bare spots. I am also over seeding with paddock harvested seed to assist reestablishment. This project is working. Anyone want to see a pic of the clear cut now that it is becoming a pasture?

Karin L · #9 10/12/08, 12:49 PM

That bull has the phenotypical qualities of a good herd bull...one little minor flaw is his high tail head, but like I said that's just minor.

You sure do a good job with your pasture management system, and I would actually like to see that pic of the clear cut area...

KSALguy · #10 10/12/08, 01:13 PM

i dont know of anyone who would turn down the chance to see pics, especially of a setup like this, bring on the pics

furholler · #11 10/12/08, 06:19 PM

Very nice agman. Once again, you have proven why I like to read your posts. This is not envy, just a desire to do better. Thanks for the shot in the arm! Good job!

agmantoo · #12 10/12/08, 09:33 PM

furholler
Thanks for your kind comments. I realize I post a lot. I do not post to boast but to share information. The learning curves that I have gone through were mostly from bad inputs or inexperience. Many of these problems still exist. If I can share what I have found that works and someone benefits their successes become mine also. That is where my satisfaction is garnered.

agmantoo · #13 10/12/08, 09:47 PM

Karin L
I had noticed the high tail head and I did some research previously. From the Saler breed information the high tail head on those cattle is considered to be beneficial on the female side as it contributes to easy calving. From the Murray Grey ancestory the Shorthorn influence appears to contribute to the high tail head. Photos of Shorthorns support that many of the shorthorns share this characteristic. I would appreciate any insight that you may have regarding the high tail head. TIA

translplant · #14 10/13/08, 11:59 AM

Agman, please keep the posts and pictures coming.

Do you mind if I copy your photos onto a Dexter cattle forum I visit? I have recommended the members look up this site for your photos and posts before. I will give you all the credit, believe me no one will think this is our pastures anyway! (darn it)

agmantoo · #15 10/13/08, 06:56 PM

translplant
Feel free to use the photos. I put them here in order to share experiences and to trade information.

francismilker · #16 10/14/08, 02:09 PM

Agman, I too enjoy seeing the pics of your grasses. How much time did it take for you to get it to this point? And, how much time does it take to maintain per day? ( I realize this is broad spectrum but I'm in the process of clearing 80 acres of timber right now and establish grass on it. I can't justify or afford to use commercial fertilizers so I'm going to try and cross fence it to use rotational grazing.) Once it is established, is it hours a day, or minutes?

agmantoo · #17 10/14/08, 08:48 PM

francismilker
It takes 3 years for me to get grass established. I never graze the grass until I feel the roots have matured to the point that short droughts will not jeopardize the survivability of the stand. Nothing seems to negatively impact production as badly as converting tree land into open land. IMO it is the destruction of the carbon layer. If you can obtain chicken litter tp spread on the converted land you can get fair to good grass by the second year. I always plant a nurse crop if I cannot get litter. Once established I spend very little time maintaining the grass. I clip the pastures a couple of times per year and that takes about a week each time. Managing the pasture is key. Otherwise, I spend about 20 to 30 minutes each day moving the cattle and checking on their well being. My operation is not labor intensive. I recently was reading with interest the amount of time that folks with a milk cow spend and realized they spend more time than I do with the entire beef herd.

francismilker · #18 10/15/08, 06:12 AM

Agman,
Thanks for the info. Fortunately, the land I'm clearing is second growth. My grandmother actually farmed peanuts and cotton on it back in the 30's and 40's. It was abandoned as farm land similiar to much of the land around here during WWII. Most of the timber is 12" in diameter or less and there's a good 10" of organic matter accumulated in and around it. It dozes and pushes out fairly easy and I don't let the dozer push much of the dirt around when removing the trees. Instead of having him "sweep" the ground to accumulate the limbs, I use an old spring tooth chisel to drag for limbs and roots and take them to the piles without taking much dirt with them. Then I drag an old piece of rail iron to level and fill in the low spots. After this, I've been putting in some crab grass seed or perrenial rye grass seed to keep down erosion until I can get bermuda established. The biggest problem I have is controlling the sprouts and roots from redeveloping.
I can see by your above post that I'm failing in the area of grazing too soon. Depending upon current grass conditions in my lease pastures, I've been putting cows on it before the root system has established mature enough.

agmantoo · #19 10/15/08, 08:22 AM

Francis,
I have learned that the root system is more important than the top which we are going to graze. If the tops are removed to where photosynthesis cannot happen the plants have to pull reserves from the energy stored in the roots. If the plants cannot exist with top growth long enough to rebuild the stored energy then after a few draws from the root system they will perish or at best become stunted. You can use this awareness to rid yourself of the sprouts. Using a brush hog set the machine to where it is clipping the sprouts off just below the lowest limb but above the grass to where the grass is just having the ends clipped. When the forage is eaten down or when it is dormant and you have grazed it low then lower the bush hog to cut the sprouts even lower. When clipping weeds I like the blades sharp because I do not like the split ends on the forage plant. When clipping of sprouts I want the dullest of blades. Dull blades will burst the ends of the sprouts and new growth will not occur from the ends where the bark was damaged. Do everything in your power to avoid soil compaction and keep the PH high. Are you planting any clover in with the Bermuda? If you like to read, Google * terrra preta * I am overly intrigued with the concept. It is this statement that really got my interest "There is strong evidence that permanent or semi-permanent agriculture itself created sustainably fertile Terra Preta soils known."