Thoughts needed on utilizing small parcel

[ErinP]

I'm trying to decide how to go about dividing our little patch of ground. We have a grand total of 40 acres (the square, to the left of the road), about half in prairie-grass meadow and half in short grass native prairie hills.

The meadow is the smoother part in the middle with the "fingers" that stick out.

At the end of the lane, on the very left side of the square, is the dirt work where we now have our house site and barn.
We have a trailer house sitting in that half-circle, on the north side of the lane.
Beyond that, it is a clean slate. We have a perimeter fence and the house site/shop/barn are fenced. There are no cross fences. We haven't put our garden in as it's more important to decide what we're doing with the horses and cattle, first. We have 3 horses and 3 heifers, btw.

DH wants to fence off the meadow so we can hay it (no, we don't have equipment) and put the remainder into two or three small pastures. Water is throwing us for a loop as we'll have to haul...
I think we should forego haying for the most part and just intensive graze. DH has a sour taste about MIG as we've been on a couple of ranches that claimed to be doing MIG but were in reality just vastly over-stocked. And actually, a life-long cattleman, that's his bias toward haying the meadow, too...

BTW since this is western Kansas, it's only that green for about three weeks out of the year.
For the most part, it's native grass, but sparse. Primarily gramma and buffalo on the hills (as well as sagebrush and soapweed!) and the meadow is mostly short bluestem. And if you don't know bluestem, it's only palatable to livestock while it's new and tender. It quickly grows taller and woody and then they won't touch it.


We're Zone 5 and get about 12-14" of precip. a year. Ie, "semi-arid."

What are some thoughts? Cross-fencing suggestions? Grasses to overseed?

[Karin L]

I honestly don't think that MIG would be suitable for that area, seeing as the type of native grasses you have. I think at first it might be best to try some rotational grazing, but in paddocks that are large enough that the heifers and horses can have enough pasture for a day or two. But as far as that, that's all the opinions you'll get from me.

[ErinP]

Actually MIG is suitable for everywhere.
It's just that the intensity and duration will vary based upon where you're at, what type of grasses, as well as stocking rates, etc...

Rotational grazing tends to be what most ranchers do. That is, moving cattle between a handful of large pastures.
MIG, on the other hand, is where you are moving them between more numerous, smaller pastures...

[tinknal]

If you can arrange your fencing like the spokes of a wheel you can water in one central location.

[MO_cows]

What is the normal stocking rate for that area? In that dry of country, 40 acres may not be enough to allow for adequate rest and regrowth for an MIG system. You will probably have to get some step-in posts for temporary electric fence and just experiment.

As far as water, I have seen a water tank and trough mounted on a trailer that was hauled pasture to pasture that worked slick. It was a home-made job. It also made for an easy gather, put the water where you want the stock.

[bruce2288]

By the looks of the photo, you are doing a much better job of not overgrazing than the neighboring properties. The grasses you have are probably the best suited for your area and by the way excellent grass just not lots of volume. Limited rain-fall will do that. Possibly a legume? yellow sweet clover? Is that sandhill country or clay and sand stone? This is a different situation than most people here deal with. Am I right in saying you get 90% of your grass growth in may? I think you are right in only dividing it into 2 or 3 pastures to limit hoof traffic. With low rainfall limiting productivity of the grass, mini paddocks would not be cost effective in my opinion. You might look at some kind of above ground hose options that could be drained before freeze up to move some water.

[ErinP]

It's clay and sandstone. As far as I've observed, that seems to be what the neighboring geology is around every edge of the Sandhills...

Yeah, our little chunk looks good because it hadn't been grazed, hayed, anything for nearly 20 years! The grass was actually starting to choke itself out.
And yes, most of our grass grows between April and June. (The last couple of years we've been blessed with unusually wet summers though, so we've had growth all the way through August!)

If we were to do mini-paddocks of some sort, I'm thinking we'll probably make them moveable via hot fences, but I'm thinking we probably want to divide it up into at least a half dozen pens to get the best usage of all of the grasses, rather than just ones they prefer. :P

Possibly a legume? yellow sweet clover?

Oh now there's a good thought! It establishes very easily, makes for both good hay and good grazing... That's something I need to explore.

[bruce2288]

Being a 20 year nature preserve, I would not think about overseeding any grass. There may be a residual population of native legumes also. Maybe purlple prairie clover. I bet your place is the buffet for the local mule deer population. Even looks like you may have a few trees on the place. Cedar?

[ErinP]

lol Those green splotches are not cedar, thank heaven. They're soapweed, which takes over just as easily, but doesn't grow nearly so large.

No, it wasn't a nature preserve, at least not deliberately. It was CRP (the meadow, anyway). And it was put into CRP back when people signed it up and just moved out and left it. It wasn't seeded back to native grass like they do now.
Around here people call bluestem "go back grass" because it's what tilled ground tends to revert back to when it's left idle.

The hills, other than being sparse, are about as healthy as you could expect.
The meadow, OTOH, is what we're thinking of overseeding. It is nearly ALL bluestem. Like I said, it was starting to choke itself out...

[francismilker]

Originally Posted by tinknal

If you can arrange your fencing like the spokes of a wheel you can water in one central location.

What he said! As well, others have mentioned using native grasses to that area that are already in place. I agree fully. Just figure out the stocking rate for your place in the worst case scenario conditions and DON'T overstock on good years. Stockpiled grass is a good thing.

I should know. I'm guilty of overgrazing a few years ago during a drought when what I should have done was sell some cattle to compensate the grass. Instead, 4 years later, I'm still fighting the nutrition levels of my dirt and trying to fight off the weeds that took over with a vengeance the next year.