Finally registered

[Go for 300]

Well I finally took the time to sign up for the board. I have been reading posts on here for about two years. As the name says, I am in search of getting 300 days grazing on our place. Currently it is much less, but I think over the next three years we should be able to get there.

Our place is in Southern Oregon on the e East side of the Cascade Mountains. We have about 12" of annual precip, but have reliable irrigation on all pastures. It varies from flood irrigation (cheapest) to KLine on about 40 acres. My focus is going to be on the pod fields first since it seems easier to divide these into paddocks based on the limitations of each string of pods.

Last year we made a failed attempt to split about 15 acres of the pods onto 4 paddocks with the idea of being able break them up into .75 to 1 ac fields for daily rotations. Long story about that short, we had 30 ac that we needed to get planted and established (which requires changing wheel lines every 4-6 hours round the clock until it has a good enough start) that we didn't get to daily rotations. Sent the cows to another farm for summer pasture, brought a third of them home in July and rotated the, through those 15 ac for the rest of our traditional growing season (about 10/15). Well the interior fence we put up came off the posts (t posts) and then the main hot wire we ran on the perimeter got shorted in the old raggedy bar wire. End result...ht fence not where it was supposed to be ended in free for all for the cattle.

This year I am going to get at least this part hammered down and put up the ht fence properly. I would like to do the other 25 acres, but time will dictate that. I have the supplies, but time gets thin. I think there will be time without having to establish any alfalfa fields, but we'll see. I really hate to say it was a failed attempt, rather a chance to see what was not going to get the accomplished results.

So we are in a position where we most likely wont get some astute rented that we did last year. Placing another 30 head on our place rather than there. If we end up with it I will just make some extra hay to peddle to the neighbors. If not at least we will have a plan.

As for water. We have some ditches that have water in them most of the summer. When we put in the Kline, we also buried a supply line and have yet to hook it up to the well and put in water troughs. So in planning the water points, how many days can a group back graze without hurting regrowth? Understanding zero days is optimal, but not practical for us. This is why I am thinking of lanes.

Anyways I look forward to thoughts and advice. Sorry for the long intro.

Thanks