Will They Eat Weeds?

That is the question. Will my cattle eat Sericia Lespedeza? Will they eat Milk Weed? What about Queen Anne's lace? What about those thistley lookin things? In this, our second rotation, I have learned a few things about cows.

In the first trip around, you may remember, I got a 8 day rest period from the first paddock to the last. I decided that the paddock size was too big judging by the way the animals picked their way around perfectly good grass that was nestled in between some of the afore mentioned weeds. I know that our land is acidic, and we work really hard to change that. In the process, we are fertilizing with chicken manure and cow manure and trying to maintain a good supply of organic matter that will increase the microbial action in the dirt. We want a thriving community of Dung Beetles!

So, I was happy with the first rotation in that there was a good residual left. After all, you want longer grass, that means longer roots and better drought resistance, right? Well, right-to a point.

I switched gears on y'all, and tried the mob grazing this time around. I changed the paddock size dramatically to ensure enough to eat for one day. I work a full time job and can't be here to move the animals more often, and my wife has enough to do with four home schooled kids. So, they needed to be big enough for a full day.

The results, at first scared me. The animals ate everything down to almost nothing. It was like a golf course in the pasture. I was worried, but I disciplined myself and stuck to it. I am now on day 13 and have about 7 days to rotate before I get back to the first paddock. This will be a total of 20 days rest.

The results took a few days to materialize. 5 Days to be exact. On the fifth day, I noticed there had been significant growth on the first paddock. I was starting to feel better. I have read and written a bunch on the topic of high stock density grazing and I am impressed with the results folks are claiming. But, I am the kind of guy that needs something to worry about. This was starting to give me confidence now. I am confident, that on the day the animals return to paddock 1, they will have lots to eat again.

Some other observations are that the cows are eating weeds. They have been eating the milk weed and even the black berry blossoms (bummer). If you read the Stockman Grass Farmer, you might have seen some of Kathy Voss's articles on the subject of weed grazing. It is becoming apparent that cows know what they need, nutritionally, and graze accordingly. Weeds are just as beneficial as grass, or more so, and all I have found it takes is the right size fence.

The animals are ready for a paddock shift at the same time every day. I do very little, other than move the electric fence. Once I take an end down, they move over to the next pace readily.

The biggest problem was to be water placement. But this has been overcome simply by asking my wife her opinion and her coming up with a totally different paddock design. Sometimes, all you have to do is think outside the box. I usually need my wife to do that. She is wonderful!

The only thing I noticed the cows would not eat are wild daisies. So my pasture looks green with spots of snow. Actually, there are other weeds they wouldn't eat, I just don't know what they are. Some day I might try to identify them.

Anyway, I am fairly pleased. I have many areas to improve on, but I feel like we're on the right track.