Alan Nation is a smart guy. I am still trying to ingest all the things that he has said in his latest article in the Stockman Grassfarmer which is a tall order.

Let me point out another thing that he said here. Mr Nation is quoting Dr. C.P. McMeekan from his book Grass to Milk.

Dr. McMeekan said that the "art" in no-grain, grass dairying is the fitting of the cow's lactation curve to the natural growth curve of thecool season pasture. Now, keep in mind, that I don't have a cool season pasture, but I am working on it.

His primary factor affecting milk production from a pasture-only system, is the timing of calving.

The key, then, is to time calving with the best growth of the grass. However, cool season perenial pasture grows at a high level for only three months, a moderate level for four months and little to none, the rest of the year.

More for you to ruminate on. If you're interested, you can purchase Dr. McMeekan's book from Amazon by clicking the link found at the right.

Thanks for stopping by.