Just how big are your cows?

[cswilson]

WellI did the mineral thing all kinds all amounts-so being contrary I just quit feeding any at all-haven't noticed any difference in production at all. The oldtimers never fed any-I think that maybe commercial fertilizers tie up availability of some minerals in the grass. I guess I shouldn't sau don't feed any-we get a vmr package in our screening pellets when feeding straw but don't feed any on grass.

[grassfarmer]

Interesting topic to me as I try to find the "right" way to mineralize in a new country. I've seen chronic copper shortage as all our land in Scotland was that - without supplementing it you would get maybe 60% conception rates in cows (when every other part of their health and mineralisation was excellent)
On that land we had to inject pregnant ewes with copper twice pior to lambing or the lambs would be born with swayback (unable to stand or walk properly) Despite being told my place here is very short of copper and selenium I still think this is a relatively mineral rich soil. Fertility here has been excellent whatever supplement I've given. Since April I have been on Kelp and straight salt. So far had zero pinkeye or footrot troubles which is an improvement on previous years or is it just a different year?)I haven't used a shot of antibiotic since February either (on @260 head of cattle) The jury is out on kelp as it is expensive but I like it so far - i'll wait to see the winter consumption before committing to it again. One thing I thing cswilson has right is that forced or fertilised grass is mineral poor, or is it the "improved" grass species? My cows that grazed a meadow brome mix this year and did really well on it suddenly dropped kelp consumption when they went into a paddock that was really just a slough with some bush around it - a huge diversity of grass/forb species seemed to fulfill their mineral(and salt)needs naturally.

[grassfarmer]

Wow philosophy abounds.
Quoting cswilson
"I guess the difference between a grass farmer and a grain farmer is patience-most farmers seem to just write a bigger cheque at their perceived problem while us tightwad grazers try to figure out a cheaper fix-remember the best way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pockets."

This thread has realy turned a corner, and I for one am impressed.

We started dealing with this natural way of looking after grass about 15 years ago as well, and find benefits both financially and morally.

We walked into a different management scheme 2 years ago when we partnered up in our current situation. The year before saw a $14000.00 fertizer bill on 4 quarters of grass. We continued our previous policy, which we still maintain on our land at Ponoka, of no chemical inputs, rotational grazing, slightly less stocking rates, and specific application of manure and feeding areas.

One little field comes to mind that our new partner had seeded down to a pasture grass mix when we took over. Looked pretty sad as they had used fertilizer to rob a crop of oats off the land while establishing the grass. Partner had thoughts of fertilizer and even reseeding, but patience reigned. Trimmed the field twice early in the first year for weed control, hit it with a good thick coat of good old green gold, and used it for a nice bit of fall grazing. This spring saw a nice even three foot growth of grass, grazed for one round then mowed and blasted with another round of manure. Rain has definately been helpful, but this feild is now back up to about 15 inches and thick as hair on a dog.
One good old story about a simple fence. Used to cut hay and then graze a field along side of a piece of bush with large old poplar trees. The last swath beside the trees was hardly ever worth cutting. Built a fence and started rotational grazing this field which meant that the trees were never invaded and the field beside them saw animals only twice a year for less than a week; always leaving a bit of grass behind for cover. Within about three years this fencline transformation was complete. Not only were those trees happy, but they must have decided to give us something back. We now see more grass beside those trees than on the rest of the field.
Sorry for the ramble, Just excites me to hear and tell stories of dealing with this industry without the mutinational corporations and their quest for money money money.

We find feed testing very beneficial for balancing our supplement and mineral packages, and have tried a couple of different natural minerals including kelp. Have focused on a mineral built to our specs in Ponoka for the last couple of years and have been happy with the results. Unfertilized pastures treated properly should be giving us proper micronutrients for the summer months, however we continue to offer a mineral mix that contains more salt at this time. The one input that I have decided pays more than it cost is a good mineral mix.
Thanks for all that --- Randy

[cswilson]

One thing our cows do is browse-I wonder what the mineral level is in poplar leaves-even if grass to their knees they will pick the leaves along the fencelines-another thing I think different animals are p[robabvly better at metabolizing the minerals that they do graze or browse.

[cowman]

Fascinating stuff! I suspect every farmer is a bit of a "scientist" at heart!
Grassfarmer: I like your statement about how something seems to work but how you question whether maybe it was just the year or something. How true that feeling is! Been there, done that many times!
Randy: Have to agree with just about everything you said, especially about how this is a nice sideline from all the politics etc. I always like to hear about how someone did something different and how it worked out. At one time the "Cattleman" magazine used to have stories about how different people were trying different things, and I truly enjoyed reading that. Now it tends to be all politics and experts!
And while a lot of you might think I'm an opinionated old SOB, I'm really not when it comes to new ideas about plants, animals etc.! But yea, I am an opinionated old SOB on politics!

[grassfarmer]

Your comments about cattleman magazine are interesting Cowman. It reminds me of the situation in the UK where we used to have 2 farming programs on TV on a Sunday that featured leading farmers - the progressive, successful ones that were leading by example. In the early 90s these programs were stolen by environmentalists and now feature producers that were flooding their land to encourage a rare kind of frog to return, or growing reeds to make wicker baskets for craft fairs. It kind of symbolised to me the writing was on the wall for agriculture there and I think it is a disgrace that a nation that led the world in stock and crop breeding at one time has no room for an agriculture anymore. At least Canada still feels like an agricultural country - despite the problems.