Each to their own I guess but there are a lot of things going for cows and grass. We have been in a green drought this spring with exceptionally dry conditions for this area. We just had 3 inches of rain since July 1st. We have been grazing since April 18th and hopefully will graze until mid January again if we get just a little more moisture. We do not suffer the problems of lack of germination, frost damage, hail damage, weed or insect damage that our farming neighbors do. We have a system that almost eliminates purchased inputs - we rely largely on free solar power and water for our inputs. Grass is a wonderful crop - the ultimate sustainable crop in fact and cows are a pretty good way to harvest it in this climate. We don't need millions of dollars worth of machinery either. Yeah, we have some problems getting a fair price for our product from the marketplace at the moment but don't you grain guys also?
It saddens me to see folks like Parsley say they were glad to leave the cattle business because of calving in winter - the cold, frozen calves, the sleepless nights etc. It's a common thread amongst many ranchers but if they would just change their management to calf in better weather it becomes a very different job. You can calve 250 cows at the right time of year with as little work as calving 40 at the wrong time.
It saddens me to see folks like Parsley say they were glad to leave the cattle business because of calving in winter - the cold, frozen calves, the sleepless nights etc. It's a common thread amongst many ranchers but if they would just change their management to calf in better weather it becomes a very different job. You can calve 250 cows at the right time of year with as little work as calving 40 at the wrong time.
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