Time To Start Mowing the Yard Again

The birds are chirping.  Flowers are blooming.  Pollen is in the air.  The live oak trees are shedding their leaves and quickly replacing with new growth.  Spring has arrived.  I would say that grass is growing, but it is not really grass.  Not yet.  First weeds grow in the yard.  A weed in this case is anything but St. Augustine grass.  Lots of people buy Weed and Feed which will kill the weeds in your yard while providing food for your real grass.  Those weeds, however, have a purpose.  The cows will absolutely devour them.

Before I mow, I'll let the cows mow the grass.  We do this each and every year like clockwork.  I have a Gallagher Solar Fence charger and a reel full of wire rope.  It carries a charge and has gained the respect of the cows.  I simply set it up in the yard with step in posts and bring the cows from the pasture and into the yard.  They look forward to this each year, believe it or not.

Harnessing the Power of the Sun

Clarabelle has found a tall patch of weeds growing near the air conditioning units.  She'll mow that all down in short order.  You can see the strand of electric fencing to the right of her head.  The cows, while certainly respecting the "pop" they get if they touch the electric fence, have figured out just how far they can go without getting popped.  You'll see them craning their necks way under the strand of fencing to get to some fresh grass.  Pay particular attention to the grass in the photo below as this is the "before" shot.

Here you can see Luna running to a patch of White Dutch Clover.  That is the cows' favorite.  They'll eat all of that first and then eat the other stuff.  White Dutch Clover is like Alaskan King Crab Legs at a buffet line.

This, my friends, is the "after" shot.  The cows have really cleaned up the yard!  They mowed down the tall grass.

I took this picture so you can see the difference between where the cows ate versus where I had the yard cordoned off by the electric fence.  If you look at the bottom left of the picture and run a diagonal line to the top right, you can trace out where the cows grazed.  I had to block them from the fruit trees as I've learned from previous years that they'll eat the leaves and break the branches.

I'd like to be able to tell you that putting the cows in the yard to mow the grass was positive since they produce no emissions.  That, however, would be a lie!

Foul emissions - You must be careful in the back yard when walking.  It is like a mine field.

Once the backyard was done, I moved the fencing to the front yard and then moved the cows to the front to mow.  They especially like eating right near the road in the front as that is where most of the clover grows.

I watched them eat while sitting on the front porch.  As cars would pass, they would slow down and stare, at first not seeing the strand of electric fencing.  They would think the cows were out!  Once I have let the cows cycle through the back yard, the front yard and the side yard, I get on my mechanical mower to cut down the grass the cows didn't eat and to mulch up the leaves that have fallen. 

So We Fired up the Lawnmowers This Weekend

Spring has arrived a little earlier than usual this year with warmer temperatures and grass growing.  The next door neighbors have already mowed their yard twice, and I've heard the droning of the other neighbors' lawn mowers cutting the winter grass and clover that covers their yards.  I've put it off long enough, I know.  The yard looks unkempt.  It's time to get out the lawnmowers.

A lot of clover and winter grass in the yard (The 'Before' Shot)

I went and got the lawnmowers and kicked the tires, made sure that their fluid levels were good.  Then I cranked them up and starting cutting grass.  First one mower...

Cutting clover

Then the second mower got started cutting right in line behind the first one.  In one way I suppose you could say these lawnmowers run on "green" energy, on the other hand, they aren't exactly 'zero emissions."  Once they were finished, they left their emissions all over the yard!  That's okay.  The emissions will actually make the lawn healthier.

Two mowers doin' work.

The mowers don't require a driver.  I could go and do other stuff while the yard was being mowed.  Although I supervised the landscaping crew from a distance, my solar powered electric fence kept the lawnmowers from leaving the work site.

Solar fence charger

By the end of the afternoon, the yard was neatly manicured.  I put the lawnmowers away and refueled them and topped off their fluids.  If you want your lawnmowers to last, you have to take care of them and ensure that routine maintenance is done to preserve their life.

The 'After' Shot

We're expecting temperatures in the low 80's this week, so the grass will begin growing quicker.  It's a good thing we have some eager lawnmowers ready to cut grass at a moment's notice.

So I fired up our 3 Lawn Mowers Today...

With the warmer Spring weather, the grass is really starting to grow in our yard. I heard the roar of the zero-turn radius lawnmower as my neighbor fired his up and quickly mowed his lawn to Country Club Golf Course-like specifications.  This only highlighted my unkempt, unruly winter weed/clover yard accented with live oak leaves strewn about as contrasted to his.  (You can see his yard in the upper right hand side of the photo below)  So I fired up my three lawnmowers as well...

3 Lawn Mowers/Weed eaters gettin' the job done

Our mowers don't need gas - they produce it.  In order to get them mowing down this portion of the yard, I set up a temporary paddock using some electric wire that I unrolled and place on some step-in posts.  I then went and got our solar power electric fence charger and hooked up the hot wire to the fence and the ground wire to a stake.  I then used a tester (hanging) to ensure that the fence was 'hot' and it was. Then I went and retrieved Daisy, Rosie and Maggie, our 3 lawnmowers who were all too happy to mow down the grass and clover in the paddock.

The Electric Fence set-up

Although Daisy doesn't smile as humans smile and actually always has a long face, I think she was happy to get in there and eat up the clover.  She was the first one in the paddock and ate the best, most succulent clover before I introduced Rosie and Maggie to the paddock.

Daisy in the clover patch

While they ate in the yard, the other animals left in the pasture bemoaned the fact that they were left behind, because the grass in the pasture is slower coming in.

Eating her fill

White Dutch Clover is a favorite of our cows and they'll pass up other items in the salad bar to go park themselves smack dab in the middle of a clover patch and eat.

Cleaning up the Clover

Now while they ate, I worked in the garden, BUT I kept a sharp eye on them.  I learned a lesson the hard way that when our cows finish eating all the grass and clover in a particular paddock, they'll start looking at the grass on the other side of the fence.  Whereas before, it was heads-down eating, now that they've eaten all the grass, they're ready to roam to find greener pastures and they will run right through that hot wire.  

When you see a scene like below, you want to quickly go retrieve the cows and put them back in the pasture or they'll be running down the road, being honked at by passing motorists as they seek out other grass to eat. If it sounds like I learned this lesson by experience, it is because I have. 

The 'After' Shot

Notice the difference between the first picture in this blog entry and the last.  Daisy, Rosie and Maggie have really done a good job mowing the yard.  Our yard crew is second to none!  Now I'll take down the fence, mow the leaves into a row, rake up the leaves and put them in the garden for mulch and to be composted.