First Round Bale of the Year

Normally, we start feeding hay around Thanksgiving, but not this year.  Somehow, the pasture has held up and allowed the cows and goats to continue feeding on the grass.  I think the rains coupled with moderate temperatures (no freezes as of yet) helped the pasture grass provide some forage for the livestock.  Perhaps the hay lasting longer was The Good Lord allowing things to last longer than it ordinarily does.  It wouldn't be the first time:

Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. So you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of streams of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you will eat food without shortage, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His commandments, His ordinances, and His statutes which I am commanding you today; Deuteronomy 8:4-11

The Providential grass ended toward the latter part of last week.  All the animals' heads were down, and they were finding things to eat, but they were looking for more.  Sort of like I do when I eat a meal, but am looking around for a little something sweet like pie or ice cream once the main course is gone.

January 1st seemed as good a day as any to roll out the first round bale for them to eat.  These are bales that I purchased back on March 29, 2024.  It is good quality hay, but cost me $40 per bale delivered.  I think that is a very fair price.  We kept it covered by tarpaulins, so it is still in very good shape.

A couple of things to notice in the photo above.  LuLu is in the barn being milked so she hasn't seen the bale yet.  Rosie and Elsie are eating a little sweet feed.  You can see their rear ends at the barn.  They didn't hear me as I stealthily pushed the bale out.  The goats are in the corral and the bull is in a separate pasture.  It would be only a few short minutes after this photo was taken that all the livestock discovered their New Year's bounty.  

Cows and especially goats waste a lot of hay.  I'm going to experiment with something this year to mitigate that.  If you look to the right of the barn in the background, you'll see a cattle panel.  I'm going to allow the animals to eat the hay in the morning, but in the evenings, I'll run the animals out of the hay area and close the cattle panel behind them.  If you leave them all day, they begin "playing with their food," stepping on, and pooping on the good hay.  We'll see if that works.

Last year it took the animals 6 days to eat one round bale.  I have 9 round bales in inventory.  Those 9 should get me through the coldest of the weather.  I still have about 70 square bales of hay up in the hay loft to feed them and I have lots of turnips planted.  I feed them the roots as I'm not a big fan of turnip roots.  I do like turnip greens, however.  The cows will have to fight me for those!

Waiting For the Pasture to Come In

It is always at this time of year that we wait for the pasture grass to really start coming in strong.  Right now with the cows, goats, and chickens on the pasture, it seems that just as soon as the tender grass begins to grow, one of the farm critters munch it down to ground level.  I've begun to install the temporary electric fencing to partition the pasture into paddocks to better manage the rotation of the animals through the land, but it is only 100% effective on the cows, about 30% effective on the goats, and 0% on the chickens.

While we wait, we rotated the cows twice through the yard and they quickly obliterated the clover.  Trouble is, they have a penchant for eating the leaves off the citrus and blueberries and shrubs, so I have to be real careful and cognizant of where and how I place the fencing.

We're also still supplementing with stockpiles of hay - both square bales and round bales.  The cows and goats like to spend some time around the round bales - as do the chickens.

I always use this analogy, but cows treat a round bale of hay like I do a cinnamon roll.  I like to eat the center first.  That's where all the cinnamon and sweetness is concentrated.  For some reason, the cows do the same.  You can see in the photo below, they've completely eaten the center out and you can see through and through the bale.  Chickens love this hole as it is a perfect hiding place to set and lay eggs.  I have to remind my egg collector (Benjamin) to check for eggs there.

There is yet another thing we do while we wait for the bahai/bermuda grass in the pasture to grow with vigor.  There is a spot of land directly south of our land behind our pasture fence .  It isn't ours, but the owners never mow it.  The tall grass is a habitat for mosquitoes, rats, snakes, possums and other such unwelcome quests.  Chinese tallow trees, privet, China ball trees, and briars threaten to overtake the land each year. 

We call this the sacrifice pasture.  Several times a year, we put up the electric fence and allow the cows to eat as much of the grasses down as they wish.

It is a smorgasbord or all you can eat buffet line for cows.  They roam around and "cherry-pick" the weeds/grasses that they like the best.  Once all the best stuff is eaten, they start grazing on their second favorite items. 

They'll eat and eat and eat.  I keep my eyes on them, though, because there is nothing other than a thin, electrically charged line to keep the cows from roaming onto the road.  After a while, they'll let me know they are done by sitting down.

I just let the three cows out that are in milk.  No sense in letting the 3 bull calves out.  We'll keep doing what we're doing with the hay and sacrifice pasture.  We'll exhaust our stockpile of hay in about a month, but that's okay.  Pretty soon, with rain and sunshine, the cows won't be able to keep up with the grass in the little pasture.  I'll rotate them daily through the different paddocks.