Out To Pasture
We’ve been waiting and hoping for the grass to begin growing enough to put the cows back out on pasture. I really like them on grass about a month before calving, and it was getting down to the wire. We expect our first calves in late May. Grass is like an elixir to a ruminant, helping the cows detox from a winter diet of hay before their real work begins – birthing and lactating.
Of course, it was quite a rodeo! You would think that since they have been wanting out on pasture to eat, that playing would be far from their minds. But it does a cow herders heart good to see an old pregnant cow kicking up her heels! Jane was dying of curiosity about those bovine cousins and Willy was determined to save his damsel cow from those horrid interlopers.
Jane and her real cousin nose to nose.
The party was over before it started almost. Just a few short bursts of energy, bellering and bucking, and everyone fell to grazing. The grass is somewhat short which helps to avoid bloat. I stuffed them with hay before turning them out to help buffer their rumen. It takes about 5 days for the rumen microbes to adjust to new or different feed so we’ll be watching for any problems for the next week.
Grazing season has officially started here!
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I’m sure the cows are loving their freedom, and Jane will be loving her bovine cousins. You should have taken video of the bucking and bellering:) Always fun to see grown animals kick up their heels.
Wyndsonfarm, I was too busy flapping my jacket! They decided to race back and forth and test the fence that wasn’t on yet
So I got to play rodeo clown!
We haven’t put our girls on pasture yet because the ground has been so soft with all the rain, though they did get a taste while moving “winter” paddocks a couple of weeks ago. That was fun — 800 pound puppies kicking up their heels! Couple of questions (we’re newbies) — how big are your paddocks? will you still bring them in at night during this breaking-in period?
Greg, they sure like their freedom don’t they? Right now the paddocks are big, I probably graze the whole place in about 12 days, to make sure they don’t graze too short, and as the season progresses I slow them down in the rotation with smaller paddocks. They are on 10 acres and they will have to stay there for a few days until we can cross the county road.
Aww, I always love putting the animals back on pasture!
Jane is looking great, BTW!
Goat Song, me too! She (Jane) sure likes her “new” cow friends! I milked my friend’s cow yesterday and gee, it was like I hadn’t had a day off of milking. I was worried with Jane coming fresh soon
Goat Song, me too! She (Jane) sure likes her “new” cow friends! I milked my friend’s cow yesterday and gee, it was like I hadn’t had a day off of milking. I was worried with Jane coming fresh soon
That’s a good feeling. We had something similar this week when we processed our first broilers of the year. Like riding a bicycle. We were on autopilot before we even started.
We’re still waiting for rain here in Western Mass. The grass stopped growing about 2.5 weeks ago, it’s been so dry. They are saying we’re to get 3″ of rain over the weekend. I’m just hoping it’s soft gentle rain, and not a downpour. The ground is so hard it will all run off.
We start our cows slowly, 3 hrs a day for 3 days then increase slowly. They still have hay for buffer. Takes a while, but with our set-up, it’s not too arduous. So far, no scours over the years.
Pam R, I never worry about green grass diarrhea and with the shorter grass they don’t really get that anyway, I worry more about bloat which can kill them if you’re not careful.
I hope you get your rain, we definitely could send some your way! We’ve been lucky to get two dry days in a row or even reach 60F
I’m starting my second rotation around the lawn today. The grass is a foot tall and starting to head out where they grazed on March 20th. Hopefully I can move them a little more slowly this time around.
The worst is when they jump and buck and play when you’re trying to lead them on a rope…or when you’re trying to lead two and they jump in different directions.
Love to see the green grass and the happy cows! Jane is looking wonderful and her bag is so cute!! Yeah for you that you had no problem milking.
Do you feed the horse hay before letting him out to pasture? Will he overeat on grass?
Ben, yes, and yes. He does stop himself from overeating, which isn’t always the case with horses. But my daughter keeps a close eye on him and his grass intake just to avoid problems. We lucked out in that he is from a pasture situation and actually came from not too far away, so we know he does well on our type of pasture. Horses are a little trickier than cows
Yes, I am trying to learn as much as I can before getting one. How do most folks transition from hay to grass? Just only let them stay on grass for a limited time?
Ben, sometimes (at least in our climate here on the west side) horses can have access to pasture all winter, in conjunction with hay and then the transition is not so great. If you don’t have winter pasture, the normal procedure it to feed hay first, and then turn out for 1/2 hour or so depending on the lushness of grass, and increase the time increment daily until you can leave them out for 4 hours or so. So much depends on the horse, and the pasture. Some are really prone to founder or obesity and others are not. Our Belgians never needed any fussy care at all, they just rolled with the pasture, but they were raised that way too. The worst thing I have seen is horses that are kept in a stall situation, it’s hard for them to make the transition.