Grass rules my life!

I wish all my pasture looked this good.

Grass, or the lack of it, rules my life.  MiG (Management- intensive Grazing) is a complicated blend of art and science.  I think about our pastures as much as I think about our gardens and orchards.  After all it is food for someone, my cows, and they “feed” me physically and mentally.  My cows are my friends.  One day I called a friend of mine, who has horses.  Her husband answered the phone because she wasn’t available, “She’s putting people in, she’ll call you back…”  I knew he meant the horses, but she feels about her horses the way I feel about my cattle.

I should (and am) writing a detailed post about the actual electric fencing procedure, but maybe the grass should be first.  My neighbors have been calling every couple of weeks, asking questions about laying chickens and other “growing your own” food type of issues.  On Friday, they wanted to know about getting a milk cow.  They live in a small settlement of about 15 houses, in the woods.  No grass, no clearings for grass and neighbors very close.  We like these people and have helped them with their chicks, but I draw the line at helping someone procure a cow, when they don’t even have a place for one.  Of course, they want a Dexter, and they think everyone in their immediate neighborhood will chip in and milk, when they get tired of it.  NOT!!!

We have gently tried to poo poo the idea.  I don’t know if it is working or not.  But, since it is making me think the food situation is getting so bad these people want a cow, maybe I should get a little more worried myself.  They are the type of people who look at all the colors the Kitchenaid stand mixers come in, and they buy white!!!!  Of course, I’m totally off the deep end and secretly covet one in every color to match my Fiestaware collection! 

Anyway, I’m on my second rotation and I’m starting to make my paddocks smaller.  It has been a cool spring, and  the grass is growing slower than expected, but doing OK.  I’m by nature a worry wart, I always think my garden is too small, too large, not enough tomatoes, too many tomatoes.  With the grazing, it’s overgrazed, or undergrazed I feel uncertain quite a bit of the time.  We don’t have flat fields so at this stage of the grazing season, I have to start paying attention the the keylines, (see Water for Every Farm on the book page) where slope meets swale.  I have to make sure I’m building my paddocks on the same type of ground, not combining a cooler north facing slope with a warmer south facing slope.  Nor do I want to fence small paddocks in a swale, where the ground may still be wetter and prone to pugging.

The main idea of MiG is the rule of the “second bite”, which means do not let the animals back on the grass until it is grown back and and is a darker green color.  Especially in two or three days, when the grass is light green and very tender.  You can graze short, but you need to give the plant adequate rest to recover.  Depending on the season that could be 2 weeks or 2 months.  If you let the plant get grazed again soon, you start losing productivity. 

 On the right, light green – too tender for grazing.

This is in our yard, where we mowed, but it shows the color I was talking about.

On our farm, cows rule, so there is no need for worrying about competing grazers.  Sheep, horses, and goats, can all starve out a cow.  Cattle don’t have top teeth and therefore must tear off the grass instead of biting it off.  The grass MUST be at least 4 inches tall, or your cattle will be working too hard to eat.  You shouldn’t see a cow grazing all day, she should be able to eat for several hours and then take time out to ruminate.  It’s hard to start holding back your animals, but if you start and let the grass get ahead of them, then you are on the way to having more grass for your animals.