Enjoying spring yet?

[ASRG]

The last few days sure have been cold! The wind is pretty brutal.
Not sure about everyone else but east of Red Deer the snow is still pretty deep and hard as a rock! More snow in the forcast.
Lots of robins back. I bet they're thinking "Why the hell didn't we stay down south for a few more weeks"?
Looking forward to a "warming trend"....maybe by late next week.

[wilagro]

When we were kids the first day of May was a time to celebrate and we shucked our shoes and went barefoot for the rest of the summer. We'll be lucky this year to get out of our mukluks if this new predicted snowfall occurs.

My neighbour and I are getting "cabin fever"...not enough sun and too many windy cool days. "They" are predicting a warmer than usual summer...that would be change for sure.

[grassfarmer]

Seems to have been an unusual year in AB with
almost more snow in the east than the west. We are
on track for the time of year here. Cows will be off
feed and onto banked grass tomorrow. We are about
80% clear of snow on these first banked fields. That
miserable wind yesterday did a good job of drying the
grass and lifting it off the ground. Have never had
banked grass with so much green in it before, cows
should be happy. Should get busy calving in a week.

How did you make out HT? did your snow melt or did
you have to plow it?

[Horse]

GF If you dont mind my asking how many acres per cow do you have? I ask the question because over the trs I have been told by ag staff and various educators gust plant some anuals if you are short of pasture , palnt some greenfeed if you are short of feed , I guess I did it all wrong because I kind of used up my ground before I became short, now this banked grass , yes I have a moderate cover but that does not sustain them for long. The high ground is soft and they tramp hell out of it looking for green, and the low is still frose **** hard and covered with water?

[ASRG]

I have some banked grass (never grazed after June 15th......unfortunately it is still under about a foot and a half of very hard snow! There is a fair bit of green in it.

[grassfarmer]

Horse I won't give you a simple figure because
although it might satisfy casual curiosity it wouldn't
lead to an understanding of why we do what we do.

I believe it is important to build your cattle numbers
around your forage resource rather than say "I'm
going to have 200 cows" - then justify doing all kinds
of things to maintain that number. That's why I get
after Allfarmer because I think deciding your carrying
capacity based on how many feed bunk spaces you
have built or how many straw bales you can afford to
buy is crazy. It's got to be tied to a sustainable forage
resource capacity or it isn't going to work. I can't
afford to buy feed at drought inflated prices and pay
for it with the returns from the beef business - that's
what gets most guys running bigger numbers than
their forage resource can sustainably carry.

A grazing plan is an integral part of my planning. I
know now which fields my cows will be grazing as
banked this time next year - this is our highest
priority land use as it has revolutionized our
calving/calf health. I build other land use around it
and build in enough reserve to carry us through
whatever type of growth year we get. I factor in
carrying capacity under my chosen system which is
based on extended grazing. We have only fed mature
cows for 90 days this winter and I need to get them
onto banked grass ASAP so we can utilise it all before
we need to go to fresh growth because it grows so
quick once it starts.
These are choices I've made - I don't sit in a tractor
all summer making hay to feed for a 200 day winter
because the cows can harvest a lot of that themselves
at a fraction of the cost. It's a simple system based on
INTENSIVE MANAGEMENT not intensive work.
It seems to me a lot of guys don't think what the
nature of their business really is. I consider myself in
the solar conversion business first - using cows as
the tool to maximize production of forage which they
then turn into saleable beef.

[Happytrails]

GF glad to hear that your cows a out on grass. Mine are also on the 50% bare ground we got uncovered in the last week or so. Luckily my land is a bit hilly and the tops bare off sooner. Still feeding some tho.

[Horse]

GF I do agree with you but my problem is it takes a minimum no to sustain the operation. If I had only one cow and milked her and butchered the calf and fed a hog I would be making more money than anyone else per cow but that does not sustain the body and sole. So I guess my question now is to buy hay and forget about haying I can run more cows cheaper most yrs. Now banking grass means more capital exp. How does one cover every circumstance like how many days grass , each yr is different, feed every winter is different, calf prices, grain so more land is also a cost, more costs equal a need for more income.
IN the drought 2002 producers were hauling cows to sask and 300 plus miles I dont know how that worked out , I gues I like to keep a in house show.

[grassfarmer]

Rather than quit haying and start buying instead this
presents the perfect opportunity to graze more and
feed less for many people if they'd only try it. If you
drop one field or one quarter of hay and use the extra
acres to graze longer it lets you try it out without any
capital expense changing systems. If it works for you
you might try more another year.

Its true that production varies year to year but if you
keep records you will soon find that it follows a
pattern and you can use that to plan ahead. In this
area there are quite a few opportunities to rent
pasture since guys sold cows off so we have
expanded acres by renting rather than buying.

[ALLFARMER]

Grassfarmer / The very definition of a hypocrite

noun
1. a person who pretends to have virtues, moral
or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she
does not actually possess, especially a person
whose actions belie stated beliefs.

Grassfarmer will slag everyone else's approach
"doing it all wrong" but when anyone even hints of
questioning his menthodology he closes up.

[ALLFARMER]

The Grassfarmer manifesto

-tell everyone there doing it wrong
-tell everyone your doing it right
- don't say how many acres per cow you run
- don't say how many acres you run
- don't say how many cows you run
- don't say what kind of tractor you drive
- don't say what varieties of magic "year round
growing grass" you espouse the virtues of

[ASRG]

It looks like we are going to be blessed with a little more winter this weekend......10 to 20 cm of snow and strong winds!
Alberta....just another day in paradise!

[grassfarmer]

Man I'm slow. Should have figured Allfarmer and
Burnt were the same person a while ago, lol.

Allfarmer if you are so concerned about my stocking
rate here is a little exercise for you. From the grass
grown in 2012 season we maintained the cows by
grazing for 280 days and feeding for 85 days. Our
production harvested by grazing ranged from 7 Auds
to 128 Auds per acre. Our silage produced 10.7 tons
per acre on average. You tell me how many acres it
takes me to run a cow.

[Horse]

GF Sory about all this controversity I was just corious so if there is something out there I could use to help my operation. I still dont get it like this yr the snow is deep and crusted pretty bad around xmas so if I was grazing I still would have to have found feed now if I hadnt put up extra feed I am kind of stuck.

[grassfarmer]

That's a valid concern with this system Horse, no
doubt about it. Another good reason not to have all
your eggs in one basket. Having done it for a few
years I plan around feeding cows for 100 days and
can usually accomplish that in this area. I wouldn't
dream of planning around an empty bale yard either.
We shut down grazing January 16 this winter due to a
rare (for us) chinook followed by a freeze down.

Due to bigger yields we are going to struggle to get
over the banked before we need to be on the fresh
growth this year. Probably going to try running the
yearlings on banked 50% silage ration for the first
time starting next week. If utilization is less than
normal remember what Don Campbell says: "Once
you have grown grass it is impossible to waste it"
That's probably the most important grass thing I've
learned in Canada.