Cows

[cottonpicken]

And i assume somebody has already done it.

[grassfarmer]

Winter water is easy cotton, just start them at the end of the field it's at and let them run back to it - no need to backfence in winter. Maybe design something with a wheel line irrigation system and use that as your self moving front fence?

[perfecho]

Liked the video...even saw a bull customer...have used tumble wheels and really like them, bit of an up keep thing, but easy to move.
Going to use corn this year...likely just a few acres because of cost...and unknown moisture...but have been thinking of best fence to use. Had thought of swathing, but also doing a bunch of electric fence posts in concrete and just running along and setting down...then pick up last fence line. Anyone tried that?

[Klause]

Good point... Pioneer has a really high yielding full sized non-denting corn... also not priced too badly.


Think we would leave it standing, take a 6' mower, and cut a path every 400 feet...put electric fence on each path, and just take one out every time they clean things up... We have 8 miles of fibreglass posts and red wire plus a bunch of fencers here :P

[newguy]

Tried swath grazing oats once.Expensive way.Tried a small 5 acre patch of corn.Grew great but black birds cleaned every kernel of corn off the cobs.I think a bigger field and a electric wire to make cows clean it up good may work.

[grassfarmer]

Perfecho, guys used to freeze posts into an oil pail full of water for moveable posts. Maybe wouldn't have worked so well this winter. Another idea was welding a couple of pieces of metal (grader blades) in a T-shape and a little piece pipe sticking up to put the post in. Don't know either are that much handier than drilling posts in with a masonry bit. If your x fences are fairly short and straight you can get by just pushing posts into crusted snow - we did that when bale grazing and it worked just fine in a year of normal snow loads.

[WiltonRanch]

7/16" rebar makes good posts if you wait till ground is froze then only need to pound in 4" then use vice grips with a handle welded on to twist and lift out. Doesn't hurt to have a fenced paddock ahead of what you turn into. Then if they crash the fence they're only into the next paddock and not the whole field. Don't do much swath grazing ourselves but it has its place early winter. If I did corn again I'd silage it. Around here anyone who sticks with corn puts it in the pit. Too much waste grazing it for what it costs. If you waste 15%?grazing a 10 tonne crop that's 1.5 tones left in the field. Input costs at $200 or whatever makes you wonder.

[perfecho]

Have swathed grazed before with tumble wheels...ground licked clean before I moved fence...wasted less than ever could silaging or baling. 2 years ago, had too much snow, so now I bale but don't put on twine. 120 acres divided into 4 pieces, just grapple and move 3 or 4 days worth into filed they are in...when field done, let cows in to clean up stuff I dropped, etc. This year, swath grazing would have been no issue at all.
Owned a bagger a few years ago and did bagging in return for silage harvester work, plus a bit of custom, but silage is every day work. Letting cows into next field or moving fence or moving piles of green feed is every few days.
Our mantra now is" what ever is easier"...want to stay in cows for awhile, but also dabbling in retirement...so this works for me.
A lot easier to get someone to stop by every few days in winter for an hours work than everyday for an hour or so.....

[grassfarmer]

7/16" rebar makes good posts if you wait till ground is froze then only need to pound in 4" then use vice grips with a handle welded on to twist and lift out. Doesn't hurt to have a fenced paddock ahead of what you turn into. Then if they crash the fence they're only into the next paddock and not the whole field. Don't do much swath grazing ourselves but it has its place early winter. If I did corn again I'd silage it. Around here anyone who sticks with corn puts it in the pit. Too much waste grazing it for what it costs. If you waste 15%?grazing a 10 tonne crop that's 1.5 tones left in the field. Input costs at $200 or whatever makes you wonder.

Check out some of the videos I posted the link to on the beef forum. Makes a strong argument for grazing versus harvesting if at all possible. $200 inputs with a 15 ton crop makes your 1.5 tons left in the field worth $20. From my own experiences custom silaging is costing at least $10-$12 a ton to put it in the pit - can you feed it back out much cheaper? I'd guess its about a wash and besides there is no such thing as waste if you believe the bale grazers - "more is better" is their motto.

[WiltonRanch]

True grass. Just makes a guy think about all you spend to knowingly waste 15-20%. If it's oat or barley swaths the cost of waste is less as you most likely have your own seed or buy no more than $20 per acre. What's corn? $100. I've done corn before and thought it was okay but too much cash out of pocket compared to swaths. Besides most of our feed is baled for fear of bad grazing weather. Generally here swath grazing is a good bet until Christmas but after you're taking a chance. But for a cow guy with limited acres and suitable ground corn is ideal.

[DaneG]

There is no perfect way to winter feed but about the easiest laziest way is to chop silage, pile on same field about 7-8 ft high pit.put free standing panels on each end with electric wire down length of face and snow for water bush for shelter. Each day move wire towards the face a few inches and cut off a few inches of plastic then go sit by the stove.

[WiltonRanch]

I like that idea. Seen on pfr where that guy tub ground a bunch of feed into a square box deal with removable slides where the cows could eat. I wonder about that whole buncher concept. I emailed the guy but he never got back. Is he still building them?

[Mufferaw]

Everything depends on how much management is involved. In 2010 tried swath grazing millet. Wettest year on record - was a horrible wreck. Have been grazing corn since then. First year was RR corn - 3 years OP corn - RR corn this year. Had to due to millet issues. Best corn crop ever was last year, mainly attributable to less moisture in first half of growing season.

Corn more expensive to grow OP-$25-30/acre RR $75-90/acre. Advantages of corn: no twine, no equipment, natural wind break, better manure distribution. I add only above 50lbs of N for fertilizer. Never made silage only can compare to feeding hay. RR corn seemed better than OP but I think growing conditions played a bigger role in that. I cross fence everything in October. Run the loader with post pounder behind and create paddocks when it's nice outside. After a month ot so in the corn I drop a bale every 3-4 just to change things up and actually look at them. I also work full time in the winter - time is a huge savings for me.