Bring On Haying Season

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This week revolved around haying and moving cows to new pasture, as well as some fencing repairs, and preparing materials to build new pipe fence.

Some of the major points I have learned over the past week have been how crucial the timing of haying in coordination with the weather is, as well as better practices when moving cows alone. For haying it was crucial to cut, bale, and move bales while the hay was dry. The way to achieve this is timing all of this when the weather is dry – easier said than done sometimes. When moving cows I found that waiting until the majority of cows headed to water helped in moving them easier due to them gathering in the draws. Having them pre-gathered makes it easier to push them in by yourself.

One concept or idea that I would challenge is using remote booster pumps in order to move pipeline water to pastures. In my observation, they seem to have more issues in comparison to pastures with solar wells.

One question that I still have is, what is the best way to dictate when your herd should utilize each pasture? It seems that some pastures don’t get grazed until they are past or before their best nutritional value, which could be prevented if closer attention to each pasture was given.

I plan to use what I have learned this past week to better dial in future haying planning, as well as more efficiently move cattle from pasture to pasture when alone.

Submitted by: Colby Barker
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team