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I have to admit that it is pretty satisfying to watch it rain AFTER you get your seeding done. I just checked on the fields and they're sprouting well, so I should see green in a week or so.
Working on the fence on my seasonal pastures; I have two 12 acre pastures that I use for summer graze, and the cows will go out on the first one on tuesday. I'll watch the grass there, and when they've grazed it down to about 10", I'll move them to the second, larger pasture. They'll be on that pasture for most of the summer, and will come back to the farm in august or september.
While they're gone, the forage that I've planted will have sprouted and grown, and I'm hoping I can get a cutting of both grass and alfalfa this year. So here's the plot map
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4 comments:
Bruce, I forget, how many acres are we looking at?
Let us know how your different recipes work. What is growing in the pig graze pastures?
There's 60 acres of tillable ground; I don't have a very accurate measure of how big each area is. The soil is mostly sandy loam and tests well; it was all in silage corn last year.
not many folks grow alfalfa around here; mostly because they cannot reliably get the weather to hay it. I'm intending to graze it or green chop the "first cutting" and then hay the 2nd or 3rd, weather permitting.
orchard grass is the most popular forage grass in this area and is mostly fed to horses in the form of small square bales. So having orchard grass allows me to have the possibility of both hay for my cows and something that sells well in the local market.
This is basically one big field test. I'll look at how the various recipes work, and use that experience for next years attempts.
As with anything new, I'm fully expecting to make the usual rookie mistakes.
I think another big issue in this area is soil moisture. Alfalfa is more of a drought tolerant plant and can mold and rot in our wet soils.
You can figure out the acreage on Bing.com! I just used it last week to measure out a farm we are in the process of purchasing! Its a cool tool. Once you get the square footage of the area divide by 43,560. :) Best wishes!
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