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Weather: Moderate and mild the whole period except wet rain and snow on 2.4
Where: Cows (254) in LS-17. Bulls (18) in WG-4. Heifers (75) EG-9 to include a sliver of EG-8 (area in front of winter facility shelter). Calves (242 (268)) in LS-2. I was gone for the whole period partly at the SRM annual meeting in Reno, the TNC meeting in Helena, and Max’s basketball tournament in Butte. Cows stayed in L-17 split and south end of BW-6 (old CRP) mostly on straw. Cayse kept up daily moves with calves. Bred heifers stayed put in EG-9. We hope to get heifers and cows back to daily move today, though more meetings this week will continue to challenge our winter grazing program…yikes!
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Weather: Morning frost softens with strong SW winds
Where: Cows (254) in LS-17. Bulls (18) in WG-4. Heifers (75) EG-9 to include a sliver of EG-8 (area in front of winter facility shelter). Calves (242 (268)) in LS-2. Cows stay on straw. Heifers no change. Fresh split for calves. Cayse and I build next split for calves in old CRP unit at south end of BW-6. Confirmed plan for cows for the next six days while I am traveling: graze off remaining old feed in the old CRP pasture (south end of BW-6) coupled with ample straw to cover any forage gap. Our backup for cows is state ¼ section within LS-15. Curious to see how MAIA handles these last series of moves. When Tyler returns, we will be testing again if MAIA is still a good fit for managing our grazing records and decision-making. Update daily supplement costs: Cows .72/day + straw and/or grass Bred heifers .32/day + 6# alfalfa/day given every other day and grass Calves .20/day + 6# grass hay/day and grass Weather: Clear, calm, and muddy.
Where: Cows (254) in LS-17. Bulls (18) in WG-4. Heifers (75) EG-9 to include a sliver of EG-8 (area in front of winter facility shelter). Calves (242 (268)) in LS-2. Cows stay put with more straw. Delaying move as I figure out next week’s plan. One of those periods where we step back from daily moves to address other quality of life needs .During winter when plants are dormant is a safe time to take that time. Calves move at end of day into fresh split. Heifers have enough grass left in EG-9 until I return at end of next week. Healthy flock of Bohemian waxwings feeding on junipers east of house. Bohemians trill Breaking the winter silence Cows full and relaxed
Weather: Hard morning frost then turns warm.
Where: Cows (254) in LS-17. Bulls (18) in WG-4. Heifers (75) EG-9 to include a sliver of EG-8. Calves (242 (268)) in LS-2. Cows move to fresh split and calves and heifers stay put. Red-tail hawk roosting over the chicken coop. Weather: Melting continues. Basking in the gentleness of it all!
Where: Cows (254) in LS-17. Bulls (18) in WG-4. Heifers (75) EG-9 to include a sliver of EG-8. Calves (242 (268)) in LS-6-2. Cayse moves the cows to new split in LS-17. Heifers no change yet a hay day. Calves move into fresh feed in LS-2. We committed to sending our steer yearlings to Phipps in Garfield County. Plan to put heifer yearling with our cows in March. APHIS release initial report that hoopers may again be a problem in eastern Montana. Weather: Some morning frost with fog on and off all day.
Where: Cows (254) in LS-17. Bulls (18) in WG-4. Heifers (75) EG-9 to include a sliver of EG-8. Calves (242 (268)) in LS-6. New split for cows for LS-17. Calves finish up LS-6. Heifers finishing up on the rest of EG-9 as we opened the whole remaining paddock during the cold snap. Remember the bulls still hanging out on grass, straw, and a protein tub in WG-4. So nice not be breaking ice, yet this pattern while lovely will need to change to something wetter in due time. Bees leave their nest behind the chicken coop for a short stint. Weather: Melting continues. Basking in the gentleness of it all!
Where: Cows (254) in LS-12-16 and now 17. Bulls (18) in WG-4. Heifers (75) EG-9 to include a sliver of EG-8. Calves (242 (268)) in LS-6. All classes of animals are spending more time on grass. Cows move off full feed straw into grassy draws on south end of LS-17. Yes, out of sync with plan, yet I cannot trail back to east Lackey until after I return from SRM meeting (invited to speak on our BLM permit change) and TNC meeting next week. Call this adaptive grazing. Animals mostly doing well I visited with Alejandro Carrillo, a progressive regenerative rancher in Chihuahua, Mexico about running heifer calves, yearlings, bred 2’s, and cows all together. We plan to test this practice hard as it can create opportunity to improve both herd effect and recovery time with less labor.
Weather: Some drafting with SW winds and a ever so slight warming trend.
Where: Cows (254) in LS-12-16. Bulls (18) in WG-4. Heifers (75) EG-9 to include a sliver of EG-8. Calves (242 (268)) in LS-6. Tyler feeds 14 bales of straw to cows on last day of work before heading south for one month. Calves the same-two bales morning and night. Calves have been grazing the last few days unless it was windy. Ice buildup around tank where heifers are due to icing up of overflow triggers an accident with a heifer breaking her leg. We had to put the poor animal down. Whole incident disturbing and worse, likely avoidable with a better design for the water tank. Dana returns from an excellent CNB annual meeting. |
Bill Milton
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