----- Original Message -----
From: <baikal@wic.net>
To: Oogie McGuire <oogiem@desertweyr.com>
Cc: <graze-l@taranaki.ac.nz>
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2003 10:42 AM
Subject: Re: [Graze-l] New Grazier,Want ideas for multispecies grazing of
excess grass in good years
> A few ideas that might help you:
> 1) I believe its the tamarack pig that is a good grazer. I see them in
the
> Grass Farmer classified's.
> 2) Geese are good, but I believe turkeys should also be included as they
also
> will eliminate the inevitable hopper problem this year will present.
Geese will
> eat the weeds more than the grass. They love dandelions and other broad
leaf types.
> As for processing: I'm in Mesa CO and have a mobile plant. Karla Tschoepe
is in
> Hotchkiss and has a processing system. I believe there are some others in
the
> area, but know them by name. You would need to direct market those birds
in
> order to sell them. There is an excellent market for pastured poultry in
the
> area. At any rate, pasturing poultry would be an excellent method to
utilize the
> excess.
> 3) You don't mention lamas or other members of that family.
> 4) As for cattle wrecking the ditches, etc., I use a hotwire to keep them
off
> areas subject to damage by hoofs.
>
> Feel free to call me 970-487-3515 or email nerpa@earthlink.net to continue
this
> discussion. Megan Phillips
>
> Quoting Oogie McGuire <oogiem@desertweyr.com>:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > I'm new to this forum and am hoping to brainstorm some ideas.
> >
> > I am in Colorado, with mixed grass legume pastures all irrigated. We
> > have had a severe drought, but this year we have enough water that my
> > pasture is getting way ahead of my sheep. I graze about 70 ewes under
> > an old apple orchard on about 7.5 acres. My last paddock was 150 ft
> > square and 65 sheep were on it for a week and still didn't eat
> > everything. I have 7 sheep plus lambs on about 3/4 of an acre and
> > the grass is so high the sheep can't be seen. I really need to move
> > them every 3-4 days to keep my forages in good shape. My next paddock
> > will be 150 ft by 60 ft to see if I can get it small enough so they
> > eat things down appropriately in the time I need them too.
> >
> > Most MIG info suggests adding more animals to deal with excess
> > forage, but we are in a federal scrapie program , in year 4 with a
> > closed flock, so adding sheep or goats is not possible. Cattle are
> > right out, they destroy the irrigation ditches, we tried that and it
> > was a complete and utter disaster. Geese might be an option, but we
> > have no way to get them processed into meat locally once their
> > grazing time is done. I'm working on that but for now I could pasture
> > the geese but then have a bunch of geese with no way to get them
> > butchered easily. Since I'd need 80-100 geese to harvest the excess
> > grass in a year like this one, that's way more than I can reasonably
> > do by hand. However, I am ordering 16 geese to see of they would work
> > and trying to locate a processor for them so that might be a long
> > term solution.
> >
> > Pastured pigs are also a possibility, but finding pig genetics that
> > adapt to outside pasture situations is difficult and never having had
> > pigs I am really unsure of my ability to use them in this situation.
> > Stories I hear from people doing it are very mixed.
> >
> > I can't easily make hay in my extra paddocks in a year like this one
> > where I have more grass than I can use. The reason is my "paddocks"
> > are less than an acre so I need to be able to do nearly hand
> > processing of hay. That's where a small set of equipment would be
> > great, needs to be able to get in and say cut and bale a 150 ft x 150
> > ft patch. Sure it won't make much hay, but the goal is to get some
> > hay (I'd also consider haylage) and keep the pastures in a good
> > vegetative state for best animal performance. We have to buy in all
> > our hay, so even a small amount of production , if it stays here, is
> > a good thing.
> >
> > It's too early in the season to consider stockpiling forages to
> > extend my grazing.
> >
> > Info avail here from the extension service says that just plain
> > mowing and leaving the clippings on as mulch will hurt pasture
> > performance so I haven't considered that but maybe I should.
> >
> > I'm trying to brainstorm possible solutions and getting stymied. What
> > do other people do or is the small size of my area a unique problem?
> >
> > BTW after the last few years it's nice to have the problem of too
> > much grass, last year I got a whole 2 months grazing out of 10 acres
> > and we had to start winter hay feeding in June!
> > --
> > Oogie McGuire - oogiem@desertweyr.com
> > Weyr Associates - Multimedia and Web Authoring Services & Consulting
> > Desert Weyr - CMK Arabian horses and Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
> > http://www.desertweyr.com/
> > Paonia, CO USA
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Graze-l@witt.ac.nz
> > http://graze-l.witt.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/graze-l
> >
>
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