Oogie, I don't agree with your 'advise' on clipping. IMO, it's the simplest
solution to your problem. It's what we do here, and it works! The residue
degenerates quickly, and does not hinder subsequent growth.
Dick Conklin
amity Farm
Ft.Ann,NY
----- Original Message -----
From: "Oogie McGuire" <oogiem@desertweyr.com>
To: <graze-l@taranaki.ac.nz>
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2003 1:27 AM
Subject: [Graze-l] New Grazier, Want ideas for multispecies grazing of
excess grass in good years
> 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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