We also are holding our breath until spring.
The conundrum that has me baffled lately is how we can ever get out from
under the expense of wintering the cattle (beef), so that we might take
advantage of the grazing season. We've reduced our cow number (to a measly
6) thinking that we should stay very small until we seem to have a system
that works. I'm just not seeing how this can work though. Our winter
set-up is not at all what I would like, but the expense of building a barn,
and furnishing it with bedding, seems absolutely crazy.
Our own land isn't being used yet, and I've offers of other land to use.
But how can I possibly keep all those animals through winter?
I heard Greg Judy recently, advocating for no-hay whatsoever, and planning
for grazing 365 days/year. Could it work here in Vermont? (Perhaps in a
year when we don't have so much freezing rain?) I keep thinking about
getting cows out to where they can winter in the trees, but there's still
the feeding question (not to mention water out there).
Perhaps smaller cows would help. If the cows are significantly smaller, is
there significantly less mud? (Shorter time to finishing might lessen the
winter feed costs by reducing head count for winter.)
How do people make this work?
Thanks, Ann Tiplady
