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Be glad they are 1/2 acre lots. We have that white trash with money on plots up to 40 acres. Out here in California we have a lot of restrictions on subdividing parcels. So what is some one will build a mansion on a large lot and then not do any landscaping. For someone who wants to live the...

On the balance, I think a fence out system is preferable to a fence in rule. I had an uncle that was so petty that he built a fence 40 feet on his side to keep the neighbor from being able to use their own property.

I have around 25 acres of bottom ground that I am looking to irrigate cover crops on. I am interested in a one of those wind up reels that will do 1/8th of a mile set. Any thoughts?

Yes it does if your calcium to magnesium levels are out of balance. On your soil test there should be a cation levels. If your soils are high mag like mine then you need to add pure calcium lime to correct the soil.

I don't like planting perennials, there is too much of something not working right and having a poor stand. If you have farm ground cover crops will give you a chance to get something going.

I used the AgPhd soil removal app and found that each ton of hay at that time removed $70 of fertilizer from the soil and based on the discussion here the true cost of baling is at least $80 a ton. Last spring hay here was $100 a ton, so the act of baling and removing the hay was robbing from...

My personal pet peeve is people spending a lot of money on the wrong things. I have planted three pastures that were leveled dead flat so the water doesn’t drain. Also excessive and overbuilt internal cross fencing, any sort of field work is made much more complicated by excess fencing.

Green cover seeds has a summer soil builder mix that would work well to get something growing in the summer. Looking at your pictures, it seems that there is a soil chemistry issue that is causing poor animal performance and the reason why the neighbor’s Bermuda grass looks good is that they...

What are your pasture management pet peeves?

I am not the biggest fan of applying nitrogen because it is ephemeral. It is the only chemical fertilizer that can evaporate from the soil. Money is much better spent on improvements that last. I went to the Neil Kinsey seminar at AgPhd a few years go and it really expanded my thought...

I don't get the idea behind Is there a reason why you aren't going to graze that pasture until fall? I don't see the sense in mowing when you can high intensity graze and get the same effect.

Around here grain hay is $100 a ton wholesale. It costs around $50 a ton to harvest and contains $70 of NPK. Anyone who has to harvest hay at those prices is putting themselves $20 a ton in the whole before planting costs and rent. If any farmer is in the position where they have to generate...

My fundamentals of grazing are: Always have grass. One of the great advantages of rotational grazing is the ability to see how much feed you have ahead of you. If you don't have enough feed to get through, depopulate or start feeding early. The cow is the primary tool of grazing improvement...

Andybob, you obviously know the figures involved much better than I do. I have the upmost respect for Johann Zietsman not so much for Allan Savory. The first edition of Allan Savory’s book contained a glowing description of Johann’s ranch but in the editions that were published after the land...

I agree that you don’t want to add any permanent internal fencing. If you ever wanted to do any sort of cultural practice like seeding, fertilizing or tilling it is much easier to work one big field than a bunch of small ones. I personally like to divide fields into long strips a few hundred...

The study is incomplete. It doesn’t matter how heavy a calf is when it goes on feed. What is important is how those calves do on feed. Calves that are stunted or over conditioned won’t perform as well on feed as properly developed animals. The study also did measure the affect of...

How deep is the soil? If the soil is shallow, it might make sense to rip a couple of feet to open up the root zone. At this point, I won’t plant perennials until after we have success growing annual cover crops. Green cover has a high diversity mix with dozens of different varieties. Look at...

I had a back fence that I would move around once a week when I would move the water trough up the strip. It didn't rally matter because the soil moisture was already depleted and I didn't get much regrowth. When I was around two-thirds the way through the strip we got a freak rainstorm, Five...

Here is a picture of some cover crop I planted and grazed a couple years ago. No tilled after silage corn, 6 acres, two irrigations, 100 lbs an acre of triple 15. I got enough feed to strip graze 20 twelve month old heifers for 55 days.

I agree completely about needing to have personal stake in order to give good advice. That is why I want to work on a risk share basis. If I don’t add value I won’t get paid. I started along the path of total grazing in 2015 after reading Man, Cattle and Veld; and taking Johann Zietsman's...