Sustainable Agriculture?

[GoWyo]

We get most of our precipitation in the spring with some monsoons in the summer and rest in the winter. Spring green up is the primary grass growing season. The advice her is when the grass is growing fast then rotate cattle fast. As grass becomes mature and growth slows, the rotation can slow. With western wheatgrass we might run a double rotation where we just kind of tip the grass in early growth and move, then hit it again later in the summer-fall-winter. Also helps to take half and leave half by weight and leave enough residual (3-5" plus stems) to trap snow blowing across in the winter and provide soil protection. Having a sacrifice pasture or drylot is necessary to get the cattle off when they have maxed out their use.

 

[Bob Kinford]

So, if I've got 100 acres of pasture on converted cropland, and I'm going to be running 50 pairs on that 100 acres... and don't have ANY more ground at all, you're suggesting that once the "herd" has learned to stay together AS a herd, that they'll consistently move around that pasture all by themself for the whole season, without anybody having to "make them" stay in a particular area for a specific period of time?

I don't think so, respectfully. We had our dairy heifers on pasture, with ponds (tanks?) in multiple areas around the pasture. They would ALWAYS be together as a "herd"... never spread out as individuals. Probably 150 acres total... and this would be spread out from one end to the other maybe a mile and a half, a fair amount of woods along with the open grass areas. Seldom would be more than 300' between the furthest apart animals. But they would potentially cover that whole thing from one end to the other in any given day.

I've run yearlings on 105 acre pivots, rotating 1,120 head between two pivots. Anyone seeing them would ask me if I was running cows or sheep. They would work around the outside of the pivot and then work in, never going back to graze re growth.

 

[Rmc]

A interesting take on the topic

 

[Travlr]

A interesting take on the topic

Way too long... but great information, questions, discussion, and ideas.

 

[Ebenezer]

I've run yearlings on 105 acre pivots, rotating 1,120 head between two pivots. Anyone seeing them would ask me if I was running cows or sheep. They would work around the outside of the pivot and then work in, never going back to graze re growth.

And?

 

[Rmc]

Los Angeles Businessman, Utah Fuel Plant Operators and Employees Sentenced to Prison for Billion-Dollar Biofuel Tax Fraud Scheme

Five individuals were sentenced this week to prison for their roles in a $1 billion biofuel tax conspiracy: Lev Aslan Dermen, aka Levon Termendzhyan, 56, was sentenced to 40 years; Jacob Kingston, 46, was sentenced to 18 years; Isaiah Kingston, 42, was sentenced to 12 years; Rachel Kingston, 67...

www.justice.gov

Makes you wonder what is the real cost of biofuels.
If one company could commit a billion dollars in fraud and it go on for years before it was noticed how much other fraud is going on. And if that big of a scam can happen how much is the government actually paying out yearly in biofuel subsidies.