Last year on the first day of 2008 I took some time to write out some goals for the farm. You can check the link to see what was on my mind last year, but all in all I think I did fairly well considering our circumstances changed drastically when we decided to buy 40 acres and build a house! Today I thought as we take the first step into 2009 I thought I would take a look back at my 2008 goals and see how I did. Then tomorrow I'll share with you the goals that have been kicking around in my head for 2009 ... they are quite a bit different than last years!
2008 Goal #1 - Read Six Farming Related Books: I'm not sure that I made it through six complete books, but I did come pretty close this year in the reading department and I'm sure if you counted in all of the magazine articles I read that it would exceed my goal. This was a good goal for me though because I broadened my reading a bit this year and I feel that I really started to develop my ideas on many subjects.
2008 Goal #2 - Begin Rotational Grazing: Yep, I probably failed miserably at this one, but it mostly has to do with the fact that most of the cattle spent the year at my dad's still. We did end up make five different pastures that they rotated through, but the results weren't that great. Once the fence gets up at the new place it will happen this year.
2008 Goal #3 - Add Another Dimension to the Stoneyfield Livestock Operation: I can easily check this one off of the list because we added the pigs. Everything hasn't gone as smoothly as we would have liked, but what does? In this coming year I wouldn't mind adding some hair sheep, but we really need to focus on getting everything else up and running first.
2008 Goal #4 - Expand Our Backyard Laying Operation: Thanks to the city of Knoxville this one was nixed very early on in 2008. But, then we moved so it was all good. We haven't actually added any birds yet, but we are thinking about getting some laying hens from an Amish egg guy. He is rotating out the flock and you can get them for 75¢ each. I can't argue with the price on that one.
2008 Goal #5 - Build a Stoneyfield Website and Expand the Blog: I think I can say check and check on this one. Thanks to the help of my wife's cousin we now have a website and in a way I expanded the blogging by writing over at the Epi-Log (even though my time there is done).
Check back tomorrow to see what goals I have on the brain for 2009, and I pray you have a blessed and wonderful beginning of the year with friends and family!
10 comments:
Great topic.
My Ag goals are two fold.
1. I have my annual goal of trying to work out of my office job and into my ag job full time. Been working on that for a long time, but I'm still going to keep on keeping on with that one.
2. I'm going to try to expand out my horse use (all saddle right now), and get in some driving. Maybe I'll explore feeding with a wagon. And I'm going to get in some odds and ends with horses other than saddle horses, or try it anyhow, this year.
"...We did end up make five different pastures that they rotated through, but the results weren't that great..."
In what way were the results less than you expected? Was it a matter of the way the grass responded to the grazing, or the way the cattle responded to rotating through the pastures?
"...but we are thinking about getting some laying hens from an Amish egg guy...you can get them for 75¢ each..."
Depending on how many hens you plan to get, I would run the numbers on how much you actually save by buying older hens. You can buy chicks for under $2, and if I remember right it takes about 15-25 lbs of feed to raise them to egg laying age. Then when they start laying, they should consistently lay between 5-7 eggs a week for almost a year before they start to lay less often.
An older hen will eat more feed to lay less eggs, and any savings you might have had at the beginning can start to disappear.
You might get a higher return on your money (if you plan to sell eggs, etc.) with "more expensive" chicks. Plus, chicks might adapt to your particular setup, pasturing, be easier to "train", etc. and be less of a hassle to deal with.
Slightly off the topic (due to Yeoman's comment), I've thought about using horses while working with the cattle, but I have relatively little experience with them. Does anybody have any suggestions on where or how I could learn the ins and outs?
Even though it seems to be rare to work cattle with horses locally, I can see some advantages to using them around here.
I've never been one to plan out goals just because it is the first of the year, I just plan to try to improve things in general, try to learn something new, and of course try to cut down most of those good-for-nothing cedar trees.(a truly unattainable goal).
Rich said:
"Slightly off the topic (due to Yeoman's comment), I've thought about using horses while working with the cattle, but I have relatively little experience with them. Does anybody have any suggestions on where or how I could learn the ins and outs?"
It'd be impossible to have cattle here, and not ride horses.
Rich, where are you? That would impact my response to your question.
I'm in north-central Oklahoma; I've just had the thought recently that it might be easier to use a horse to do things like checking or moving cattle. Usually this would be done from a pickup and on foot in the areas where a truck can't (or shouldn’t) be driven. A few weeks ago I spent a number of frustrating hours on foot looking for a missing calf, and couldn’t help thinking that it might have been less frustrating (and easier) if I had been riding a horse.
I’ve also been reading a little about Bud William’s techniques for handling livestock, and have been thinking about some of his ideas about using herding techniques to “place” cattle in an area of a pasture to achieve a form of high density rotational grazing. Since it would be almost impossible to subdivide most of our pastures into smaller paddocks with electric fencing (not to mention the problem of water), I was thinking it would be easier to try high density grazing doing something like this on horseback.
Most of my time on a horse would probably be spent just checking cattle, moving them between pastures, maybe moving them short distances down a dirt road, or just goofing-off looking for some deer or quail.
I’m in no rush to go out and get a horse, but I would like to keep that option open by learning more about them so I can act when and if the time is right.
Rich, as far as the five different pastures set up, I think it had a lot to do with the types of grass as much as anything. This grass just never seemed to recover and since the pastures were rather large we didn't get much of a mob grazing effect.
That does make me a little worried about our native grasses. I wonder how well they will recover.
If you have native grass pastures I wouldn't worry excessively about them recovering. Most of the pastures I am familiar with are almost entirely native grasses, and they are almost all managed differently, yet almost all produce sufficient forage.
From my observations, native grasses seem to thrive on inconsistent conditions. Since there are usually about six main grasses, (and much more minor grasses), one or two of the major grasses will tend to increase in a pasture in response to the given conditions. For example, a couple of the grasses will increase and at the same time a couple will decrease due to burning. But under an under-grazed condition the reverse might be true.
I think that (and I believe I have read it somewhere) native pastures should be managed in a extremely varied way to get the most benefit. By varied, I mean a combination of methods like burning in late winter, periods of fallow in which they are not grazed for an entire growing season, continuous grazing over the entire grazing season, only grazing during the winter dormant period, an intensive early stocking method of grazing, a rotational grazing system with both short and long rest periods, cutting it for hay occasionally, etc.
Using different methods year to year and season to season will make the pasture even more diverse and able to withstand periods of drought, deluges of rain, under-grazing, overgrazing, etc. because one grass isn't favored over any other. When the pasture is composed of every available type of native grass it will produce forage regardless of the weather, fertility, or grazing management.
Rich said:
"I'm in north-central Oklahoma; I've just had the thought recently that it might be easier to use a horse to do things like checking or moving cattle."
It is easier here, in Wyoming. My experience with Oklahoma is mostly limited to Ft. Sill, so I'll defer to you there.
Do you ride now? That is, are you competent at riding?
"...Do you ride now? That is, are you competent at riding?..."
No, I don't ride right now, but how much of "typical" horse riding would translate to actually using horses around cattle?
I'd be the first to admit that I need some instruction, but my main stumbling block is finding the right kind of instruction.
Right now I'm in the "pondering" stage, thinking about what I need to learn, and working through the details.
Rich said:
"...Do you ride now? That is, are you competent at riding?..."
No, I don't ride right now, but how much of "typical" horse riding would translate to actually using horses around cattle?"
That can't be accurately answered in part because "typical" riding would require defining.
It's a lengthy topic, but riding for stock working purposes fits into a certain category of riding. It's distinct from "English" riding, or even from casual recreational riding using a Western saddle.
If you don't ride now, you have a lot to learn. That's the bad part, but the good part is that riding is fun.
What I'd recommend is this. Get some instruction. And when you get instruction, get instruction from somebody who teaches a "centered seat". I could go on about it at length, but you'll find there's various seats that are used in riding. The centered seat is the most practical for most people. Some old time ranchers use a "stock seat" that is a bit different, but don't try to learn it. I could go on at length why, but trust me on this one for a while. What you need to learn, in order to ride safely (and that's the main thing) is the "centered seat" (which goes by a few other names on occasion, "military seat" being another.
Only after you can ride competently with a centered seat do you need to go to the next step. By that time, however, you'll already be riding outdoors, working your cattle. What you won't know how to do is to rope, and use split reins, but you don't need to know how to do that at first. After you learn, and practice, and use a centered seat, you can learn to rope, "neck rein" and use a split reins if you decide to add roping to your inventory of tools.
A couple of added items of advice. Don't do the tempting thing and try to learn from a buddy, or somebody you know who uses his horses for rodeos or something. Go to a good instructor. If the instructor starts you off with an English saddle, all the better. Indeed, that's a good sign, as it's easier to learn on an English saddle than it is on a Western Saddle. About 90% of the common Western Saddles are useless for outdoor riding on ranches, and are only bells and whistles, designed for appearance. But you wont' know how to buy a good Western Saddle, with a centered seat, until you know how to ride a centered seat.
Your area of the country has quite a few arenas, I suspect. What I'd suggest is calling around, and asking about their instruction. Tell them you are a novice with no experience, and that you want to learn a centered seat, and that you anticipate outdoor riding.
Obviously, working cattle with a horse involves more than this, but I don't want to make it seem too complicated, as you'll pick that part up quickly enough. The main thing is to learn how to ride a centered seat, which is the safest and most secure seat.
I hope this is of some help.
Thanks Yeoman, I appreciate your advice on the subject.
When I start down this road in the future I'll make sure that everyone within earshot knows that it was "some guy from Wyoming that went by the name of Yeoman" that deserves a portion of the credit (or blame) for getting me started with horses.
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