Do you want to Cattle Farm?
For most the answer is no but for a few solitary individuals the answer is yes.
Yes, they would love to see the heifers, the steers, the cows, the calves, and the glorious old bull, grazing a field of pasture and be able to say: Those are gifts of God placed in the sphere of my stewardship.
Yes, they want to produce good healthy beef and be a benefit to American consumerism.
Yes, they want to see the heaven like result of bringing renovating practices to worn out farm land.
Yes, they dream of observing rejuvenation, vitality, and life breaking out of once depleted soil.
But as it is with any endeavor there are the necessary prerequisites of both resources and information. It takes serious analysis, prayerful consideration, available factors of input, and detailed planning, to make this agricultural enterprise sustainable, enjoyable, and profitable.
Such thoughts have traveled through the minds of certain Wilkes Team members. Especially after last week, when one the members had opportunity to attend two conference with topics closely associated to cattle farming. The first conference, Virginia Hay & Pasture Summit, occurred on Wednesday. The guest speakers were Dr. Don Ball, and Dr. Garry Lacefield, two out of three co-authors of the world famous book: Southern Forages.
Some of the highlights of the conference were the following:
- Understanding Fescue toxicity (a serious problem for most the U.S. farmers) and how to minimize it’s effect on livestock.
- The importance of legumes and the biodiversity they can bring to the landscape.
- Explanation of legumes and warm and cool season grasses such as, orchardgrass, fescue (K-31 endophyte, endophyte free, and novel endophyte,), bermuda, red and white clover, alfalfa, and a few others.
- Grazing techniques to increase and enhance forage growth and vitality (continuous, mob grazing, rotational, semi-rotational etc.)
The 2nd conference was put on by VFGC (Virginia Forage & Grassland Council) and, though it had one guest speaker from out of state, the rest of the speakers were from this grand Old Dominion. Some of the topics were the following:
- How to get your cattle to eat weeds. The methods described were quite unique and we’ll say creative!
- Soil fertility and weed control – using certain techniques to down play the need for both fertilizers and herbicides and pesticides – quite educational to say the least.
- The highlight of this conference was listening to a Culpeper farmer (lives only a few minutes away) describe his organic dairy operations and the land healing, forage building, practices he’s using to make the need for grain consumption obsolete – absolutely fascinating!
In response to these conferences and the information gained, there are few first steps that have become clear as preparations are made for cattle:
1. Gather soil from future pastures and send it into VA Tech for soil test
2. Identify grass varieties on fields
3. Decide if legumes are necessary to provide additional supplement for a healthy animal diet.
4. Research affordable but practical water systems
5. Decide on fencing systems which will be most conducive for the operations we will be having in the near future as well as in the next four to five years (most likely a combination of permanent and temporary fences).
Here concludes some random thoughts on two insightful conferences. It was joy to learn at them and maybe some day, if God deems it best, we will enjoy the fruit of this learning by seeing cattle grazing in the fields of Honey Brook Farms!
Some helpful resources:
Southern Forages – Very helpful on grass identification and understanding what cattle need for proper performance.
Grass Fed to Finish – By Allan Nation, a highly respected cattle farmer. The thought processes in this book have become the backbone behind the grass finished beef industry.
Polyface Farm – A Virginian Farm using innovative grazing practices to produce healthy beef. This website provides info about the farm, books written by Joel Salatin, and stories of those who have begun similar agricultural enterprises.
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