FATTED CALF CATTLE
Regenerating ..... THE CATTLE
LIVING THEIR BEST LIFE...
Cattle get used to the fat life - literally
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Always eating "ice cream" in the sense that they always eat the most lush, tender leaves
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They're not exactly track stars - they move periodically through the day
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Unlimited fresh water available all the time
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No flies, all naturally
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Low stress stockmanship
It all adds up to gains over 3 lbs./day* and virtually no health issues.
FIRST SPRING GRAZE
We concentrate a lot of cattle on a small chunk of ground and move them several times per day, This approach does amazing things for the cattle.
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Cattle eat primarily the richest young leaves and have better gains (usually over 3 lbs./day
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They never are around their manure so they never have flies
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We usually use several plants that naturally kill flies (or larva or eggs)
OUR APPROACH
GAINS!!
Stockers on grass don't
usually gain three or more
pounds per day so the
beef doesn't end up looking
like this. It takes gains of at
least 2 lbs./day to lay in any intramuscular fat so range stockers rarely can achieve this level of finish. Cattle on our pastures do.
We have a smaller amount of land than outfits with native range and we have the advantage of having manufactured rain. That means that we while we follow the rules for ultra - high intensity grazing we adapt as needed. For example, in a semi arid range operation such as Ray Bannister's up in Montana a pasture might be rested for as much as 18 - 24 months after grazing depending on moisture.
We don't need to do that. We're not saying Ray's not doing it right; he clearly is! However, he's on perennial pastures; he makes his cattle eat everything to control weeds and he's not concerned with maximizing gains. We've found that we can foster the long term growth of our base forage and any other plants that are at least semi - perennial by giving them 25 - 45 days between grazing. If we give them any more than that the plants go to seed - the problem is that cereals don't automatically reseed the way perennial grasses do - we just lose our pastures.
On top of that we would end up with very mature pastures that are not nearly as rich in energy or protein as what we want. So we strive to make sure we:
1) Start with pastures that are at least 18" tall (the photo above shows what we used to do) and we prefer to see them about 26" or taller
2) Leave about 16" inches of plant behind us after we graze,
3) Give the plants lots of rest between grazings. This usually means that we leave around 20 days - any more than that and the plants set seed
4) We have plenty of regrowth before we return. The plants usually both recover and add several inches of growth between grazings
5) Get water on the plants immediately after the cattle leave
