[Tim Harrigan]

Moving the fence every day is an opportunity to see how the cattle graze, what they prefer, what they avoid, how the sward recovers and how it changes throughout the seasons and over the years. It is a good opportunity to learn about grass and forage production. Don’t think of it as a downside.

[Tim Harrigan]

I don’t really agree that academic institutions are the cause of the large production structure of the US and many other countries in the world for the commodities corn, soybeans, cotton, wheat, etc. Certainly they have contributed because much of the technological advance from equipment, to seed, to herbicides and now biotechnology have largely been the result of research at universities. But big agribusiness has consolidated into only a few mega-corporations that have research budgets bigger than probably all the state land grant institutions combined. They emphasized efficiencies and convinced farmers that they needed the tractors, hybrid seeds, herbicides, GMO seeds etc., and of course the farmers had to pay for those advances. So they had to rent or buy more land to pay for it, more $ went to the corporations and maybe a little more, but not much landed in the back pocket of the farmers. Agribusiness and politics got involved and the farm programs, despite good intentions, encouraged overproduction that kept prices low. Agribusiness took the new technologies that the US public payed for and sold them around the world, pulling the ag competitive advantage rug out from under the feet of the US farmer who now had to produce even more for less to compete in the world market. That has been the treadmill for the last 100 years.

Land grant universities have been a part of the process by developing ‘efficient’ systems of animal housing etc., but to say that they were pushing or somehow leading the march to big ag, I am not so sure. Some agribusiness and farmers complain that the universities are always behind. So are they leading the charge, or behind the curve?

These relationships have gotten very complicated over time and it is difficult for me to lay blame or find anyone blameless. I know that of the work I am aware of at MSU I would say it is independent of scale, it involves principles that can be applied on big and small farms alike if they fit in the system. We have a lot of fruit and vegetable production in MI so we probably have a more diverse range of interests and activities here than in some states. The economics of farming clearly favors large farms if your starting point is commodity production. Much of the new thinking over the last several years has rejected that starting point and has shown that other opportunities exist in some geographic locations.

[Tim Harrigan]

I have never heard or sensed an implication along that line in Michigan. JL, many policy makers are polititians who think they cut a much wider swath than they do. Just because someone has heard a comment like that does not mean it is having an impact in the classroom. Large agribusiness contributes very, very little direct funding for the agronomic and other research that I am aware of. I have a project in progress where a seed company has donated seed, but no $, and they are not asking or expecting any confidentiality of results or proprietary claim on the results. That is one big problem some agribusiness has with land grant research, we make the results available to everyone without restriction. They often tend to think if they pay for it, they own it. That is not the way land grant research works. I do not know any researchers who would tilt the experimental design in a way that would favor the outcome in one way or another.

[Tim Harrigan]

It seems to me that 40 inches was pretty common.

[Tim Harrigan]

Being in shape makes a huge difference. Sounds like yours are.

[Tim Harrigan]

I like that system. It gives them some new grass every day and a ration that is fairly constant in quality and quantity. I think it is best if you can bring that polywire up behind them and keep them off it after 5-7 days. I am usually a little longer than that because of the length of the pasture, but then I keep them off for 4-6 weeks as it recovers. I have seen the pastures really improve over the last several years with this type of management.

[Tim Harrigan]

Looks good. Team looks like they are settling in nice as well. Great job.

[Tim Harrigan]

Great feeling. Thanks for sharing.

[Tim Harrigan]

That is great, Kevin. Sounds like all your work is going to pay off. Sometimes it is hard to keep from getting discouraged when you have a bad day, but that is part of the process and if you keep coming back you get paid back many times over. Way to go!

[Tim Harrigan]

So sorry to hear that, Geoff. Glad you were not hurt and I hope you can put the pieces together real soon.

[Tim Harrigan]

Andy, I use movable polywire and give them a small piece of new pasture each day. Right now the grass is just kicking in so they get about 60 ft x 60 ft per day for about 5000-6000 lbs of steers. Other than that they have some lanes and sacrifice pasture that they have access to, but they keep it grazed down and they have to work for it. The polywire is nice because you can adjust paddock size daily based on how the grass is growing, and with this lush grass they do not need to be full to meet their nutrient requirements. I generally do not leave them in a big area for a few days if I can help it. If I do that they will eat in one day what I would give them in 3-4 days with small paddocks. And you are right, they don’t care for dry hay when they have been on lush pasture.

As far as timing, I advance the polywire in a line 30-60 feet wide, and I like to get them off it at the end so they do not have more than 10 days on an area from the start of the first paddock to the end. Generally, I like to leave 5-6 weeks regrowth before re-pasturing, but that floats because the growth rate changes quite a bit. Fast now, slow in July on, slower in June that May, depends on rainfall as well. Also depends on the nitrogen and fertility status of the crop. Now is a good time to let some go to hay, then pasture the regrowth probably starting in July.

So basically, with steers the age of yours, I would recommend feeding with pasture to satisfy their nutrient requirement and dry lot or sacrifice lot them for the rest of the day. If you just let the grass get old and rank it will get unpalatable and pretty much stop growing. I don’t like doing that, it does not seem like the best way to improve the pasture. A lot of it is just try some things and observe your pasture and see how it responds.

[Tim Harrigan]

That’s it. They were hard pressed to make the horse and ox crews look like morons though.

[Tim Harrigan]

Looks great, Jen. Congratulations on a great workshop.

[Tim Harrigan]

@Kevin Cunningham 34679 wrote:

… Tim what are you using to shoot these with?

Sometimes I use a flip video recorder. For this one I used a Sony HD-CX130.

[Tim Harrigan]

Almost all white ash, dead or in serious decline from emerald ash borer. No market for ash, $125 MBH sawlogs average stumpage. A lot of firewood in there. Carl, Will sets the pace, I just try to keep up :cool:. Yes, the angles can be cool, one thing I like about video is I get to see the work from angles I normally would not see (unless something went terribly wrong :confused:). Ed, in this case I just made a big loop with an overhand knot and slipped the loop around the front, bottom log. Thanks for the compliment, George.

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