Wet Distillers Grains…
What my cows are eating this spring since the grass is late and hay is scarce.
From RealFarmer Monte Lerwick – Albin, Wyo.
May 13, 2013
Feeding Cattle in the Spring
Posted by RealRanchers under Real Farming | Tags: feeding cattle, feeding hay, spring snow, wet distillers grains |1 Comment
April 19, 2013
Blizzards and Cattle
Posted by RealRanchers under Animal Welfare, Real Ranching | Tags: blizzard, feeding cattle, feeding hay, snow, spring snowstorm, winter pasture |1 Comment
Perhaps you watch the weather and heard about the West getting pounded with snow this week? We were right in the path of the storm, and couldn’t have been happier about the prospective moisture! However, it did come in blizzard form, which wasn’t anyone’s first choice, but dry as it has been around here, no one was complaining.
When we have a blizzard, we try to get our cattle fed up ahead of time, then we leave them alone during the storm. Our rough, deep draws (small canyons) provide awesome protection, and our cows are used to taking care of themselves. If we were to try to feed in the middle of a blizzard, it would cause the cows to leave their protection, and result in more problems and calf deaths than if we just leave them alone. The cows will hole up somewhere out of the elements, and keep their calves warm and cared for too.
This post is continued on RealRancher Heather Hamilton’s blog Double H Photography. Click the link to read more!
September 25, 2012
Haying in the Green River Valley
Posted by RealRanchers under Environmental Stewardship, Real Ranching | Tags: cattle, Equalizer Winter, feeding hay, feeding livestock, Green River Valley, hay stack yard, haying, history of hay production, Jonita Sommers, mowing, Pinedale, Pinedale Wyoming |Leave a Comment
Roaring of motors in August is a common sound in the hay fields of the Green River Valley. Tractors moving in the hay fields around the hay stack are like ants busy at work around their ant hill. Green grass turning different shades of green as the hay is cut, baled and stacked is a typical site on Green River Valley ranches.
The cutter bars are folded up on a double-nine-foot mowing machine.
August is haying time in the Green River Valley. Some people start the latter part of July and some end the haying operation in September, but the bulk of the hay is put up in August.
The cutter bars on the mower are lowered to cut the native-grass-hay pasture.
Haying began in the Green River Valley earnestly after the “Equalizer Winter” of 1889-90 when 90 percent of the cattle died because the snow and ice was so deep the cattle could not get to feed and no hay had been put up to supplement them. A few ranchers put up a little hay for the horses and milk cows kept in the corrals, but nothing to save the herds.
Cutting the native-grass-hay pasture.
Now, every ranch, which winters cattle, puts up hay to feed those cattle in the winter. When the ranchers first started putting up hay it was put up in loose hay stacks like Campbells still do in the Hoback Basin. The early ranchers stacked the hay with nets and dropped the hay on the stack. The overshot stacker soon became the fashion where the hay was more or less thrown onto the stack with a big wooden fork like a catapult. The beaver slide with the plunger to push the hay up the slide to the stack was the third way hay was put in the stack. Balers came into fashion in the 1950s and 1960s in the Green River Valley. They really became part of the haying operation in the United States in the 1940s. However, many people still stacked loose hay. Then big square and round balers were developed. The first round baler did not see production until 1947, when Allis-Chalmers introduced the Roto-Baler and it ended in 1960. The next major innovation came in 1972, when the Vermeer Company began selling the first modern round baler. Previously, round hay bales had been little more than lumps of grass tied together, but the Vermeer design used belts to compact hay into a cylindrical shape as is seen today. In 1978, Hesston developed the first 4×4 square baler of its kind. By the 21st Century, only one family in the area still stacked loosed hay. You mostly see big round bales today.
Hay is cut by a mower…but, it’s a lot bigger than your riding lawn mower.
The hay has to be mowed down with a sickle or drum mower or a swather. Once the hay is cut it has to “cure,” to reduce the moisture level, so it will not mold or ignite into a fire when it is baled and stacked. “Cured” hay needs to have very little moisture and the stems snap when bent by the hands of a rancher. It usually takes about 1 to 2 days for the hay lying on the ground to be cured enough to be baled in the Green River Valley. The humidity and wind play a large role in how the hay cures.
Joey Cook rakes the hay into windrows.
The ranchers do not want it to rain on the hay because the rain can cause the hay to lose its protein and reduce the feed value. The ranchers want to put the hay up so it will have has as much protein value as possible but will not mold because it is too wet.
The hay rake moves the swathes of hay into “windrows”, which make the hay accessible to the baler.
Once the hay is “cured,” it is raked and a baler goes down the windrow of hay. The balers have computers today telling when the bale is the correct size. Balers tie the bales with plastic twine or sisal twine. Sisal is a natural fiber that decays over time.
The tractor pulls a baler to pick up the windrow of hay to bale
After the hay is baled, it is stacked in hay corrals or stack yards so the cattle cannot eat it until the rancher is ready to feed them.
After the baler ties the hay with twine, the bale gets kicked out of the machine.
Watching for the songbirds and swamp birds so they can be chased out of the way is a fun part of haying. The hawks are awesome. The hawks love haying and it is especially important for the young hawks. The hawks follow along behind and rake or baler and watch for mice.
The round hay bales are picked up with a fork loader and carried to the stack yard for storage.
Once a mouse is spotted the hawk dives for its prey. When haying starts, you know summer is about over and fall is soon to follow. Soon the hay will have to be fed to the cows during the winter months.
Round bales are stacked in the hay yard.
From RealRancher Jonita Sommers – Pinedale, Wyo.
August 17, 2012
Spring Time Jobs
Posted by RealRanchers under Farm & Ranch Business Management, Real Ranching | Tags: Angus, building fence, calves, Casper Wyoming, feeding hay, fixing fence, Katie Keith, registered angus, spring, spring pasture, summer pasture |Leave a Comment
EDITOR’S NOTE: Due to the fault of this busy editor, I didn’t get this wonderful post up in a timely manner, but it’s just too good to wait until next spring to share. So here is Katie’s Spring 2012 experience…even though it’s August. Thanks for putting up with me. – LL
Spring time!! The grass has sprung and the cows are chasing the green stuff like crazy! Time to put away the snow machines and bring down the horses from winter pasture.
In the spring we stop feeding hay to our cattle. We gather up the cows, sort them into groups and trail them to the summer pastures!
Also in the spring is when our registered cows start popping out those cute little baby calves.
And those cute babies become a big job! They have to be weighed, tagged and given a shot.
Another big job in the spring is fence building. We go around the fence lines and fix the holes.
It sure doesn’t seem like much, but oh boy its a 24/7 job!
From RealRancher Katie Keith – Casper, Wyo.
February 11, 2011
Bon Appetit!
Posted by RealRanchers under Real Ranching | Tags: bale feeder, calves, cattle grazing, feeding cattle, feeding hay, Green River Valley, horses and sleigh, John Deere tractor, Jonita Sommers, livestock supplements, Pinedale Wyoming, ranching, spring pasture, winter water, yearlings |1 Comment
Cattle standing in a bunch on the feedground waiting for the rancher to feed them is a familiar scene throughout the Green River Valley. A few ranchers still use a team and sleigh to feed their cattle, but most ranchers use a tractor with a heated cab hooked on a bale feeder that is run by hydraulics.
It takes 1.5 – 2 tons of hay to feed a cow most winters (that’s up to 7,000 pounds for one animal!). Cattle are fed five to seven months out of the year because the natural forage is limited or covered in snow. The yearling calves are fed from the time they are weaned in November up to May when they are turned out on spring pasture.
The cows are fed when the pasture is snowed under or used up. It varies from the first of December to the first of February. Usually if the rancher can make it until Christmas or New Years Day before they have to feed, they call that a successful fall grazing season.
Often while the cows are on fall pasture the rancher gives the cows supplemental feed which is high protein pellets, block or tubs. To supplement the yearling calves or cows with protein, the rancher can also feed them alfalfa hay which is a high protein feed. Cattle are also given mineral, to balance their diet.
The rancher feeds the cattle a long, thin row of hay either by hand with a pitchfork, breaking little square bales and kicking them off the sled or by running the bale feeder, which is run by hydraulics. The first two methods can mean a very cold morning for the rancher.
Sublette County Rancher Brian Esterholt feeds bales of alfalfa hay to his cattle during the winter months when natural vegetation is not available for the livestock to feed.
Possibly the preferred method can be done from the heated cab of a tractor with the radio playing. The challenge with machinery is getting it started and keeping it running in the cold conditions of the Green River Valley. If a team and sleigh is used, there is calm and quiet except for the sound of the harness clinking and the sled runners gliding on the snow, which is a very enjoyable sound.
The cattle must also have a good source of water because hydration is so important during these extreme cold conditions on the pasture. Hopefully the rancher has good natural springs which have warm water that stays open year round. If not, the rancher must drill a well and supply a water tank. The river can be used for a watering hole, but it is very dangerous even if the rancher opens the water hole every day. The ice buildup and level of the water in the river can vary greatly.
As the rancher leaves the field to go to the house, the cows stand with their heads together eating hay. All the rancher sees is a long line of the cows’ rearends.
The feeding job is done for the day unless a rancher feeds the calves twice a day to improve gain and reduce waste of hay.
From RealRancher Jonita Sommers – Pinedale, Wyo.
December 17, 2010
Just Feedin’ Cows…and Deer!
Posted by RealRanchers under Real Ranching, Wildlife | Tags: cattle grazing, Daniel Wyoming, feeding cattle, feeding hay, Green River Valley, heifers, Kent Price, livestock supplements, open spaces, snow, weaning calves, wildlife habitat, winter, Wyoming, yearlings |1 Comment
Things have slowed down on the ranch now. We aren’t pushing cows and we aren’t shipping cows, that’s all over with. Now it’s time to settle in for the winter. Most of our time is spent feeding the cattle and finishing or starting odd projects around the place that need doing. We’ve made it through pregnancy testing and weaning so now we have about three separate herds of cattle at home.
The first herd is the weaned calves. We feed the weaned calves all winter so they can continue to grow into nice, fat yearlings. They will then go up the Green River on next summer’s drive and come down again in the fall to either be sold or kept as replacement stock. The second herd is the first-calf heifer herd; the heifers that will have their first calves this coming spring. We like to keep them separate so we can feed them well and watch them closely. They are not only growing a new baby calf they are also still growing themselves so it is important they receive a little extra nutrition than older cows. Finally, we have the main cow herd, consisting of cows that have all had at least one calf in the past.
Early in the winter we feed the first-calf heifers and cows supplement. There is still lots of grazing available on the ranch and the cows can forage and do quite well, but they need some extra supplemental protein (usually in the form of pellets) to be able to better digest the grass available. Once the grass is grazed to a level that is healthy for the grasslands or the snow becomes too deep, whichever comes first, we start feeding the hay we grew and bailed in the summer. As for the calves that have been weaned, we start feeding them hay and supplement right at weaning time.
Here we've just finished feeding the cows their supplement and they are busy licking up every last speck.
It’s not only cattle and ranch stock that we feed in the winter. Plenty of deer, moose and sometimes elk also spend the winter on our ranch. Some deer and moose will stay on our ranch year round, but in the winter time a lot more of their friends come down from the mountains to join them. They are able to enjoy good winter grazing, warmth in the willows and some protection from predators.
Ranches provide an important habitat for all kinds of wildlife throughout the year. By maintaining open spaces the deer, antelope, moose, geese, ducks, sage grouse (we call ‘em sage chickens), etc. have a place to live. If these ranches were to go out of business, as so many have, they would most likely become subdivided with houses built up and the deer, moose, etc. would no longer be able to stay or they may become some national park, in which case the wolves would move in and the deer, moose, etc would still be out of luck. Either scenario paints a grim picture for the wildlife. Thank goodness for ranches!
Wyoming has 26 million acres of private agricultural lands that not only produce food and fiber and sustain rural communities, but also provide vital habitat for a myriad of wildlife species!
From RealRancher Kent Price – Daniel, Wyo.
