What Do You Mean, No Hay?!

Ok, it's been, well, um, forever since I've blogged.  Now, I'm not one to get into New Year's Resolutions.  The only NYR I ever make is to never make one.  But, I am determined to start blogging again.  I suppose I've just become a Facebook junkie and thought I could reach everyone that way.  But, just today, as the weather was warming enough to melt a lot of the few inches of snow we've had on the ground and make mud, a friend posted on my wall and asked if our ranch made it through the snow ok.



A typical MO snow

Snow?  What snow?  In our case, a little snow really doesn't make any difference in the way we manage our livestock.  Any of them.  In fact, we've found that your animals are generally like your kids.  The more you give in, the more they push.  Spoiled little brats.

While most folks have been doing this for months, now...


Unrolling hay for cattle

 ...we have yet to even begin feeding any hay this winter.  With our system of Holistic Planned Grazing, mob grazing, tall grass grazing, whatever you want to call it, we plan on forages being available throughout the year with our management.

Tall Grass Winter Grazing

The cattle are fat and happy and look great, even for the dead of winter.  Slick hair coats, plenty of back fat and they're not bawling every morning for the hay truck to come into the field. 

They're satisfied.  And they know how to forage.  

Cow grazing in winter snow

Now, keep in mind that this is a long time coming.  We've been working on this system of management for 10 years now, and this is the first winter I remember getting this far into the winter without supplementing with hay.  Our goal?  No hay ever.  Don't yell at me, yet.  Those of you in our region of Missouri know that we sometimes get some of those wonderful ice storms that stay around for weeks at a time.  Naturally, we would feed all of our animals some hay or balelage during those times.  The ice is a totally different story.

But, if you train the animals to forage, really forage, they will learn how to eat in nearly every situation. 

"HAY!  There's grass under here!"

Even the pigs enjoy foraging through the snow!  He's not upset OR hungry!