It looks like I got plenty of sun today. I think it’s a sign that something has gone terribly wrong when one can get a sunburn in March.
I went out to Fayette to my parents farm today to visit and help out with some chores. My dad and I went out in the back and built 300-400 yards of fence around a narrow strip of land that skirts the 40 acre field that just recently went into CRP.
The strip is only around 35 yards wide at it’s widest point. In some places it’s only 12 feet wide. Still, the strip was grown up with a lot of nice red clover and fescue, and it leads to some good pastures in in the back.
It didn’t take long to get the single-wire fence up (Hooray for High-Tensile wire!) and pretty soon we drove up by the house and called the cattle to follow us.
The cows wasted no time in laying waste to the clover.
The lead cow stepped about 1 foot into the new paddock before putting her nose to the ground and getting down to business.
Here is the paddock (and not a particularly lush part) before the cows.
And after cows.
The narrow strip really kept the cows close to eachother, and kept them competing for grass. So often they will spread out and not really utilize all the grass all that well. Keeping them bunched up really does appear to make a difference.
On our way back to the house, this cow got pressured by one of the dogs to run past me, and you might be able to make out the nearly foot-long clump of red-clover sticking out of her mouth as she ran past.
They stayed on their new strip paddock nearly all afternoon. You can just make them out from across the CRP field.
As the sun was setting they’d all eaten their fill and decided to come back toward the house and jump in the pond. It was hot out today, even by cow standards.
