Friday on the Farm

On Thursday, we seeded a field with millet. The field will be grazed by a herd of cows throughout the summer. I very much look forward to watching the millet grow, and seeing our cows graze!

 

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millet

On May 27, a second field of rye was chopped and bagged. The ryelage will be used for feeding cows.  Following the rye, we decided to plant a crop for cows to graze during the summer in addition to their pasture.

 

 

We chose to no-till drill pearl millet into the field. It seemed to be the best option for us to plant. Cows will graze the field after the millet grows to a height of at least 20 inches. The field of millet will be used as rotational grazing throughout the summer. The millet will be grazed to a height of 6 to 8 inches. Grazing to this height will allow for regrowth.

We set the drill and seeded the millet at the rate of 25 pounds per acre. It was seeded at a depth of 1 inch. The soil moisture was great for seeding. Hopefully the millet will germinate quickly.

I am very excited about using the field of millet as part of grazing! And, I am looking forward to seeing the millet grow!

2018 forage

 

Oats were no-till drilled in a field on April 13. We will chop and bag the oats as oatlage for cattle feed. After the oats are harvested, we then plan on seeding forage peas into the field. The forage peas will also be chopped and bagged to be fed to cattle later. Forage peas are a quality feed that is high in protein. Following the forage peas, sudangrass or pearl millet with be no-till drilled into the field for cows to graze into the fall.