Greetings from the farm!
Last year we acquired a small herd of Belted Galloway cattle. This new
venture has been a fun learning experience for our family.
One of my favorite parts of this experience is experimenting with their grazing patterns and pasture management. Though we have have managed pigs, sheep and chickens on our pastures, cows are allowing me to graze some areas at different intensities than we have before. The main factor here is they respect a single strand electric fence (most of the time) that is easy to move.
During this this time of year when vegetation growth is heavy, we work almost daily to move cows to new grass. This rotational grazing or mob grazing technique mimics the migratory grazing pattern on prairies (think native bison herds). The grasses and legumes are eaten down and trampled heavily over a 24 hour period, and then left to rest for regrowth for several weeks or months depending on the stand.
My favorite part of this venture though is saddling up our horses in the early morning and moving our cattle to fresh pasture with our two daughters. It’s ok to thoroughly enjoy your work right!?
This rotational grazing allows for healthy grasses, healthy roots, healthy soils, healthy animals and ultimately healthy meats. Though we offer a premium beef product from the Brock Family, our current plan is to offer 100% grass fed beef as a niche market in 2022 from the 4 steers we currently have on grass. Belted Galloways allow for very efficient forage utilization. Let us know if you have interest in this product.
My best,
Beth
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