Making some big changes here, starting tomorrow...

[BoatGuy]

Karnie and I decided to make a major investment in the pastures.

Tonite, we're making arrangements to give away our useless horse. He's a dangerous animal and the person that's taking him, is an experienced handler that thinks he can turn him around. For us, it'll make about 7 acres of pasture available. We can't keep him with the cattle, because he runs them off from the feed, and he's tried to kick me in the head on several occasions. I just can't, in good conscience, sell him to anyone.

Tomorrow, I'm running a hot wire to corral the cattle, and then the real fun starts. I'll be feeding the cattle hay from now on, until next spring.

I've contracted our County Conservation District to come and disc the north and south pastures. The price was very reasonable at about $360. But, I'm also looking at a couple of options for buying a used disc, if they can't fit us in, for about the same money.

Friday, I'm picking up a Oliver 76 Grain Drill seeder from a farmer down the road, that we're buying for $500. It's old and the fertilizer bin is rusted out. But, I can fix that, and the seed bin part of it is in good shape. Then, I'll be planting about 700 pounds of ryegrass seed in the north and south pastures.

Next, I'll be praying for more rain... and when I get it and the stands are established, we'll be bringing in about 30 tons of fertilizer. I wanted to use poultry litter, and mix it in before planting. But, with all of the poultry houses closing up and the heat, it's getting almost impossible to get. So, I'll have to use a foliar nitrogen source, against my will. At least it's just nitrogen and not some weird chemical.

Then, it's a long wait til next spring, when we'll be harvesting the hay. On that point, I have a couple of options. I'd like to bale a good portion into square bales, to barn up and save for next winter. But, I'm also thinking about round bales, because I can store them in the open and we're going to have a lot more hay than we can use. We've decided not to sell any, at least this year, because we don't want our meager nutrients leaving the ranch.

So, I've got my work cut out for me...

[Ggirl]

Sounds like a plan!!  I always wanted a horse... until I talked to a horse owner.  Too expensive and too much work.  That's why I ride a kawasaki vulcan!!

[BoatGuy]

Hey, for us non-farmers, what does "disc the north and south pastures" mean?

Kinda like plowing, but not near as aggressive. It cuts up the surface of the soil, to assure good contact between the soil and the seed. Also, you don't run the risk of destroying the soil structure.

Imagine two rows of 10 plates, standing on edge. One row is angled a little to the left. The other is angled a little to the right. Then you drag it behind the tractor, cutting the soil up and breaking up the surface.

Our soil is so hard packed from the drought, that just spreading the seed doesn't stand much of a chance of germinating.

Also, a grain drill doesn't actually drill a hole. Discs spread the soil apart, dribble in the seed at whatever speed you set it, and close the little trench back up. But, the discs on a grain drill don't have enough weight on them to break up our soil. So, we have to disc it first.

We've got a lot of stuff growing in the pastures, that no animal we have, will eat. So, I'm going to tear it all out and start over from scratch.

[BoatGuy]

Sounds like a plan!!  I always wanted a horse... until I talked to a horse owner.  Too expensive and too much work.  That's why I ride a kawasaki vulcan!!

I'd love to have a horse that I could ride around here, and take with me to do the odd jobs at the back of the land. But, I can't afford to take a chance of getting busted up by it, and not be able to do the chores. Karnie's uncle owns a LARGE ranch (his corral is bigger than our ranch) about 6 miles from us, has been riding all of his 60-70 years, and busted several ribs not too long ago. But, he has a lot of help that could take over while he healed. I tried working with Ranger when we first met, and I felt like I made a lot of progress with him. But, my inexperience got the better of me, and he gained the upper hand (hoof?). Once you lose your dominance over a horse, it's next to impossible to get it back. I'll never make that mistake again, if I ever get the chance... lol Then, there's the fact that, where I used to bounce when I fall, now I break. I hate that part about getting older.

[BoatGuy]

Just wondering - but isn't August a tough time to hope for rain, with Indian Summer coming.  Wouldn't it be better to plant closer to winter?

We're shooting to be planting by end of August to beginning of September, which is pretty much the limit for this seed. So, the planning and prep need to be done, now. Historically, the rain increases about 5X in September, as opposed to August, and we're planting a cool season grass that overwinters well, in case we get hit by a hard winter. If the ground isn't prepped by the time the rains get here, we're liable to end up with a sloppy mess that can't support the machinery. All we can do is play the averages and pray for His blessing. Sometimes, things go well. Sometimes, they don't. But, if you don't take the chance, you don't reap the rewards.

But, we did get a quarter inch of rain the other day and the heat wave has broken. We've actually been enjoying 58F-70F nights, for the past week. The animals are actually drinking a 1/4th of what they had been. So, we're going for it.

[longbskt]

How exciting.  This project will definitely keep you busy!

[BoatGuy]

Here comes my first big rain, I pray! It should be here tonite!

[Acornewell]

Sounds like a plan!!  I always wanted a horse... until I talked to a horse owner.  Too expensive and too much work.  That's why I ride a kawasaki vulcan!!

Hubby won't let me get a bike. He told me all I could get is a scooter. Lol

[Acornewell]

Good luck. Sounds like you have a great plan.

[BoatGuy]

I've finished discing the north and 1/3 of the south pastures. We decided to leave 2/3's of the south pasture for grazing. Our dexters are very forage efficient and will eat a lot of things that other cattle won't. Even though our pastures are very poor right now, from the drought, the cattle are holding up very well and you can't see a rib on them. We decided not to have someone else disc it. I borrowed a 10 ft disc from a friend and discovered that our tractor couldn't pull it. So, I borrowed his old Farmall M. Those 5-7 extra horsepower helped a lot. It actually worked out to my advantage. When I get ready to buy a disc for ourselves, I won't look for anything bigger than 6-7 feet wide, for our Kubota L2800.

I picked up the grain drill yesterday and I'm going through it today, to get it ready for planting.

[Ggirl]

Sounds like a plan!!  I always wanted a horse... until I talked to a horse owner.  Too expensive and too much work.  That's why I ride a kawasaki vulcan!!

Hubby won't let me get a bike. He told me all I could get is a scooter. Lol

Mine cringes everytime I ride out. LOL but i have a full face helmet.  A hit air vest in case I get thrown off.  kevlar jeans and a jacket..... I such a chicken bak bak.  I used to ride in shorts and t shirt when I was a stupid teenager!!  LOL

[jakematic]

I such a chicken bak bak.  I used to ride in shorts and t shirt when I was a stupid teenager!!  LOL

Not chicken, smart.
My family has been in the motorcycle business for almost 40 years.
Trust me when I say you're smart 


Hope you get some good rain after planting BoatGuy - looks like Isaac might bring some.

[Johnny-Max]

I have access to a disc, but I want my own. I am keeping my eyes open.
Sounds like you are planning for the future.
I am hoping to plant perennial rye and white clover in September.

[BoatGuy]

I'm watching craigslist just about every day, now. I've found a 6 foot, 3 point disc for $250, with some messed up discs on it. They are all rusted pretty bad. At $38-$44 per disk, I'm afraid that I will quickly end up buying 20 new discs, and that would pretty much negate the "low" price. I guess I'll pass on that one.

I brought home a drag harrow tonite. So, I'm ready to smooth out our fields in the morning. Karnie ordered the seed for the north pasture. We're getting Bar Optima Fescue for the north end. We looked at endophyte free seed and it was just horribly expensive. Some endophytes (especially in Kentucky 31 fescue) can cause "fescue toxicosis" in goats and cattle. But, it also makes the fescue more drought tolerant. Bar Optima has beneficial endophytes in it, so that it doesn't cause problems with the livestock, but is still drought tolerant. At $92 per 25# bag, it's still expensive. But, it should be worth it in the long run, and I've made a deal with one of my neighbors, to bale the hay from it. We were going to try to supplement the stand with red clover this year. But, we're not going to have enough time to plant it, before the first hard frost (probably in early November). So, that's got to wait until next year. This year, we'll just have to put nitrogen on it. The bad part is that they just passed some new laws regarding poultry litter. So, if you're going to spread more than 10 tons of it, the spreading has to be done by a licensed spreader and since he has to pay a $30,000 fine if he breaks any rules, he's not going to break any rules. Our phosphorous and potassium levels are "acceptable" on the soil test report, and poultry litter has a lot of P and K in it. So, we can't use litter.

I brought home my grain drill the other day and ordered operator and parts manuals for it, off of ebay. So, they should be here within a week, and I can start getting practice drilling the cheap ryegrass, before I attempt to drill the expensive fescue. But, I may just go ahead and broadcast the fescue, since the fields are preparing so well.

Now, I've started window shopping for a small, old combine like an International Harvester or Oliver. I've found a couple of nice, old self-propelled combines for $1200 in working condition. My thinking is that I can use it to cut the hay (maybe) and harvest seed and grains (Karnie's wanting us to grow some grain strips in the south pasture, like barley, wheat and rye, just for ourselves... I've got beer on the brain... lol). A combine would beat the heck out of hand threshing the grain, and the old ones can be pretty easily converted to wood gas if the price of fuel hits the fan. That's what they did in WWII.

Anyway, that's where I stand right now.

Here's a picture of the grain drill.

[BoatGuy]

Got the two pastures seeded yesterday. Today, we are currently getting a truly blessed and great rain! Perfect!

ETA: Johnny, I just noticed that you are planting perrenial rye with the ladino clover. You might also want to add some annual rye to the mix. The difference in nutrition between the two is pretty pronounced, and the annual rye will reseed itself very easily, if you make sure there's enough time for it to go to seed after the last cutting. Just a thought.