Pasturing all livestock

[The Big Cowhuna]

Am I the only one here who just turns all the critters out? We drive the cattle towards certain areas with our ATVs (sometimes horses),but they all go out to pasture. I'm a rancher and I can't say that I've ever had a problem with the goats or chickens bothering my cattle or vice versa. I don't think I lost more chickens to predators either. The goats and chickens stay closer to home, though, so maybe that's why. Unless one of the critters is sick, I want the chickens and goats to go. They need to exercise and look for food and I need to clean their areas and change their water and do all the things that are easier to do without them around. I save attention and treats for when they return. That helps them come back when called.

 

[OhSusanna]

I keep my hogs in a separate paddock, mainly because they're so hard on the land. Other than that, I turn my livestock and fowl out together. I put all of my barn animals up at night, but I don't have a large cattle operation like you do.

 

[RichZ]

Cowhuna, up here in upstate New York, goats need shelter at night and in the winter. My goats and sheep have pasture, but they have a barn that they sleep in and they spend most of the time in the barn during the winter, especially when there's snow on the ground. Our chickens also have their own coop. During the summer, the chickens free range and I barely have to feed them, but once the cold weather comes, they spend most of their time in the coop and eat chicken feed. In the summer, they have all the bugs they can eat and they keep my pastures pretty much tick free.

 

[Henderson]

There were times when I pastured my livestock all together and times when I put them on a rotation through different paddocks. It really just depended on our yearly goals for the land and the animals. A farmer's got to adapt to whatever is going on.

 

[The Big Cowhuna]

I'm in Texas, @RichZ. I don't think I could hang in New York. I've enjoyed vacationing there, but I've heard that the snow and ice are something else all together. Do you find it difficult to raise livestock there or is it something you just adapt too as part of normal life? I've always lived in Texas, so I'm not that worldly I guess. I do put my chickens and goats up at night, even though it rarely it gets very cold here. I do it to protect them from predators.

 

[RichZ]

Cowhuna, I've lived in New York my whole life, so winters are normal for me. You have to have lots of barn space in the winter for your animals, but for us here in upstate New York, that's just normal. It's not unusual for us to have snowstorms of 2 feet of more (we had one two weeks ago),so the animals need to be able to get out of the snow. Goats, sheep and chickens hate the snow, but some horses love to play in it, but they need a dry draft free barn. It's just what you get used to.

 

[The Big Cowhuna]

@RichZ, I love hearing how other farmers and ranchers manage their day-to-day operations. We're all part of the food chain together, but we all live different lives. It's so interesting to me. You should see me in the summer. I'm always worried that one of my men or women will have a heat stroke or that one of the animals will suffer from heat stress. We have a mister for the chickens when it gets real, real hot. But we have to make sure that the birds are dry before they go into the coup at night. We have dry heat in Texas, thankfully, but wet birds at night in the coup would still be a problem. I bet heat isn't a big issue for you guys just like the cold isn't for us.

 

[RichZ]

Cowhuna, it does get hot here, well into the 90's sometimes. It usually happens when we have a good window for haying. You know well how much hard work haying is. We used to do both round and square bales. Putting up the square bales in my hay mows in the barn isn't fun in the high heat. We have to take break so no one passes out from the heat. A couple of years ago, one of the kids working for me was stacking hay in the mows trying to show me how tough he was. I insisted that he come down and cool off while we all took a break. he grabbed a hose and poured water over his head, and I noticed he wasn't moving for a while. He actually fell asleep, standing up leaning on the fence. That's pretty heat exhausted. v