Well, Ralph, that's what I would say a smart farmer does, let nature, in this case pastured animals , do the work for him. Hogs will do the same trick in many ways. Even hens will do, if one keeps them in so-called chicken tractors long enough and moves these over the later to be used area.


6 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

I love it when the animals do the work for us! We had a brutally cold winter here two years ago. I had to feed many more round bales than usual. Of course, so did everyone else! So we were getting into some pretty lackluster quality hay towards the tail end. I let the cows waste a lot picking through for the good bits figuring on the plus side they were getting some pad hay between them and the frozen tundra that was the winter paddock.

Spring went AWOL that year and we basically snapped into summer temperatures. The paddock was now a muddy mess strewn with literally tons of wet and dirty hay that was too heavy to move without heavy machinery. I'd lucked into seven huge gilts at firesale pricing around the holidays. They'd felt like a liability feeding them through the cold. But they came to the rescue that spring. Seeking the cool, moist ground under the hay, they managed to chop the hay up better than most silage and till it into the ground. Saved me a lot of money and headache while they were just doing what hogs love doing!


6 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

You guys get exactly what I'm talking about. That ugly field, turned out to be a beauty, thanks to the cows. What a time saver for me!


6 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum