July 28, 2008: What a difference a year made in the development of this Beef Bank pasture. In the first picture the pasture is about 4 months old and consists mainly of Perennial Ryegrass and Orchardgrass with young white and red clover plants still getting established. The first year, July was very hot and dry here in SE Iowa. The second picture is the same pasture at about 16 months. The Clover plants are absolutely thriving and the pasture is so thick that there are almost no weeds present. July 2008 has been cooler and much wetter than 2007.
Brent
Fairfield, IA
July 7, 2008
Larry put his cows out to pasture on the new Beef Bank for the first time - first authorized time at least. They had broken down the fence to get at it once a couple weeks ago also. This seems to happen to every farmer with a High Sugar Grass pasture. There is still a fair amount of tall fescue in this pasture that survived the round-up unfortunately. You can really tell where the cows selectively grazed the HSG and clover and ignored the fescue.
Brent Fairfield, IA
July 7, 2008
The pasture is looking great again. Much better than it looked 2 weeks ago when I was last out there. We've had a couple of nice rains totaling about 1.5 inches since then and the heat and humidity are really starting to build. It is ready to be grazed again (third time this year) to keep the clover from going to seed. Talked to Bruce and he's going to put up some additional electric fencing so he can keep grazing this pasture periodically thru the Summer. He and his herd are very pleased with the Beef Bank.
Brent Fairfield, IA
June 19, 2008
Just received a call from a 'repeat' customer, a farmer in Milton Freewater Oregon who planted Beef Bank last spring and put additional acres in this spring. His neighbors are starting to ask him what he's using since he is having such success and his pastures look so good. He plants the fields, takes the first cutting, then allows the cattle to graze and then takes the regrowth after that for hay. He mentioned in the most recent planting on three of the acres he specifically kept track of the results and took over 100 - 90 lb bales off of them. That was after allowing for grazing. "I'm real happy with the results and my neighbors want to know what I'm using now". When I asked about the grazing side of it, he said that the pastures aren't really cross fenced and the cattle 'they just spent more time in the Beef Bank, they must like the sugar'
His name is Harold H. -Milton Freewater, OR
June 17, 2008
It has been 2 weeks since this pasture was grazed. The big difference is that most of the white clover flowers have been grazed off which is a good thing. For all the rain we've had here (a mere 5.5 inches this month) the pasture is looking a little ragged. The HSG has been grazed down to just a couple inches, weeds are starting to show up a little and there are clumps of clover and grass that need to be mowed to keep the pasture even and prevent weeds from heading out. Our weather pattern has changed (thankfully) and this is likely the start of a much hotter, dryer period that is normal here in SE Iowa in the months of July and August.
Brent Fairfield, IA
June 10, 2008
The Padget pasture is coming along nicely. I saw Larry there and he was pleased with it's progress. He is going to clip it as soon as the ground firms up to eliminate any of the remaining tall fescue from re-seeding itself. The borders of the pasture are K-31 and white clover. Not sure if you can tell from the picture (bottom) but it is mostly stems and the seed heads are decent sized. There really isn't much forage there. If it's any indication of what the K31 crop looks like 150 miles South, my guess would be that many farmers will take a seed crop.
Brent, Fairfield IA
June 3, 2008: Had a look at the Beef Bank pasture yesterday and told Bruce (the farmer) that it was ready to be grazed again and it's only been 4 weeks since it was grazed down to 3 inches. Granted, we have had almost 6 inches of rain since then but man did this pasture recover fast. Since the last time it was grazed, the white clover has really come on strong. It's flowering now so it really stands out. Wanted to get this grazed off before the clover went to seed. We definitely don't need any more clover in this pasture. On the positive side, all of that clover is going to put allot of nitrogen into the ground.
Brent
Fairfield, IA
June 3, 2008
This is a picture of a new Beef Bank Pasture that was drilled into thick tall fescue sod 5 weeks ago in Southeast Iowa. The farmer (Larry) just sprayed with glyphosate then drilled right into the sod. There is still some fescue that survived the spraying but hopefully not enough to crowd out the High Sugar Grasses and clovers. Farmers in this area are desperate to find an alternative to tall fescue in their pastures and if this planting works, it will be a great example of a low cost, low labor method of replacing tall fescue pastures. We've already shown that the Beef Bank mix works well here in an area where Perennial Ryegrass generally struggles.
Brent
Fairfield, IA