From the Pastures: Room to grow

Well, the lack of rain has really helped with the harvest, but not so much with the forage growth. I looked at some pictures on my phone from one and two years ago and there really is shorter forage heights this year compared to previous years. Last weekend I took my wife and two granddaughters to The Ark in Williamstown, Kentucky. I highly recommend going there and the Creation Museum 45 minutes away.

Anyway, we went east from Bloomington, Illinois, to Indianapolis then southeast to Cincinnati then south to The Ark. After our visit we drove west to the Shawnee Forest to visit friends and then back north to Bloomington. We kind of did a triangle. It was dry the whole trip — not fall dry, but drought dry. I hate to say it, but that’s what I saw, so I think we’ll have a cold, wet winter this year because if we don’t this spring is going to be pretty dry.

Moving on to a cheerier subject, I did get 3.7 inches of rain in the last 30 days. That has helped my cover crops grow a little, but I could use more growth before the weather turns really cold. The lambs, calves and ewes are all putting on weight and I’m marketing the lambs as they reach the weight the buyer wants.

We have a new grazing coordinator in Illinois, Christian Lovell, who will help us grow grazing in the state. He’s here to help beginning farmers that are thinking about getting into livestock and grazing all the way up to the seasoned grazers. I wish him good luck because from my recent travels I saw a wealth of grazing opportunities just from driving down the road.

In Illinois we mow down more grass than some states can ever grow. We need a paradigm shift in feeding cows and sheep. The price of grass is not going up like the grain prices and with the right genetics grass-fed meats taste very good. The consumer’s perception on grass fed is getting more positive every day. Enjoy the fall colors!