From the Barns: Grass greening up

A little moisture is all it takes to get folks thinking spring has arrived. After the dry winter we have had, adding a little water is all it takes to get the grass to green up overnight. The cows are out away from the feeding areas seeking the tiny green shoots as they appear. I certainly appreciate a change in diet so I expect after a winter of pickled cornstalks those sweet nibbles of new grass are a real treat.

The cow guys have all of last year’s calves on feed and are repositioning cows in various groups and on new pastures in anticipation of the upcoming calving season. Wheat pastures are greening up right on schedule and will have to be turned out on soon or they will get ahead of the cows and be a problem when we get around to planting the corn crop.

March 15 is turnout day in our country even though it never seems to look that way. History and experience though proves out that delaying turnout, hardly at all, never turns out to be an advantage. We humans are in charge of getting it planted; making it grow is way above our pay grade.

The dry conditions have been great for getting manure pumped early so we have been taking full advantage of that opportunity. We were out of the fields for manure disposal for five weeks and three days, not long enough to get everything fixed that we had on the to do list, but the forecast is calling for plenty of moisture here in March so that will no doubt drive us back to the shop to finish up the balance of our fix-it projects. If you use it you will eventually break it, so there is never a shortage of toys needing a tuneup just outside the shop door.

The fat market continues to work higher with periodic small setbacks cooling our interest to participate in sales, but feed costs are not an issue so waiting for the right market opportunity has worked well. Even a war has not crushed our market and for most classes of cattle actually moved them higher.

I am tempted to move some calves to grass at least for a couple of months to utilize the first flush of forage and maintain the pasture quality for later on in the grazing season. Unfortunately, that pesky drought monitor has me a little nervous. Good fortune does not favor the meek. I’m afraid age and uncertainty has somewhat tempered my enthusiasm. I hate indecision. Good luck with your spring and decision-making.