Pastures

Soil tells the story of what has happened in a field for decades.

We have some water standing on pastures and fields. I had almost given up seeing that this spring. Looks like some other events may follow. Ponds aren’t full, but have been improved.

The pastures have greened up nicely and the cows still receiving silage head out as soon as they have hoovered their daily allotment.

Spring has arrived and it is good to see grass growing and greening up. I won’t say that grass growth is exploding, because over the last few weeks, winter has tried to hang on.

This is the time of year that I become a little impatient waiting for spring. The warmer weather makes me think the grass and pasture should be getting green faster than they are. The sheep are also looking impatient.

I just saw a map of the affected drought areas of 2012 and right now and they looked awfully similar to the one for 2024.

March weather has come in like a lamb, so if the saying is true, it will turn into a lion at some point this month. It is still winter, but we are inching closer to spring.

A group raised the roof in rural Will County in northeastern Illinois, but it wasn’t from celebrating the winning goal or rambunctious behavior. A team from FBi Buildings was raising the roof of a 60-by-200-foot barn for Everett Hauert.

Hello from Graze-N-Grow. Well, it seems Elton and I missed our deadline last month. I don’t know his excuse, but mine was forgetfulness. I wasn’t really idle, though.

I was just having so much fun with the minus-15 temperatures and 20 mph winds last month that I just forgot to write an article. Well, the last part is true. Things have been mundane around here — unroll hay, break ice and fill water tanks.

Establishing an online store can help put more food dollars into the hands of farmers that are selling meat directly to consumers. “Your online store can be a competitive advantage,” said Katie Olthoff, farm wife and co-founder of ChopLocal.

It appeared as though we were going to have a repeat of our luck with weather for our Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition Pasture Walk scheduled here at River Oak. We always seem to bring rain when we schedule.

The program “Pasture Management: Recovering from 2023,” hosted by University of Illinois Extension, will focus on recovering from the drought and short forage supply in three evening sessions.

Wool season is here in northern Illinois. Those wool socks, wool blankets, sweaters, gloves and mittens are so comfortable. Wool is a remarkable natural fiber. The website www.americanwool.org has a lot of resources to help with wool promotion.

It’s been great so far this December to do chores without having to break the ice on the energy-free waterers we use here. Pretty much all fieldwork has been done by now around here.