Quail_Antwerp said:
Bee, with grassfed cows are you talking about rotating them into different pastures? DH and I have done that in the past, and we would give the cows chop as an occassional treat...but the chop was mixed from grains that we grew ourselves, no chemicals mixed in.
BUT my DH is a firm believer in treating for scours. He always tells me if we get a new calf to make sure I have scours meds on hand. (and to be honest I'll have to google scours to even know what the heck it is. I asked DH and he said it's diarrhea in cows..)
Aly, here are a couple of links that can get you some info on grazing vs. feedlot or grain supplementation of cattle.
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/rotategr.html
http://stockmangrassfarmer.net/
When people talk about grassfed, they are refering to 100% grass fed animals, though the USDA definition allows 5% grains for finishing a beef for slaughter. Purists feed no grain.
I am new to this and am just learning it, but what I'm learning is a big eye opener for me. Not just that it
can be done, that it actually improves your pastures the more you do it! I happen to like Joel Salatins methods more than other's as he goes one further and uses no commercial fertilizers on his pastures and tries to improve on the land and the graze in natural ways. His ways take more time but the man is planning on his farm being passed down to generations, so its a good plan.
He starts with permanent perimeter fencing, and incorporates temporary electric fencing to establish his paddocks. The size of these fields will change with the seasons and the weather. Yes, it takes extra thought...but not extra work. He takes all of 30 min. to move his cattle each day to new graze. In the winter, it takes him an hour to do all his regular chores for the day. In his busiest times on the farm, it only takes him a total of 4 hours a day to do all his regular chores. Not bad, really.
Graziers work with the land and the seasons to improve on the nutritional value of their existing grasses, move their cattle to fresh graze each day and "rest" the grass between rotations. This allows the grass to grow back into a more nutrient- rich cycle before its eaten by the cattle once again.
More bang for your buck, more grass for the size of your acreage, less parasite cycles, better soil, better herd health....the list goes on. You will just have to read Joel's book
Salad Bar Beef to get the total picture of just what this type of farming does to the grass, the soil, the cows.
As for scours, prevention is the best medicine and there are some organic and all-natural methods to prevent and treat scours. Joel Salatin hasn't had to give his cattle conventional medicine for almost 20 years and states his total vet bill for the year is around $100. Can't beat that with a big ol' stick!
