For a minute there I thought I had to get off my couch, when all the while the fact is we don't have to do anything much but keep things afloat for just a few decades more! In fact, we'd best shut up about PO, because if our offspring finds out we knew about it all along, they'll turn and wring our necks come 2036!
Joined: Apr 03, 2004 Posts: 6374 Location: My Grandkids' Farm
Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 2:45 pm Post subject: [Food] Production - Cattle/Grass Farming
{1/8/06 - I merged up some similar threads onto this one so you may have already read some posts here.}
---------------
I recently read a fairly new book by Gene Logsdon titled 'All Flesh Is Grass'.
I like Logsdon because he not only calls himself the Contrary Farmer but also writes about combining old and new in ways most conventional farmers hate. He isn’t espousing some miracle new methodology/ideology of his invention but simply talking about rethinking the way things are done.
He talks about the inevitable rise in fossil fuel costs and his and others attempts to achieve animal production without the use of fossil fuel powered equipment. The method is grass farming, which in a nutshell is rotational grazing to slaughter weight of animals on a number of small plots for quick, uniform grazing of the pasture before moving on to the next plot; allowing the first to recover and regrow.
While this may not seem radical, it is certainly different than the current model where calves are raised with the cow to weaning at around 400 pounds then shipped some distance to either a stocker ranch where they are grazed to a higher weight before another shipment to a feedlot or shipped direct to the lot to be feed grain (mostly shipped-in corn) before another shipment to the packer.
He says that the best lands; i.e. the current row-crop lands are best suited to grass farming and will be utilized that way as fuel prices increase. The eventual goal would be year-round grazing with no tillage, no imported grain and even no harvesting of fodder for winter-feed. I don’t see this as practical for me - at least currently, but it has encouraged me sufficiently to continue.
Of course since I am attempting to do exactly what he has been (I wish I had read the book sooner) I agree with his analysis of the current feedlot system and the advantages of using what my neighbor calls 4-legged combines. My land is tillable for the most part but certainly to prime corn and bean land and though this is my first year and very dry for this area, I am having some success – which isn’t to be confused with hauling in huge sums of money, simply that my few steers are gaining enough that I will try to double the amount I’m carrying next year.
He never mentions PO directly but I’d be surprised if he hasn’t read up on the subject. I thought it interesting that article 599 in Sept. ASPO newsletter advocated a similar approach and pointed out that in addition to the fuel cost in numerous shipment of the animals themselves and the energy cost of growing, drying, storage and shipment of grain, it is a foregone conclusion more and more crops will go toward producing transport fuel. All the arguments of ethanol’s EROEI, net energy gain and all the rest aside; the conversion of crops to fuels is happening today and will continue into the foreseeable future.
Some ideas I gleaned from the book (and will put into practice ASAP) are strip grazing frost-seeded cereal grains and no-tilled corn, various crop rotations and pasture improvements, and some ideas for direct marketing of grass-fed beef.
He even talks about 'Grass Gardening' on tiny suburban plots.
Anyone else now practicing or considering grass farming?
Come on you Lurkers, I know you are out there… _________________ Make a plan and work it:
Last edited by Pops on Sun Jan 08, 2006 8:52 am; edited 2 times in total
I'm a big fan of grass-farming, because I'd like to see a return of the prairie. My favorite grass-farming book is Joel Salatin's "You Can Farm."
I'm currently raising a few chickens on grass (and a bit of corn), and hope to branch out into sheep in the not too distant future, with goats thrown in to help browse out the overgrown cedar.
I'm trying to re-establish tallgrass on my place, so far, this project is going rather slowly. I have some clumps of switchgrass, much taller than I am. I can stand next to them and dream of the tallgrass prairie that once was here. _________________ "...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow..." - jboogy
He even talks about 'Grass Gardening' on tiny suburban plots.
Anyone else now practicing or considering grass farming?
I'm grass farming with sheep, rotating pastures, etc.
Tall Fescue is a major headache, so if suburbanites/exurbanites want to consider grass farming, they need to know what their grass is. Kentucky 31 is tall fescue, which is toxic to goats, rabbits, and slows the development of cattle and sheep. It also causes a very high rate of abortion and other pregnancy issues with horses.
Joined: Apr 03, 2004 Posts: 6374 Location: My Grandkids' Farm
Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 11:07 am Post subject: Re: [Sm. Farm] Grass Farming
The big problem with fescue is endophyte infection. Fescue is a cool season grass, which is widely planted, and most fescue fields are infected to some extent, as are some other grasses. Here is a good overview.
4 of our 6 pastures are fescue with a small amount of red and white clover. Though I haven’t had it tested, I’m guessing we are getting 1.5 – 2 pounds of gain per day on the steers - with a small amount of supplement during the summer, so it may not have a large infection.
The long run plan is to rotate each field with alfalfa, afterwards replacing all the old fescue with either an endophyte free variety of fescue or another cool season grass like timothy or orchardgrass in combination (regardless of the grass) with a legume like white clover.
This droughty year however makes me think I need at least 2 plots with and a warm season grass - either switchgrass or big bluestem and lespedeza or bundleflower. I am studying that now (and the checkbook as well) and hope to do one plot of warm-season grass and overseed at least 1 plot of fescue with clover in the spring. I may try a couple of different clovers as well. _________________ Make a plan and work it:
Gene Logsdon, along with Wendell Berry, are our guiding lights.
We read to each other before we go to sleep and "All Flesh is Grass" is our current read. I'm also reading Gene's book on soil building.
Our fields have been fallow for at least 5 years and they've been taken over by a combination of rye grass, quack grass, Canadian thistle, Thistle and Water (poison) Hemlock.
The JD tractor arrives today so we'll spend the Labor Day weekend mowing all this stuff down. Then we'll till it all and plant a prairie grass mix on the south land and either oats or rapeseed on the north.
The extension agent from the U of I is coming by next week to walk the land, take soil samples and give some basic advice, so the current plans may change. _________________ "Modern Agriculture is the use of land to convert petroleum into food."
-- Albert Bartlett
"It will be a dark time. But for those who survive, I suspect it will be rather exciting."
-- James Lovelock
I recently read a fairly new book by Gene Logsdon titled 'All Flesh Is Grass'.
I like Logsdon because he not only calls himself the Contrary Farmer but also writes about combining old and new in ways most conventional farmers hate. He isn’t espousing some miracle new methodology/ideology of his invention but simply talking about rethinking the way things are done.
Some ideas I gleaned from the book (and will put into practice ASAP) are strip grazing frost-seeded cereal grains and no-tilled corn, various crop rotations and pasture improvements, and some ideas for direct marketing of grass-fed beef.
He even talks about 'Grass Gardening' on tiny suburban plots.
Anyone else now practicing or considering grass farming?
Come on you Lurkers, I know you are out there…
Uhm gee, I guess my family was weirder than I thought, all of our steers growing up were graze raised, not grain fed. Maybe it was just cause we were raising them for our own consumption and pasture was a lot cheaper, but we never grain fed except possibly in the final fattening up before slaughter phase.
As I recall the pasture was just randon grass with clover seed scattered in every so often, and on occasion if the snow was getting bad we would drop an alfalfa bale off, but we only raised 8 steers, a couple horses and a sheep in the pasture, plus the obligatory chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys and rabbits. _________________ Oxygen: - An intensely habit-forming accumulative toxic substance. As little
as one breath is known to produce a life-long addiction to the gas, which addiction invariably ends in death.--Isaac Asimov
Just an observation, but wouldn't grass fed cattle have "tougher" meat?
Yes it does if raised to the same weight and processed the same as feedlot beef, because it has less marbling – fat in the muscle, as grain fed. And as well, the American housewife (whatever that has become) is accustomed to white fat, where grass fed is more yellow.
The modern method is geared to grain fed beef and the quickest processing. Heavier weigh carcasses and a fewer days of aging makes for more efficiency in capital expenses to the packers than smaller steers and a longer aging.
The point being, should all food be geared to maximizing the profits of the middleman? _________________ Make a plan and work it:
Joined: Apr 28, 2005 Posts: 3431 Location: West shore Lake Eire, MI, USA
Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 8:43 pm Post subject: Re: [Sm. Farm] Grass Farming
Pops wrote:
frankthetank wrote:
Just an observation, but wouldn't grass fed cattle have "tougher" meat?
Yes it does if raised to the same weight and processed the same as feedlot beef, because it has less marbling – fat in the muscle, as grain fed. And as well, the American housewife (whatever that has become) is accustomed to white fat, where grass fed is more yellow.
The modern method is geared to grain fed beef and the quickest processing. Heavier weigh carcasses and a fewer days of aging makes for more efficiency in capital expenses to the packers than smaller steers and a longer aging.
The point being, should all food be geared to maximizing the profits of the middleman?
Have no fear, we need that grain to feed bio-ethanol converters for 'our' SUV's, pretty soon it will be cheaper to range feed just like it was before grain prices fell through the basement.
Course that also means Bread and other flour based products will be souring, but hey, you can't have everything right? _________________ Oxygen: - An intensely habit-forming accumulative toxic substance. As little
as one breath is known to produce a life-long addiction to the gas, which addiction invariably ends in death.--Isaac Asimov
This is something I've thought a lot about. Dryland farms can be purchased in my area for around $350/acre. It looks like planting to grass like plains bluestem and running a cow/calf operation would be fairly profitable. Definately moreso than dryland farming. Additionally, you would still be eligible for any government payments the farm was previously receiving.
I've also heard of an FSA conservation program that will pay for the grass seed and the use of a grass drill to plant tilled ground back to grass. Plus the farm will receive $26/acre per year as long as it remains in grass. The land has to be in a specified watershed to be eligible. _________________ The road goes on forever and the party never ends - REK
Joined: Apr 21, 2004 Posts: 508 Location: Republic of Texas
Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 11:31 am Post subject: Grass-fed Cattle Genetics
Not sure where to post this, but attached is an article about the changes that have taken place in cattle genetics since the advent of grain feeding in feedlots. The article also talks about what to look for in cattle that you intend to finish on grass instead of grain. This is good information if at some point in the future the luxury of feeding grain to animals becomes a thing of the past.
Defining Grass Genetics
By Gearld Fry
The livestock of early America survived and thrived on a diet of grass and forages. The meat, eggs and dairy products that people consumed came from these animals. By the 1930's grain started being considered as a potential feed source for livestock. As corn fields expanded over the nation's landscape, so too did the popularity of feeding the golden grain to livestock. It was around the 1960's when the commercial feedlot system took control of the cattle industry. They became the only game in town and dictated what type of cattle was marketable and how livestock producers would be compensated or penalized for their efforts.
Early feedlot systems were owned and operated by local farmers who were feeding their own cattle to supply a local, year round fat finished market. The grazing type of cattle of those days only required 60 to 80 days of grain to fatten. After compensatory gain was reached, those animals would start putting on back fat very quickly. Animals by twelve months of age would often carry .25 inches, which is what you want today in a grassfed animal. Somewhere between 14 and 18 months, these cattle could accumulate .35-.50 inches of back fat, reaching a 4 to 5 yield grade. Today, cattle that have .40 inches of back fat get discounted at the sale barn.
As time passed, producers became more knowledgeable about mixing rations and feed management. Those more interested in penning up cattle and bringing the plentiful grain to them soon learned that narrow, taller, later maturing animals with little or no back fat performed better in that environment. The larger framed, bigger boned animal would have faster rates of gain over a longer period than the shorter, wider, more balanced animal that fattened too quickly. Transitioning to animals that could stay on grain for 120 days was a big plus for the farmer who marketed grain.
During the later part of the twentieth century, chemical companies developed bovine synthetic growth hormones (ear implants) that stimulated more growth while suppressing the deposit of fat. The results were that cattle could stay in the feedlots even longer and produce larger carcasses.
The feedlot philosophy of producing beef gained full steam by the 1940s. In 1948, a large group of cattle (30,000 head) were gathered together in Dodge City Kansas to be transported by rail to feedlots in the Chicago area. From that point on, the idea of feeding grain to both beef and dairy has steadily gained in popularity. Production agriculture was up and running. Order buyers were paying more money for larger, taller, later maturing calves, so naturally the commercial beef producers kept the bigger cows for their breeding herds and used taller, later maturing bulls to produce their yearly calf crop. The grass genetics that produced smaller framed, wider animals quickly lost favor and faded from the landscape.
The slaughter companies quickly established markets and delivery systems. A bulk of these markets was dominated by a price structure created by the rapid growing fast food movement demanding large amounts of grind (burger). This fast food industry used its purchasing power to dictate price margins. Cattle and corn as well as other farm products (food) were now being traded as commodities and prices were regulated without considering the farmer and his cost of production. It even came to the point where the cattlemen/farmers were told to cut operating expenses. They were forced to settle for low profit margins if they wanted to continue raising livestock. These are the same markets (no regard for producer profit) and price structures that handicap and even destroy today's family farms.
Cattle producers in America willingly changed their breeding programs in order to supply the genetics for the feedlot industry. In the early 1950s, the cattle industry determined it necessary to import Continental and European animals. The intent was to crossbreed these animals with American cattle in order to produce taller, longer, later maturing cattle that would have hybrid vigor. They brought the most money at the stockyard. Growth became primary and meat quality became a non-issue.
The constant out crossing thus continually diluted the prepotent gene pools that had effectively utilized grass. Animals were now heterozygous in their genetic make-up and lost was consistency and quality control. Even today, it is uncertain of how many pure blood strains of seedstock truly exist.
Grass genetics is rugged genetics. A majority of early American cattle were of the dual-purpose style or body type. They were valued for both their meat and milk production. Records can be found of many outstanding linebred herds of beef and dairy cattle that existed in this country up until around the mid 1960s. Pictures from old herd books and encyclopedias portray those animals as having nearly the same physical structure or phenotype, yet still maintaining individual breed characteristics. Our forefathers selected for that style of animal because of their efficient conversion of forages into the meat and milk they needed to feed their families. These animals were built for functionality and longevity and they rarely got sick. Until economic pressure and circumstances turned livestock and grain into commodities there was little change in cattle genetics. There was no reason to change a system that worked.
The type of animal that produces pounds of beef in the feedlot was described earlier. So what does an animal with the correct grass genetics look like? There are two specific physical features that an animal must possess to efficiently utilize grass. These two features that are present in many species of animals (cattle, sheep, horses, buffalo, and even swine) and characterize them as designed for that purpose are wide shoulders and a deep chest. These two traits are required for both the male and female if the animal is to grow, maintain, and reproduce on a diet of grass. Wide shoulders and a deep chest provide ample room for the proper development and function of the heart and lungs. Oxygen and blood flow are never restricted. The respiratory and cardiovascular systems can work to full capacity – critical for efficiency.
Wide shoulders and a deep chest make up the balanced body that will have better muscle structure, more consistency in intramuscular fat, and be higher in reproduction performance. The balanced body of a bovine female suited for grassfed beef production will have a frame score of 3-4 and the male can have a frame score of 4-5. Animals larger than this will be later maturing and have higher maintenance requirements. Wider stature animals are generally more docile, have more muscle mass and will be lower maintenance because of the fact they easily maintain body condition.
Cattle with the proper genetics to be sustainable on grass will have thicker hides that enable them to adapt to temperature changes and other weather conditions. An oily sheen on the hair coat is a natural insect repellent. A wide face and muzzle is needed to ingest larger bites of grass. Large nostrils and a convex shaped head are important components to an efficient respiratory system. A deep flank indicates fertility and the ability to finish on grass.
For an animal to get his daily-required dry matter intake from pasture, it must be able to traverse the terrain and move with ease. Therefore strong, sound structured legs that are placed at the four corners of the body are crucial. Hooves are to be free of malformations (long or curved toes) and disease.
The digestive system and endocrine (pituitary, thyroid, adrenal, pancreas glands plus the testes and ovaries) system have to be working correctly and in unison if the animal is to develop to its potential. The ruminant was designed to digest forages, not large amounts of concentrated energy (seeds/grain) or fermented feeds. These types of feedstuffs change the rumen pH as well as the type of microorganisms in the digestive tract. When the digestive system is disrupted negative reactions occur that affect reproduction, growth, and immune response which can be costly to correct.
Cattle with the proper genetics to perform on grass can go into a feedlot system and gain as well as cattle with grain type genetics. However because of their efficient feed conversion, the grass genetic animals upon completing the compensatory gain at around 60-80 days (assuming maturity has been reached) is ready for slaughter. At this point muscle growth is complete and feed is converted to fat stores.
The grain genetic animal that fits the bill for the feedlot system which continually gains muscle mass for 120+ days cannot go to pastures and do well. The majority of them will not maintain body condition, stay healthy, reproduce on a regular schedule, produce milk, or finish on a total grass operation.
In summary, grass genetics is not a specific cattle breed parse but it is a specific body type. Wide shoulders and a deep chest are paramount for the purpose of utilizing your grass. Now if your intention is to produce grain fed beef, then the taller, narrower, later maturing animal will continue to gain and produce pounds of meat by staying on corn for longer periods. This is the plus for the feedlot industry. As a side note - purity of genetics regardless of species of animal or feeding system is vitally important to create animals that are predictable and viable for the intended purpose. Limited, well planned crossbreeding has its benefits. But with continued dilution of genetic lines, you loose control. Properly built, pure, paternal gene pools will produce just as many pounds as crossbreeding.
Building a herd, a gene pool that effectively utilizes forages is not reverting back to the stone ages of livestock production. I see it as common sense. Grass is basically a free, God given raw material that is converted into meat and milk products by the best possible method available – the ruminant. It is a system that has worked previously for decades at keeping this nation healthy - both its people and its economy. The feedlot industry controlled by the commodity market has created a monster that has become too expensive to feed. If you want to get back to a true pasture based livestock production system, I applaud you. But make no mistake about it; you’ll need the right genetics to make it work. Thank God there still exists superior grass-based genetic herds scattered about this planet and slowly but surely they are making a comeback.
BOVINE ENGINEERING & CONSULTING
Gearld Fry
Rose Bud, AR 72137
(501) 556-5040 Home
(501) 454-3252 Cell
gfry@alltel.net
bovineengineering.com _________________ The road goes on forever and the party never ends - REK
Brilliant! Fascinating stuff. I definitely want grass-fed beef, without a doubt. I swear, sometimes I think grain is one of the biggest curses on this planet (and then I remember how much I love porridge and bread).
I believe that grass-fed beef is much healthier for you, even having less fat than grain-fed chicken. The only question now is where to go to find such good quality animals?
Yup Skyemoor, the Dexter and the Irish Moiled are two "rare breed" cattle native to Ireland. The Dexter is quite a small cow, more a "house cow" type, and I hear the meat is excellent. Most people who have them still feed them grain though, even the organic farmers. I wonder if anyone over here does pure grass fed? I'd be really interested to taste the meat.
Are you anywhere near any of the farms listed on the link I provided?
And I would think their flavor would be secondary to actually being able to sustain a herd postPO. We've had a few generations of Angus, but they were not 100% grassfed (we provided 1 gallon of corn/day).
Brilliant! Fascinating stuff. I definitely want grass-fed beef, without a doubt. I swear, sometimes I think grain is one of the biggest curses on this planet (and then I remember how much I love porridge and bread).
I believe that grass-fed beef is much healthier for you, even having less fat than grain-fed chicken. The only question now is where to go to find such good quality animals? _________________ We've tried nothin' and we're all out of ideas.
I am only one. I can only do what one can do. But what one can do, I will do. -- John Seymour.
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