St. Brigid's Happy Cows

When our friend Pam calls, her first question is how are the happy cows?  While there are days when our cows are less happy – snow storms, torrential rains, high winds, excessive heat, we are usually more impacted by the nasty conditions than the cows.  In the winter, the freestall barn with the curtains closed provides a cozy space for the milking cows.  In the summer the same freestall barn with curtains opened and fans full tilt provides some reprieve.  However, the engineers who design barns can only imitate the environment where cows are happiest – outside on pasture.  Here is a capture of our happy cows on video before our grazing days ended last month.  

Off to Work and Returning Home

A Long Walk Back to Work

How Much Further?

Oh, This Shade is Nice!

Grazing Sorghum for Breakfast, Lunch , and Dinner

Bet I Can Eat More Than You

No, I'm Not Related to the Brachiosaurus Dinosaur

Finished and Headed Back Home!

Nice Walk in the Shade

Almost There

I See the Milking Barn!

Oat Hay for Desert and then Off to Work Again

Dealing With Summer Drought Condititons

Often we are asked, "how do you graze your cows in the summer if there is not enough rain for the grass?". Well, the summer of 2008 makes us answer that question. We had very adequate rain going into June but then it stopped. Less than an inch in June followed by only 1/4" so far in July is putting a lot of stress on the grass, the cows, and the farmers in our region. The tassling corn that is nearly 6' tall with no ear is indicative of the situation.

On St. Brigid's Farm we manage times like this from several different angles. First,we have a variety of grasses and some of those are very drought tolerant. One of those is Reed Canary Grass (RCG). Another is a warm season annual, Sorghum. This grass is a cousin to corn except it has no ears and will regrow after each pass of grazing in only about 3 weeks. And finally, were are fortunate to have irrigation water available for the pastures that the milking cows graze.

Time for bed, and dreaming it will rain tonight!