grazing cattle

4 posts
Tue, 03/13/2018 - 08:23 #1

Member for

6 years 9 months
drew66
Last seen: 03/16/2018 - 05:31
Joined: 03/13/2018 - 08:02

grazing cattle

hi all am new to this forum,i have 17 acres of mixed grasses and have 3 steers coming to help keep the grass down,my main question is after about 6 weeks it gets to the point of being out of control ,I have actually mowed this with a ride on [lol] not happening again.had the elders rep here and he told me I had some improved pasture a lot of the grass has red tinges on it, a bit of everything,just purchased this property the previous owners had horses on it. I'm not a farmer or anything just looking to keep grass under control question is when the grass gets to the point something needs to be done should I leave it for the steers or slash it.i cant see 3 steers keeping all this down ,could buy more steers but was told 1 steer per 5 acres or whatever ratio they say,any advice much appreciated
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Tue, 03/13/2018 - 18:27 #2
rolly @ fi
Last seen: 06/13/2019 - 10:17
Joined: 09/09/2011 - 11:03
Hi drew, welcome to the forum. Your steers should be able to address the grass but there are a couple of things we need to know in order to help you out. First of all where is your farm? I would imagine if the elders agronomist has had a look he would have told you what species of grass and that they would be summer active grasses i.e grasses that mainly grow in the warmer months. If this is indeed the case, 3 to 4 steers should be enough because there will need to be some dry feed, (left over summer grasses) to carry them through the winter. Because in a summer active pasture there isn't a lot of plants growing in the winter. If it is a mixed sward of both summer and winter active species, you may need to up your stocking rate by another steer or two. The next consideration is how big are the steers you have and to what size do you want grow them? Most typically we buy them as weiners approx 200 to 250 kg and grow them to about 400 to 450 for supermarket trade. I think if you have smaller animals you could increase that number by a steer or two for now, bearing in mind the bigger they get the more feed they will require. I hope this isnt as clear as mud and helps you out. Regards Rolly
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Wed, 03/14/2018 - 07:26 #3
drew66
Last seen: 03/16/2018 - 05:31
Joined: 03/13/2018 - 08:02
thanks Rolly, am located in queensland town called moolboolaman on the road west towards mount perry, moved here from new south wales ,was told by real estate agent that this was drought area last few years ,we have had plenty of rain recently everything nice and green so will see what happens over the coming months,dont think the elders guy was a agromonist though,we contacted him to buy cattle ,our neighbour runs a cattle stud so will see if they can tell me what grass is on here,i know there is rat tail amongst it though,size of the cattle not sure yet will be speaking to the guy in the next few days we have wild dogs around here so I'm a bit worried if weiners being small could look after itself against the dogs ,told the guy we are buying the cattle from so they might be a bit bigger than a weiner, charlois x angus steer we think at this stage is the breed expect them to arrive next week sometime,dont intend to send them to supermarket full time on the property, or is it best to send them and buy more again and keep turning them over
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Thu, 03/29/2018 - 01:59 #4
greggy
Last seen: 03/09/2019 - 21:43
Joined: 10/07/2017 - 02:38
If I were you, I would get into the livestock a bit more, you could improve fencing and paddocks, get in also some sheep and a couple of goats, and rotate them all around. I can't think of anything worse than buying a big block to just go round in circles cutting it......lol...your mad to even try it with a ride on, they are for lawns, not paddock slashing....lol
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