Winter Pasture

Unlike veggies, grazing animals don't have off-seasons! Animal chores happen everyday, but in the winter, we have to be on the look out for different things, like making sure the animals are getting enough to eat & making sure the water isn't frozen (especially during bouts of frigid weather).

Nat keeps a close eye on pasture conditions, walking the cattle pasture to see how much grass there is, trying to estimate how quickly the cows will eat it, and how much/how frequently to feed hay. Depending on the amount of ‘forage’ available, sometimes we supplement with hay.

Because the cows get moved to fresh pasture every few days, we use moveable fencing to break up our fields into smaller lots. When needed, Nat places a few round bales in each of the smaller lots (like the photo below). When he moves the cows into that lot, he cuts the mesh off the bales and rolls them out. That way, the 'buffet' of hay is spread out a little more - the cows don't have to jostle each other for access AND they end up spreading hay seed and uneaten hay around in a bigger area. With Nat's guiding hand, they are seeding and improving their pasture for next season.

You can see that there’s still some forage available, even in Winter.

Round Bales intentionally spread out in Winter pasture