06/13/2026
Howdy folks!
We'll see if I can stick to it or not, but I want to make a series of posts showing you some of the stuff that goes on around here. Here's a starter anyway:
I took this picture from the top of our big blue Harvestore silo today. You can see my Dad chopping hay with the green tractor, and shortly after I took the picture I was blowing that "haylage" up into the silo, where it ferments and can be stored safely for a year or more. The big brown area on the left is where I experimented with "bale grazing" this spring, letting the cows eat their hay bales on the field so the the waste hay gets trampled down and fertilized with their, um, excrement. In a year or two that should be the most fertile soil on the farm.
To the right of that you see the dark brown streak, that's where the cattle had been traveling through the mud to get to pasture, but I fenced them out of it recently to keep them cleaner. The near side of the brown steak is lighter colored, that's where they travel now, on solid ground.
In the background you see the cows, and if you look closely you can see the green streaks moving to the right of them where I've moved their fence every day, giving them fresh unsoiled grass to graze. With the rain it's recovering very nicely where they grazed before. Perhaps in a future post I'll get more in depth on the philosophy behind daily fence moves, but suffice to say for now, it's the best thing for cows and soil and plants, and this for the farm.
Lots to see in that picture! It's such a nice view up there, 60+ feet above the ground. . . Maybe I should offer to bring others up there to enjoy the view??
