Praying... and walking.

 Praying that this,
is that new door I was talking about back in July of 2014, seven long years ago. 

seven years ago

Here is a little boots on the ground view... 

In this video, I'm in the 14 acres, and looking at the pasture that has been, and is being grazed by the cattle for the last several days. They were fenced out of it for about seven weeks to allow the forage to really grow, but then, since the gully fence that I rigged up, was not electrified, or "hot", they eventually slipped in right underneath it. Which was actually well timed, since the pasture was ready to graze. The clovers were Beautiful, and the Tall Fescue was just at that right stage before seed head. Also now, we can start planning the go in there with a cycle mower and raise it up several inches and clip down those remaining weeds like all of that Meadow Foxtail, and the Butterweed, that the cows were smart enough to leave alone.

Worth doing?

 "If a job is worth doing, it's worth doing poorly first." -Joel Salatin

I take this to mean... We should be learning from our mistakes, and the beneficial results of work, may take a lot of time to see, and enjoy, but the pay-off will always be worth it.  And sometimes the payoff has little to do with money. 

It never gets old...

 Just another example and comparison of managed time, coupled with natural processes. 

last day on (overgrazed) ground March 14th 2021 

First day back on (recovering) ground May 4th, 2021

Inhale... exhale... 

Dances with Forbes?

 Taking a little look at the pasture today on my lunch break (Loving it). I was worried when I saw the weed (forb) which I think is "butter weed" also some meadow foxtail as well about a week or so ago, which has me concerned.. a little. 

Looking at (what I believe is) the butter weed which can be noxious to humans and animals... I pulled one or two up the other day, and again today... What I think I'm seeing is the dense grass and legume stands are choking out the butter weed... possibly. Or at least in really good competition for water, sunlight and nutrients. As I look at the low growing leaves of the butter weed down by the roots, I see them slowly decomposing. I also see a very small root system, being suffocated from lack of sunlight. Forbs are not all bad.. but can be invasive. So It's great to see such robust grass and clovers taking THIER stand, and letting them do the delicate, and competitive dance of chaos and order, in it's own way. 

Natural Progress, through time management

 Here we have a comparison of grass that was grazed once in the winter 2021 with an un-grazed residual of about 4-6" that was left on top of the soil. Now the same area in Mid-April 2021, waiting to be grazed. Probably going to start opening it up in a week or two max. The old saying goes "It takes grass, to make grass" 

A 'hole' lot of nothing going on.

 Took some time off of work to dig some tiny little holes, and look at earth worms and soil aggregate. 

A great 'life long learning' quote from an accomplished rancher...

 Listening to the Working Cows pod-cast, Episode 100, Clay was talking with Burke Teichert and they were talking about ranching, Burke was asked "what's the one thing that you wish you would have known all along, when it comes to ranching and/or life?" 

He answered: "That's a tough question to answer, it's been a series of building blocks for me. But the thing I wish I'd known all along is that ... we won't live long enough to become perfect at anything we do. Livestock handling and Grazing management for example, and we love to do those things as ranch managers...but every time we get a little bit better, we get rewarded. And that makes the challenge so enjoyable. We know there's always challenges ahead of us, and because of that we know there's room to get better. And when we get a little better, we are again rewarded." - Burke Teichert