By Heather Lang
Who doesn’t like spring on a farm? Cute, cuddly babies everywhere. Green lush grass. Beautiful blue skies. Enjoying a nice warm cup of coffee on the front porch swing in a brisk morning listening to the birds chirping. What a terrific picture, right? Well, here is more of how it really looks this year on our farm and many other farms.
The nice warm cup of coffee that was part of your relaxing experience has now been put in a to-go cup as you jump into the pickup to go check the new baby calves, chase the pigs back in and get the kids off to school. The sound of birds chirping tend to get drowned out by the sound of the semi starting up, ATVs ripping through the yard or the tractor and gravity wagon gearing up to go feed the animals.
Cute babies everywhere? Yes. In our barns, in the shop or even in our houses trying to keep them warm, out of the mud and to not get sick from this fluctuating weather. We had our first rainbow yesterday, which also came with hail, a 10-minute downpour of rain and gusty winds.
One of my favorite images of this time of year is seeing the cows and bulls put out on green pastures.
Springtime on a farm tends to be muddy, messy, hectic, and rushed, but at the same time it is rewarding, exciting, gets your adrenaline going and reminds you that it’s a new year, a new start.
With things being so muddy and finances strained from having to feed the animals hay and supplemented food all year, it would be nice to get them all out grazing on the pasture. When they graze the pasture, your pens can dry up, you increase your herd health, plus it typically means that nicer weather is ahead. That’s a win for the livestock and a win for you as a rancher.
But we aren’t quite there yet.
As stewards of the land, no matter what we do, we need to keep in mind the impact that will be made to the land. I am relieved to see that our pastures are starting to green up and get some color into them. However, turning the livestock out on the pastures too early could have a detrimental long-term impact to the grasslands if you don’t supplement other feed. Typically, by this time our cows have gotten into the pastures and are eating lush green grass. Farmers need to be confident that when they do decide to release the livestock on the grass that they are not leaving a lasting effect on the land. Ranchers need to be confident that it is the best time for their herd to be on the grass. In a week or two you will be able to drive by our farm and take in all the beauty of the goats, sheep and cattle grazing on the green grass.
Until then we need to continue to let that grass grow and thrive a bit more.