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["SISU!" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Bill Jones wrote:


> > Does that take rotational grazing into effect?

> I don't suppose so, since so many properties seem to have the same 
> steers on them year after year (well, not the exact same animals of 
> course).

I'm not following you.  Here, rotational grazing is different, I guess.
 When I had my sheep, I divided out my 7 acre pasture into approximately
2 acre 'tracts' using electric fencing.  I moved the same sheep from one
paddock tract to the next, moving them every few weeks or as needed.  In
the winter, or during one period of extreme drought in the summer, I
opened up the whole area for grazing.  I rotated mostly to cut down on
parasites and to keep at least part of the pasture 'mowed' at all times,
but it worked fine for me.  I wasn't thinking about improving the
pasture-that was just a side benefit.

 Somehow when you go to buy a ranch property, and you ask the
> old fart, "so how many head of cattle you reckon this'll keep," they
>  have to be able to give you some answer.

LOL..well, down here in redneck land, you'll get " Shoot, I dunno, it's
had cows on it before"  ;)

 The details for how it's
> calculated are well-defined by the USDA.  It assumes that everybody's
>  land is snowbound for six months, so that properties from radically
>  different climates can be compared on the same scale.

Really?  How did you learn that?  With the southern half of the US not
getting snowbound, that surprises me.


 But on my land,
> without snow, there's actually a "winter carrying capacity".  I
> imagine it's about a third of fourth of the summer carrying capacity,
> so I hope to keep a ram and three ewes over the winter, also with no
> feed.

Hmmm.  Why would your winter capacity be lower if you get most of your
rain in the winter?


  I
> don't intend to push it to the limit, because they start gnawing tree
>  bark.  At this point I keep animals only seasonally, since I'm a 
> snowbird, but within 5 years we'll both be able to move here full
> time. Just in time, eh?  I hope so.

You're a snowbird??  Where else do you live?

Bev


--
BevanRon of EarthNSky Farm   NW Georgia USDA Zone 7
34.498N 85.076W    Bev is Earth, Ron is Sky