Cattle

haymaker said:
Cattle and birds have a wonderful symbiotic relationship. As a rancher-farmer that has a commercial hunting operation, pheasants definitely benefit from my cattle operation.
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They eat the corn and seeds in the turds and spread the manure around, fertilizing the field for the cows grass to grow better..
 
westksbowhunter said:
It's the over grazing that hurts all of wildlife. Over grazing has led to the expansion of cedars in some areas. Ranchers want to swath everything. Out of state swathers watch the drought monitor like a hawk and flock to areas when emergency grazing and haying opens up. A lot of Kansas bales goes to Texas.
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I sell hay for part of my income. It has always peeved me that when hay supply becomes short (^$) they open up CRP, then hay prices collapse. I don't hay my CRP when they open it, I don’t want my name associated with that quality of forage.

It used be you couldn’t sell it but folks got around that so they removed the pretense.
 
westksbowhunter said:
It's the over grazing that hurts all of wildlife. Over grazing has led to the expansion of cedars in some areas. Ranchers want to swath everything. Out of state swathers watch the drought monitor like a hawk and flock to areas when emergency grazing and haying opens up. A lot of Kansas bales goes to Texas.
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I used to hunt this ranch that had a lot of pheasants, then the cattle moved in, and now there are no pheasants there.
 
A few years ago we had a drought around here. My buddy, who raises cattle, only got about 25% of his annual hay crop. He had two choices, sell his herd or feed baled CRP grass. It kept his herd alive barely but he had to pour molasses over the bales to get them to eat it. Did I want the CRP mowed and baled, no, but I didn't want my friend to lose his herd either and it took him a few years to recover from that year!
 
airmedic1 said:
A few years ago we had a drought around here. My buddy, who raises cattle, only got about 25% of his annual hay crop. He had two choices, sell his herd or feed baled CRP grass. It kept his herd alive barely but he had to pour molasses over the bales to get them to eat it. Did I want the CRP mowed and baled, no, but I didn't want my friend to lose his herd either and it took him a few years to recover from that year!
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Yes, I agree there are instances where the release of the CRP is called for, but like any program it gets abused by some. The “R” does stand for reserve.
 
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