Our two acres of Bermuda border the highway and were especially embarrassing because from the road you couldn’t hardly tell that there were any desirable grasses in the pasture. So, the mowing was a must! It was an interesting day. Bill was the guy with the tractor. He’s the same Bill that raises shrimp near by. The said tractor doesn’t have a working alternator so we spent the first 15 minutes jumping the tractor then hooked up the bush hog, a King Kutter. I was surprised how difficult it was to hook up as I’ve never used one before. It gave the impression that it wasn’t meant to be put on and off very often. None the less, I was very greatful to have the chance to borrow it. Bill sent me on my way and after driving a few miles to our farm I spent the next 2 or 3 hours mowing the worst of our weeds and seeded out grass. Just before I headed back to The Storks farm to return the tractor I let it die on me and had to try and jump it, remember, the alternator doesn’t work. Well, my 1500 truck wasn’t getting the job done so I ended up hooking it up to a battery charger over night and taking it back in the morning.

I couldn’t believe how it changed the look of our Bermuda pasture to have them cut down. There is actually a solid sod forming and by cutting it all off even it made it look so much better. Where I wondered if we even had any Bermuda, we’ve actually got tons of it!

I also mowed down one edge of a pasture that is mostly volunteer Foxtail grasses. They looked pretty, all seeded out but when you walked through it you could see that there was actually alot of bare ground at the ground level. I’m hoping that it will now be encouraged to fill in with the alfalfa, clovers and other grass seeds that we sowed more recently. I’m happy to report that we do have some new grasses germinating. They are either the MaxQ Fescue or more Orchard grass. There is also alot of oats that are reseeding from the oats that we planted in the spring as a nurse crop.

Now that we have a few more cows I’m looking forward to seeing how much better the pasture will look with faster rotations but the true magic will happen in a few years when we get closer to our total capacity.

-Once again, I wish I had pictures for you but I keep forgeting my camera.