Replies (5)
Are you aiming for spring calving because of the pasture or the weather? What kind of climate are you in?
Both actually. We're in zone 7A. Spring is our best grass growing season. It also aligns best for butchering for grass fed beef, allowing harvest around 26-30 months with only two winter feedings required and finishing on grass, not hay for optimal beef quality.
Makes a lot of sense.
We are still trying to figure out our system. We've only been at our place for a year but we have very dry summers with no grass growth. Pasture comes back in the winter. I'm thinking our best calving time might be end of winter. We are playing with our options. I hadn't factored in kill dates. That's definitely something id like to properly plan for too.
For premium beef quality, harvesting when they're still gaining good weight on good forage is important. Once they go on hay the beef quality decreases.
Some folks save pastures just for finishing animals and move the herd that's not getting processed onto hay.
We have two paddocks that we don't put the animals through. We have plans to hay them out on alternative years so we aren't depleting the soil too much. We could definitely run the herd through the other up to harvest. Lots to think about. Farming is such a science and everyones context is so different. I love hearing what others are doing.
