What a difference a couple of weeks of good food will make! The nervous, bawling calves from the first post have turned into calm, inquisitive, and quite a bit larger, calves.
They came to see what I was doing at the fence when I stopped to take their picture. They were disappointed there was no food offered, but were happy to have their water refilled.
This afternoon Ruben and Alejandro will move them to new pastures. They’ve learned to respect the electric fences we use for rotational grazing and have adjusted well to the richer grass. We don’t quite have enough pasture in the Arbequina orchard yet to send them to the plantation so they will stay a bit longer in front. We’ve had more rain (and the related power outages) but not quite the warm spring weather needed to make the pasture grow quickly.
Rotational grazing – where a group of animals is moved in a mob from one section of pasture to another – makes a visible mark on the pasture. This is the section of pasture they were on earlier last week:
The right side is the last section grazed. To the left is the section which has already started to regrow. The line between section isn’t as visible after more than a week as the pasture growth slows down enough that the difference isn’t as notable. Here’s the faint difference between the first and second sections they grazed:
We use electric fencing for rotational grazing in the olive orchards as well but as the pasture there is already in strips between the rows of trees there isn’t a visible line between sections like there is in the open pasture here in front.
Terneras tranquilas
¡Qué diferencia hace algunas semanas y buena comida! Las terneras nerviosas y ruidosas de la noticia primera son tranquilas, curiosas, y bastante más grande, terneras.
Vinieron a ver lo que estaba haciendo cuando paro para sacar la foto. Estaban triste de que no les dé comida, pero estaban feliz a tener un bebedero lleno.
Esta tarde Ruben y Alejandro van a mudarlas a un potrero nuevo. Las terneras ya aprendieron a respetar las cercas eléctricas que usamos para el pastoreo rotativo y están acostumbradas al pasto verde. No tenemos suficiente pradera en la plantación de Arbequina todavía, entonces les quedan algunas semanas más en el frente. Recibimos más lluvia (y cortes de luz asociada con las tormentas) pero no el tiempo bueno de la primavera que es necesario a tener crecimiento rápido del pasto.
El pastoreo rotativo – cuando un grupo de animales está manejado en un grupo de una parte de pradera o pasto a un otro – deja una marca visible al pasto. Esta sección del potrero es donde estaban la semana pasada:
La derecha es la última parte comieron. A la izquierda es donde ya crece de nuevo el pasto. La línea entre los dos no es tan visible después de una semana. El crecimiento del pasto ralentiza y no es tan notable. Entre la primera y segunda sección donde fueron las terneras es mucho más difícil ver la línea:
Usamos la cerca eléctrica en la plantación de olivos también, pero como el pasto ya está en filas entre las filas de árboles, no queda una línea visible entre filas, ya comieron o no. No como está en estos potreros en frente.
This past year we (and by we, I really mean my father) trialed grazing recently weaned calves in the olive orchard as part of our pasture management strategy. When we had Normandy dairy cows all those years ago, and the olive trees were a so very much younger, we did graze the cows in the plantation. But when the trees got large enough that we couldn’t create an aisle with electric fencing where the cows couldn’t reach the trees we pulled all cattle out of the plantation. Since then we’ve had varying levels of success with the sheep. The pigs, which do graze the plantation, make little to no dent in managing the grass. To keep the orchard well tended, the grass needs to be kept under control. If for no other reason than you can’t harvest olives when the grass is up to your waist. We’ve tried most mechanical methods – spraying herbicide, cutting by weed whacker, cutting by tractor, not cutting, scraping the ground – but they all include purchasing consumables such as chemicals and diesel and so many man hours to run the machines.
We also try to manage the farm by permaculture principals. We don’t always manage it. But we do try. My father kept reading about grazing options and finally found enough evidence to suggest trying recently weaned calves would work. The theory is that they are too young to have the teeth, and the strength, to eat the leaves and branches of the trees. Which means they could be grazed among the trees without creating aisles using electric fencing. They are also short and small enough that they won’t break the trees by leaning. So we bought in 13 calves to start. It worked. Not without bumps, but enough that we have made the leap to buying in 30 new young calves.
Now, as you can see above, they are not yet in the plantation. They just arrived last week. And I, very much out of practice blogger that I am, failed to document their arrival. So imagine a stock truck, a ramp, and the calves above. Anyhow, recently arrived, they need to get used to the electric fences (which in the plantation keep them contained for rotational grazing) and get used to our very, very green grass. They’ve had their required shots, been branded, and are being given transitional food to make sure the new rich pasture doesn’t give them scours.
Ruben spent a morning making a mobile feed trough:
When we can find them, there will be larger wheels. But at the moment, it works. It only has to move about 20 meters every time the fence shifts, so they just pull carefully. The feed trough is so we can feed them transitional rations to help acclimate their digestion to not-milk. We are unusual in that we have such rich grass. Not enough roughage will make the calves sick. So, a very small serving of rations every day and free access to dry, baled forage.
Weaned calves are a new experience for us. Typically, we have calves because they were born on farm and they are weaned naturally and transition from nursing to grass on their own. Which doesn’t require rations or baled hay or anything else. That isn’t practical this time as actual cows aren’t safe to graze in the planation so it’s just-weaned calves and all the care needed or no grazers for the planation. With some luck, some skilled management, and a careful eye kept on the grass, we will be able to grow out the calves in the plantation, keep the plantation clean, and sell the calves for a possible profit when they grow too big to be safe grazers. There might not be much profit, but if we even break even it will be less expensive than buying in diesel, the tractor hours, and chemical herbicides.
Anyone else know of farms that graze calves in orchards with short trees?
Terneras Nuevas
Por terneras nuevas, me refiero a terneras nuevas para nosotros.
Este año pasado, nosotros (en realidad, mi padre), probadas terneras, recién destetadas, en la plantación como una parte de nuestra filosofía de cuidar por los olivos. Cuando tuvimos los Normandos, muchos años anteriores, los árboles de la plantación fueron mucho más chico y usamos los Normandos a manejar el pasto en la plantación. Pero los árboles crecieron y llego un punto que no pudimos poner una cerca eléctrica a una distancia suficiente de los árboles que las vacas no pudieron hacer daño. Desde entonces hemos tenido diferentes niveles de éxito con ovejas. Los cerdos, que quedan en la plantación, no comen suficiente pasto para limpiar la plantación solos.
Para mantener la plantación en bien salud, necesitamos manejar el pasto a un nivel corto. Si por ninguna otra razón que no pueda cosechar aceitunas cuando el paso llego a la cintura. Probamos muchos métodos mecánicos – herbicida, malezadora, chequera, sin cortar, pala – pero casi todos estos métodos incluyen compras como gasoil, químicos, y muchas horas laborable.
También, tratamos de cuidar al campo en la filosofía de permacultura. No siempre sucedemos, pero probamos. Mi padre leyó de las opciones pastoreos y finalmente decidió que había suficiente razón a probar terneras recién destetadas. La teoría es las terneras jóvenes son demasiado joven a tener los dientes para comer los árboles, no tendrían la fuerza o tamaño a dañar los árboles en general. Sin la capacidad a hacer daño, podremos dejar libre en la plantación sin cerca eléctrica alrededor de los árboles. Entonces, compramos 13 terneras en el inicio del año para hacer una prueba. Funciono. No sin dificultad, pero, funciono bastante bien que compramos 30 terneras nuevas.
Ahora, como puede ver en la foto, no están en la plantación todavía. Llegaron la semana pasada. Y yo, blogger muy fuera de práctica que soy yo, no hice fotos de la entrega. Necesita imaginar el camión, el tubo, y las terneras bajando al coral. Pero no importa. Como están recién llegados, necesitan acostumbrarse las cercas eléctricas (en la plantación la cerca es usado a dividir los espacios grandes), y nuestro pasto muy verde. Damos todos las vacunas, la marca, y la ración para el desarrollo de la digestión. Toda la comida seca es para evitar la diarrea que viene con un cambio a pasto muy verde.
Ruben paso una mañana construyendo un comedero con ruedas:
Cuando encontramos, compramos ruedas más anchas. Pero, por el momento, funciona bien. Solamente mudamos 20 metros, más o menos, cada vez que cambiamos la cerca. El comedero es por la ración peloteada. Un poco de ración cada día, con acceso a fardo, ayuda la digestión a cambiar de leche al pasto natural.
Para nosotros, las terneras son un animal nuevo. Normalmente, solamente tuvimos terneros cuando nacieran acá en campo. Quedaron con su madre hasta la vaca decidió a no producir más leche y los terneros comieron pasto. En este caso, no necesitamos comprar ración o fardo. Pero ahora, precisamos las terneras sin las vacas, como las vacas no puedes estar en la plantación. Entonces, terneras muy jóvenes o sin animales a comer el pasto en la plantación. Con un poco de suerte, gestión cualificada, y un ojo al pasto, podremos tener terneras entre los olivos, mantener las filas limpias, y vender las terneras por un poco de ganancia cuando están demasiado grande a quedar en la plantación. Puede ser que no será una ganancia muy grande, pero si no perdimos la inversión sería menos caro que el gasoil, las horas del tractor, y los herbicidas.
¿Algunos de ustedes conocen de otros establecimientos que usan terneros en plantaciones con árboles bajos?
Our large gentle bull, Javelot, died. He was off his feed for a few days then rallied as if all was well, then died one afternoon a few days later. The vet says it could have been for any number of reasons but he thinks Javelot ate a stray pice of wire from the hay bale and it punctured a stomach and got infected. The infection part was obvious, it was throughout his intestines. The vet said he probably could not have saved Javelot even if we had called him a few days earlier. “Bulls are just delicate” is what he said. So has everyone else with whom we have shared our misfortune. Who would have thought bulls were delicate.
A discussion that was on-going all winter long was if our “mamas” would have difficulty delivering their babies and if both mama and baby would survive due to the lack of green pasture. We were fortunate enough to be able to purchase supplemental feed (which turned into daily feed, nothing supplemental about it), and we have access to water for the animals, Between our well, pump, and water holding tanks, plus our newly finished ponds that are spring fed in the front and the back of the property, we did not have to worry about getting water to the animals. Some of our neighbors had difficulty with both water and feed for their animals.
We heard horror stories about cows abandoning their babies due to no milk, of birthing difficulties and mamas and babies dying. One neighbor had sheep lambing and vultures attacked moms and babies because they were so weak they could not defend themselves. One farmer expected 125 lambs and only had 25 born. It has been a tough year for people with animals.
BUT… we were most fortunate that we had minimal issues with our mamas and babies. The sheep started lambing at the end of August. We have about 50 babies with just less than half males. Most are black with a few white markings here and there. Megan is breeding for color rather than white. We have managed to dock tails, castrate , and ear tag our new lambs. They are adorable to watch jump and play and run about in a group. Here are a few playing king of the hill.
Our lecharas were really huge and for almost a month we kept saying they would burst any day. When they finally began calving in September, it was not the ones we expected to calve first who calved first. We had one born, then a few days later another, then one in the morning and one in the evening, then a few days later another was born. The two largest cows who waddled because they were also the biggest around, we the last of the group to calve. We have eight babies frolicking in the field with 4 more to arrive in a few months according to the vet. We have six females and two males so far.
The Normandy calves are up and running about within moments of being born. Our mother lecharas are very attentive and keep close to their babies.
Here is Jon walking around touching all the babies to get them use to being handles.
While we have rabbits and chickens being born and being sent to freezer camp on schedule, I have no photos to share.
But we have been keeping our eye on our geese and ducks. They began nesting almost a month ago.
Just today, we had our first set of gosling hatch!
This mama took her little group on a walk about and another goose stepped up and is sitting on the rest of the eggs in the nest. We have seven geese and one duck sitting nests full of eggs. It will be interesting to see if the duck stays sitting after all the geese hatch because the duck eggs take longer to hatch. Another learning experience.
We have not disappeared. We have just been busy. Things are more routine now and less exciting if you are not living it. (Our worker guys think we are crazy when we get all excited when another baby is born. They shrug their shoulders and say it is just an animal.) The seasons come and go and for the most part follow a rhythm. We had a few bumps with the weather. No rain made for a hard winter and then spring began cold and was slow to provide rain. So, I will try to find some interesting pictures for the next few posts to catch everyone up on our activities. I know that it is the pictures you all care about, not our stories.
I will begin with the lecheras. We had to purchase and then feed hay three to four times a day for our hungry pregnant milk cows. Ruben made us some hay mangers so more would be eaten than trampled and peed upon. The lecheras were in the pasture just outside our front patio, and when we went in or out of the house and it was close to feeding time, they let us know, in chorus.
We also purchased rations to be sure the lecheras were getting enough of the right kind of nutrients to stay healthy. We poured about a third of a bucket for each mama and set it by the fence so we would not have to walk through the muck. The mamas ate from their bucket and then from another bucket if the cow next to them was a slow eater.
Having the cows right outside the door, and asking to be fed all the time, let us gentle the cows. Instead of walking away when people went by, the cows came to see what food we might have brought. So I tried to have a handful of grass or hay to fed who ever was standing at the fence. The cows now do not mind as we walk amongst them and pat them. Jon has had to shove a few out of his way while he has been working in their pasture.
Gentling the lecheras is the first step to being able to milk them when the time comes. It is also fun to have them come running to say “moo” at you.
Megan has done a nice job keeping up with tanning the sheep and rabbit hides. She has read a lot about how to tan hides and there are many ideas out there. Megan has tried several different ways. Recently she read about how to preserve the rabbit feet and tail and it too went smoothly. We have finally slaughtered one of our heifers for us. We are now eating our very own home grown beef! But that also gave us a cow hide, and a decision of what to do. After talking with the guys we learned that there is no market for cow hides, there is no place that will process them, what everyone does is to just bury them in a hole with the entrails. O.K. so now what? Megan was ready to bury ours, but then the guys all said what a big hide! what a thick hide! what a shame not to do something with it! So Megan went on the internet and found a straight forward way to tan the hide, and we are off with another experiment.
Underside with the cow hair.
We’ve been told the only thing to do with a cow hide is to make a rug. We’ll see.
This summer was hot, which was great for the tourist beach people, then came the autumn season with warm windy sunny days without rain. Again nice for everyone but the people who need Fall Grass. The pastures are brown. The little ponds are low on water. The talk in the country is about a rough winter.
The suppliers of alfalfa, straw, and grain are also hurting. There will not be much to purchase, so feed prices will be going up.
We normally look greener than our neighbors, with lush fall grass. This year with no water from the sky, we still look better than our neighbors but not good heading into winter. We are already supplementing feed to our chickens, rabbits, and pigs and have just begun giving more to the lecheras.
They all came running to the fence to see what we had brought them. Now they stand at the fence in the evening mooing to get dinner. The weather forecast is for lots of rainy days any time now. We keep waiting. If the rain doesn’t come while the days are still warm it will be too cold for the grass to grow. It could indeed be a very rough winter.
We’ve been dealing with hot, humid summer days. Typical for January here in Uruguay. I’m going to skip over all the negative things I can say about the heat. And I could go on, and on, and on. Instead I’ll just say that the hot, humid summer days make for gorgeous scenery with soft colors, hazy vistas, and a symphony of insect noise.
I’m working hard to take a few moments while working to just appreciate the beauty of the farm, the region, and how lucky we are.
The calf update is a bit late in coming. We were so on time sharing the earlier arrivals and then we fell apart. Sorry about that. And the calves really are too cute not to have shared. With the end of the expected spring calving we have six Normandy calves, one Hereford X Normandy cross, and two Hereford calves. Our cross came from Lady Di who you might recall let the neighbor bull get frisky during his visit.
Mamas and babies are doing fine. El Blanco – the mostly white bull calf you can see in the above picture is the current ring-leader. He’s Masie’s calf. While time will tell we think we may grow him out as a replacement bull. We only had one difficult birth, and Jon, Megan and Alejandro had to pull the calf mid-birth.
The first-time mother had to go into labor in fairly abysmal weather. The other calves were all huddled around this poor pair. The delivery was doing fine until the calf got stuck – just too big. But after he was born, mama and baby took to each other and spent the night together in the corral.
With all the Normandy now back in one herd on the front pasture the best entertainment to be had is to stand and watch the calves get into trouble. Their antics are adorable!
One more calf joined the herd here on the farm. Masie (short for Masochist) had her calf late yesterday. There was no getting close enough to take pictures yesterday. Masie wasn’t having any visitors.
This morning she was very, very attentive but let me get close enough to snap a picture of her sleepy calf.
He’s significantly larger than Lady Di’s little calf. But that’s about all I can tell with him laying down. And with Masie keeping a close eye on him I’m not about to rouse him while mama’s paying attention.
Oreo’s calf was stillborn last week. Which leaves us five more Normandy to calve.
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