Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Grazing Alkali Sacaton

 Normally sacaton grass is burned off and grazed early in the year as cattle "refuse" to eat it when it gets taller.  Just out of curiosity, I placed roughly half of the 420 cows into a sacaton draw. The results are pretty dramatic and show that cattle really like this grass when it is at a stage where there is green underneath the cured grass. Almost a perfect diet as they are getting roughage and protein in every bite.

As you can see in this picture, this grass appears as if it would be too dry and coarse for cattle to graze...



However as you can see by the following picture, that assumption is wrong

 Normally cattle will not graze alkali sacaton on their own at this stage. Yet these cattle, even though they have access to several kinds of gramma and bushy muley in this pasture, had to be pushed out of this area to utilize the rest of it.

From the standpoint of a recreational ranch trying to develop habitat, this is leaving cover for quail while at the same time, creating visibility for them to see approaching predators.

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5 comments:

  1. UnknownOctober 30, 2012 at 4:10 PM

    Great post. Keep it coming!

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  2. Bob KinfordOctober 30, 2012 at 8:17 PM

    I'll try JD...Starting to get better now that we aren't adding more every couple of days!

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  3. robinrosenblattOctober 31, 2012 at 8:03 AM

    Thanks, I am still raising funds have not yet started the Longhorn project. Maybe you guys can share this info with anyone that can help.


    Needed Socially Responsible Donors or people with Courage needed to help with this.
    America sent it’s best European to Israel and East Africa thinking there was grass in the desert. ---- Israel and East Africa need desert cattle that fits its environment and can defend it's self and it's calves. That breed of cattle is Texas Longhorn.

    Israel’s passive European cattle are being mutilated and killed by local Arabs and the natural predators, Jackals and wolves. Israel needs desert cattle that fits its environment and can defend it's self and it's calves. This self-sustainable project will help Israel and Africa. Help us raise $256,000, to start. A 501c 3 nonprofit # 74-3177354; Israel Longhorn Project; Robin Rosenblatt; 815 Hill St Apt 5; Belmont, Ca 94002; 650.631.9270; http://longhornproject.org/

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  4. UnknownJanuary 15, 2013 at 7:46 PM

    Thanks for sharing your idea. People should consider and implement the experiment to provide adequate food supply to the cattle. Cattle handling plans should be improved for the betterment of cattle’s health.

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  5. UnknownSeptember 3, 2015 at 6:03 AM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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