Piney River Cattle Company

MOB Grazing

 

 

Brief History of our “mob” grazing experience. ok maybe not so brief.

 

     I want to start by saying thank you for the interest in our Ranch and the Holistic approach. It has been a very long road getting here. We were introduced to the idea of “MOB” grazing in 2009. We immediately knew it was something that could heal our land and our bank account. So we started planning a Workshop with Ian Mitchell-Innes. He was going to come to the ranch and help us start out on the right foot, so to speak. He had a health issue that prevented him from coming to the states. So with that set back, we were still on track to set up the grazing. When in May of 2010 the worst flooding in Tennessee history happened. We got over 21 inches of rain in TWO DAYS!! We manage around 4000 acres and it is almost all on the Piney River or smaller streams. To say we had extensive flooding was an understatement. We lost a lot of time cleaning up and we still aren’t done. Miles of fences were down and it has been a long road back. We knew we wanted to continue with the Holistic direction, if we could ever get out from under the mess with the flood.  So we started with our small heard of Registered Murray Grey cows that had been “MOBBED” up before. It seemed to go easier with the assistance of Jerry Peele. He is co-owner, and had been mob grazing at his farm in New York, with great success.

 

We started in a field of about 50 acres, with a small amount of woods. Our goal was just to see if it was feasible and to learn a routine. We ended up getting over 20 extra days grazing. But we were dealing with cows that had lived in New York and had never dealt with the humidity of the south. They were suffering in the heat. We had to allow them to get use to the climate. Several were due to calve within three to four weeks, so we eased up on them and focused on the flood clean up. We were well on our way with the large heard. We had to address the facts of cow behavior. Piney River Cattle Co. has been in operation for a long time. Changing with the times and different types of cows. We have had several different breeds, a large percentage were Brahma influenced. Lots of “leather” we knew we had to cull out the cows that didn’t fit into the direction we were headed.  We wanted to focus on smaller frame, better “grass” genetics. So over a period of time we culled several head out and purchased several at the same time. More “English” type of direction. We also had to cull for behavior. Making the changes was imperative. The cows in the main heard had been on a 3 day rotation all their lives. They adjusted better than any of us planned.

 So we have the heard at the Pinewood farm in “mobs” they seem to be doing well. Getting the correct amount of ground litter and hoof action is hard at first, but after awhile it is a flow. Our neighbors think we are crazy, but they already knew it! So after a few months of adjusting we have figured out some great things but still have a lot to learn.  One of the best changes we made was to the FREE CHOICE Minerals. The benefits to the heard as a whole could be seen in just weeks.  Mark Bader will be at the Workshop to explain why these minerals work better.

 

 

 

We put the Pinewood heard into a Bermuda field that had not been harvested for hay. It averaged 15 to 17 inches deep. There is another field behind the Bermuda that has some briars and no Bermuda. The cows would go to the field with nothing in it and eat ALL the fescue there was not much of anything. This was very interesting, the cows wouldn’t eat the Bermuda. There was around 375 cows and calves total on this lane. You couldn’t even tell they were on it. They just didn’t want it. At night we rolled out one roll of hay just to keep body scores up. They were like a bunch of kids that refused to eat their Green Beans! On the 4^th day it looked like it should have the 1^st day.

top picture:  we started on the 1st day on the top left with lane to pond going into the feild behind where I was standing. we had 375 head cows and calves.

below: is the same shot just other end of the feild.
 

We would have gained over 20 days grazing on this feild. But we had a fire that claimed most of the feild. Gaining 20 days is amazing. This is worth getting excited about. This is saving money, time, and is better for the enviroment. This is why we are having Ian come to teach. So join us if you can. So far it is the only workshop like this, this side of the Mississippi.

  

Now when we turn them into a new pasture, they put their head down and eat. Instead of looking for what they want.