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The Grazing Grass Podcast features insights and stories of regenerative farming, specifically emphasizing grass-based livestock management. Our mission is to foster a community where grass farmers can share knowledge and experiences with one another. We delve into their transition to these practices, explore the ins and outs of their operations, and then move into the "Over Grazing" segment, which addresses specific challenges and learning opportunities. The episode rounds off with the "Famous Four" questions, designed to extract valuable wisdom and advice. Join us to gain practical tips and inspiration from the pioneers of regenerative grass farming.
This is the podcast for you if you are trying to answer: What are regenerative farm practices? How to be grassfed? How do I graze other species of livestock? What's are ways to improve pasture and lower costs? What to sell direct to the consumer?
Welcome to the Grazing
Grass Podcast, Episode 105.
You're listening to the Grazing Grass
Podcast, sharing information and stories
of grass based livestock production
utilizing regenerative practices.
I'm your host, Cal Hardage.
Cal: You're growing more than grass.
You're growing a healthier
ecosystem to help your cattle
thrive in their environment.
You're growing your livelihood by
increasing your carrying capacity
and reducing your operating costs.
You're growing stronger communities
and a legacy to last generations.
The grazing management
decisions you make today.
impact everything from the soil beneath
your feet to the community all around you.
That's why the Noble Research
Institute created their Essentials
of Regenerative Grazing course to
teach ranchers like you easy to follow
techniques to quickly assess your forage
production and infrastructure capacity.
In order to begin
grazing more efficiently.
Together, they can help you grow
not only a healthier operation,
but a legacy that lasts.
Learn more on their website at noble.
org slash grazing.
It's n o b l e dot org
forward slash grazing.
On today's episode, we are talking about
the Lasater philosophy of cattle raising.
This episode wasn't on my schedule,
but I decided to record it because
of the Herd Quitter podcast.
I was catching up on the Herd Quitter
podcast yesterday, and I got to
episode 163 with Allen Williams.
If you haven't listened
to it, go listen to it.
Even go now, you'll get
more value out of it.
It's a tremendous episode.
On it, Allen was discussing
his cattle raising philosophy.
epigenetics and selection and how
it's changed over the decades, which
caused me to think of the Lasater
philosophy of cattle raising.
Growing up, it was one of the
few books on my dad's bookshelf.
My mom has always been an avid reader.
But my dad not so much.
Sure, he reads a lot.
He utilizes websites.
He's reading a newspaper or magazines all
the time, but he's just not a book reader.
You know what I mean.
However, this book was on his bookshelf,
and he would refer to it when we were
talking about decisions about cattle.
I can remember the
conversations at an early age.
Because of this, I read
the book early in my life.
And I currently have
it on my own bookshelf.
It has guided me in my livestock raising.
The Lasseter Philosophy of
Cattle Raising is by Laurence M.
Lasseter and was published in
1972, same year I was born.
Laurence's dad, is Tom Lasater
developed the Beefmaster breed using
the principles outlined in that book.
And it's a nice read.
You can finish it in one evening.
A nice short, easy read, but
tremendous information in it.
So we're going to talk a little
bit about his philosophy.
And it really centers around the five
commandments of livestock breeding.
You know, when we say commandments,
maybe that may be too harsh a word.
You may prefer pillars.
So I like to think about it as the
five pillars of livestock breeding.
The first pillar is to only select for
the six essentials, which are disposition,
fertility, weight, confirmation,
milk production, and hardiness.
For me, disposition I
find so very important.
And I know different people have
different tolerances on disposition.
But I want to be able to move my
cows, work with them, and I say cows,
any type of animal, work with them.
etc.
without problems.
I've always leaned towards calmer
cattle, and it used to drive my
dad crazy when I was a teenager
and would make pets out of cows.
Granted, he is right.
They can become too
much of a pet at times.
I don't know why I've
always leaned that way.
But I do have three experiences
that really made it a priority.
In my breeding program, growing up we
lived on the dairy and we AI'd everything
or artificially inseminated our cows.
However, we would keep a bull for cleanup.
And if you've been around dairy
bulls, you know they can get mean.
On two separate occasions with
two different bulls, both my
parents were hurt by a bull.
Dad was pushed against the fence
by a bull and then when the bull
stepped back dad fell to the ground
and was able to roll under the fence.
For mom, a bull pushed her over the fence.
Obviously both their egos were
hurt, and they were bruised,
but otherwise they were okay.
But those are, are defining
moments for me as I think about it.
The third experience even more so.
At the time we were feeding our
calves, after we weaned them until
they got up to around 800 pounds.
And they would get pretty
nervous at that size.
By the time we sold them.
I was at work one day and Dad
was loading the calves out.
They ran into the trailer, hit the
front of it, and immediately turned
around and shot out of that trailer.
Dad was working the gate and
couldn't get it closed in time.
They hit the gate, knocked Dad off
his feet and back, and ran out.
I, I'm still amazed.
That dad didn't get stepped on.
He was basically unhurt.
But, from that day, that
was a very defining moment.
And we've made a very conscious
effort to choose calmer bulls.
This has really helped our herd
become easier to handle and calmer.
Thus, we select for disposition.
Secondly, we handle our cows
with low stress handling methods.
And I think that makes
a world of difference.
I'm not great at it, but I
think I could do a good job.
And on low stress handling methods,
Temple Grandin has a wonderful book
that covers a lot of things on that,
and I would suggest you pick that up.
One other practice that we have started,
that anytime my cows are near the barn,
I run them through our working pens.
Um, we have pens set up, we
have a tub, an alley, a squeeze
chute, we have scales there.
If they're close to the barn, I
bring them in and then I push them
through the alley and out the chute.
I've done it enough that basically I
push them in there and I open all the
gates and they know to walk through.
I do it very calmly and they, when
it's time to work cattle, I'm able to
bring them in and they will almost feed
themselves through the chute and alley.
It's amazing.
It does make a world of
difference for those animals.
And I also believe that first
experience in a squeeze chute
should not be traumatic.
Let's get those calves following cows
through the alley, through the chute.
before we work those animals.
It takes a little bit of time, but
by doing that, it'll make all the
difference on the day you work cattle.
Moving on from the first essential of
disposition, the second one is fertility,
and I think fertility is a huge one, but
it also falls into his second pillar.
So we're going to save
that for our next episode.
The third essential is weight.
For Lasater he selected males based upon
weaning weight and post weaning gain.
For females, he only based it on
weaning weights of their calf.
For us, I use a spreadsheet and
weigh cows and calves on weaning day.
Lasseter did something
interesting with that.
He weighs The calves on two
separate days and averages the two
weights to get a calf's weight.
It was the way he did it.
That sounds a lot more
work, and I'm a lazy farmer.
Er, efficient farmer.
And you know, efficient
is just lazy with good PR.
Back to the cows.
I look at the percentage of a cow's
weight that is her calf, and we use
that, and I'm sure lots of people's
herds are already here, but we're working
for the cows to wean over 50 percent of
their weight at weaning, and we usually
wean at 8 1/2 to 9 months of age.
We're not to the point of not weaning
calves that a lot of people talk about.
I like the idea, but
I haven't done it yet.
I have, I have considered it for
the past couple of years and for a
couple of reasons that didn't happen.
This may be the year I try it on a set.
The fourth essential is confirmation.
At first glance, I'm not overly
concerned with confirmation.
Sure, there are things that I would cull
for, and I would not want, but in the
end, I want cattle that will work, and
with that, whatever body type that is.
For Lasater he says, The ideal
confirmation is exemptified by that
animal whose carcass will yield
the most pounds of tender, lean
beef per pound of live weight.
and does not believe that you can do that
by only visual appraisement of the animal.
However, he does say you can appraise
structural soundness visibly.
That word's kind of hard for me to say.
And he says something
that I find so important.
Bulls should look like bulls
and cows should look like cows.
The fifth essential is hardiness.
A hardy animal.
is an animal that survives
with a minimum of inputs.
I like to think that not using
outside inputs to prop up animals
performance is a great start.
In fact, listening to Allen Williams
on the HerdQuitter podcast makes me
wonder about even the use of minerals.
He said we should be stopping
the use of any supplement.
If you listen to that episode and come
away with a different understanding Let
me know in the grazing grass community.
And just go on that rabbit
trail for just a moment.
I am really enjoying the grazing
grass community and discussion there.
People are asking questions and
getting a variety of answers.
I appreciate people respecting.
the opinions of others and having
civil conversations, civil discussions.
We don't have to agree.
We can, we can talk about it.
Thank you.
And if you aren't a member,
I have to do this plug.
If you aren't a member, go on
Facebook, search for the Grazing
Grass Community and join us.
The last of the six
essentials is milk production.
And what Lasater says on milk
production is pretty short.
Evaluating a calf's weaning weight
is a great indicator of a cow's
milk production, and the cheapest
gains are from birth until weaning.
When, when I think about that, I
think it all comes out in a wash.
If I'm selecting for cows that wean a
high percentage of their, their body
weight as a calf, I And they breed back,
so that fertility piece and that weaning
weight piece, that milk production
is going to take care of itself.
Because if that cow gives too
much milk, she is going to
have trouble breeding back.
On the other hand, if she doesn't give
enough milk, she is not going to wean a
calf that's 50 percent of her body weight.
Pretty simple, and actually That
goes with one of Lasater pillars
we will cover in the next episode.
I think we'll probably cover, um, pillars
two through five next week's episode.
However, before we, we finish for today,
Lasater talks about three steps to
starting a good breeding program, and
I thought they were really insightful.
Step one, choose a breed that
can do what you want it to do.
For example, if you're going to
market grass fed beef, choose
a breed that can do that.
Choose a breed that excels there.
Don't try and reinvent the wheel.
Step two, buy the best
genetics you can afford.
If you're like me, you're on a shoestring.
To me, this is where registered animals
really come in because you know the
percentage and the production of them.
But for me, I'm buying commercial.
I know it's a gamble of varying degrees
how much we know about that animal.
But whatever you do when you're buying
animals, buy animals that are produced in
your environment or near your environment
with the management style you want.
That will save you countless years.
I say that, and on the registered
end, I haven't purchased too many.
because of the shoestring
budget as we talked about.
But in the future, I plan to purchase
some, but I also know that registered
animal does not mean it's a good animal.
Sure, I think it increases the
chances of it being a good animal,
but I think it more says there's
potential for it to be a good animal.
And the last step he mentions I think is
the most interesting of all the steps.
He says, once you get to where you
want to get with the genetics, once
you have the best genetics available
in your herd, close your herd and start
raising your own bulls and heifers.
I think that production method is the
one that you can really see great gains
in your cow herd in producing, A cookie
cutter calf, cookie cutter replacements.
Is when you close that herd and start
line breeding to a certain extent.
You know, line breeding is,
is inbreeding when it works.
That's a little bit of a joke
and that minimizes the difference
between line breeding and inbreeding.
But there is a little bit
of truth in that as well.
Granted, doing a closed herd is
much tougher for a small herd
and a lot of people would argue.
It's not feasible.
Don't try it with a small herd.
However, this is subject to change, but
currently I believe you can start it
when you have the right genetics and
enough land available to raise bulls.
On the other hand, we'll see how it goes.
We did raise our, kept our own
bull calves a couple years ago.
And we used them for one season,
um, with some other bulls.
So I really didn't get to see the effect.
I would like to go more in that
direction because I think that has the
most potential for, like I mentioned
earlier, to create those cookie cutter
animals that excel in my environment.
You know, when I think about buying bulls
and bringing them in, if you've got good
cows and they're doing what you want,
I think double down on their genetics.
Keep a bull from your best cow.
Granted, you need to have good
genetics in place, good cattle.
But when you go look at bulls, and
they're similar to the bulls you're
raising, um, I think keep your own.
We did that one year.
Didn't really lean into it too much.
It is somewhere I would
like to go eventually.
I still have some work getting
the genetics I want in the herd.
In dad's herd is really where I'm talking.
So my herd is very young in my
management and I've purchased cows.
So my herd is not quite ready to do that,
but I do have some excellent cows that I
think, uh, if I had a bull raised out of
one of those cows, I would consider it.
However, I did have one last
year and he was too nervous.
So he got, um, turned into a steer.
Because like I talked about,
disposition is so very important.
In closing, go listen to episode 163
of the HerdQuitter podcast, and I
suggest you read the Lasater Philosophy
of Cattle Raising, and apply it to
your livestock breeding program,
whether that's cattle, sheep, goats,
water buffalo, whatever it may be.
If you're interested in purchasing
the Lasater Philosophy of Cattle
Raising, It gets kind of tricky.
You cannot go to Amazon and buy it.
Let me clarify.
You can go to Amazon and there's
some very expensive used books there.
Don't go there.
If you want to buy it,
go to isabeefmasters.
com.
And you can buy an e book there.
Or you can buy a paperback.
I do suggest if you're breeding
livestock and doing a breeding program
that you purchase it and read it.
It's a really quick read
but it's well worth it.
I hope today's episode
has been valuable to you.
If you've got any questions, you have
some discussions, some things you
disagree with me, visit the Grazing
Grass community and let's talk about it.
Cal: Thank you for listening, and if you
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