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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 119.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Start with simple moving.
Keep the cows at least moving
as often as you really can
Cal: 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.
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 show we have Mike
Bassett of Bassett Farms.
He is a cattle and crop
farmer from central Iowa.
He is working on transitioning from
traditional grazing to regenerative
grazing, and as you work through
that transition if you're in a family
enterprise you know, that the rest
of the family is not always on board.
Wonderful journey, wonderful
sharing of information today.
You'll enjoy what Mike has to say.
Ten seconds about my farm.
Well, I don't really have too much.
My wife is teaching summer school.
And she is making cookies for
activity tomorrow at school.
So I have to say this has
been a pretty good day.
And I will not tell anybody how many
cookies I may or may not have eaten.
Ten seconds about the podcast.
We want to thank those latest
Grazing Grass Insiders.
Grazing Grass Insiders We
appreciate your support.
Also, if you haven't left us a review,
I know I transitioned really quickly
into that, if you haven't left us a
review, we appreciate it, and as one of
my favorite podcast says, we love five
star reviews and positive comments.
Let's read one of our latest reviews.
Oh yes, low input profitable
grass farming ideas.
This podcast is a great
addition to your weekly listens.
If you're raising animals,
with grass as your centerpiece.
The host does a great job of
asking questions and focuses on
profitable grass based production
for many classes of livestock.
Perkinstown Bowhunter.
We appreciate the review.
So a little bit about my farm,
actually more about cookies, a
little bit about the podcast.
It's time to talk to Mike.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Mike, we want to
welcome you to the Grazing Grass Podcast.
We're excited you're here today.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
No, it's an honor to be here, Cal.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Thank you.
To get started, tell us a little bit
about yourself and your operation.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244: I'm
a third generation cattle crops farmer
here in central Iowa and ran about 1, 500
acres, corn, soybeans, and we try to stay
close to 300 head of cow calf operation.
Split between two farms, but we're
about 280 head now, plus a, we were a
300 head capacity feedlot operation.
So most everything that we
have done is conventional.
We dabble in a few no till,
just done some cover crops.
With cattle, that's really
goes hand in hand at least.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh, yeah.
It's always been conventional.
When did you start getting, learning
about regenerative thinking, hey, I
need to do some things differently?
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
It was more or less when I was I took
over, I came back from the military
and I took over working the cattle
side and I'd actually always hated
working the cattle so Normal story hate
working him, but it was more of it's
not that I hated working the cattle.
It's more or less I didn't Figure out
how I worked the cattle so I had to
learn a little more Better stockmanship,
getting calmed down and this farm has been
around since the 80s and my grandfather,
he started the rotational, standardized
rotational grazing on one paddock.
that we had.
So he had started rotational grazing on
a oh, about a 100 acre area of pasture
land, split into Various paddocks,
some of it was hay grounds, some of
it was grazing ground, and we had also
had another pasture with, we really
had three pastures in the main farm,
and shortly after I came back from the
military, we lost one of those pastures,
so we had to overload one pasture,
which ended up being that rotational.
I would say, Five years ago, I
created a I made a rant on Reddit.
I do follow Reddit quite a bit, so
I basically said every year I get
more and more frustrated putting
110 head of cow calf pairs on
my 100 acre rotational pasture.
Beginning of the season, we
take first cutting of 60 acres.
Which sets me back, but we need
the hay, with only one other
dedicated 40 acre hay field.
I had really been complaining about
overgrazing my pasture for however many
years with about 100 head on 100 acres.
Which, in normal years, would work great.
And one day my grandfather came up to
me and goes why don't you split one of
those 10 acre paddocks into, in half?
And I thought I've heard of this before.
It was, at the time, been,
yeah, about five years ago.
Management intensive rotational grazing.
And I thought I'm going to go ahead
Take the time, learn it right, do it the
right way, and figure out how I'm going
to make a daily move rotation system.
Which, he did not like that
idea at all, because, why you
gotta move them every day?
That's gonna take too much
time setting up all that fence.
And to set something
up like that, it does.
And the first thing I had to figure
out was to measure my forage.
And I didn't know anything
about measuring forage.
My grandfather made me,
clip it to the ground.
People wanted to utilize 100%.
And so I got to reading it and
figuring out I need to know
how much they need to take out.
And this wasn't even to leave any behind.
This was go, how many days do I, how
much area do I need for One day's growth,
basically.
And this is what a lot of the schools
teach you, and I was doing this by
flipping through this article, or this
university research paper, and figuring
out piece by piece, and it took me a
solid month of just over Every time I get
off of work, I'd be flipping through my
phone, reading, and driving my wife nuts.
by how much I was technically still
working, but not getting paid for it.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh, yeah.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
And I actually got into it and
developed a daily move system and
a forage measurement calculation.
I built a spreadsheet to calculate
for me by taking 50 different
measurements and gives me how
many days of forage are per acre.
So that's been a handy tool anyway.
Which I actually made another
reddit post about with examples
and math and if we really wanted
to get into that one we could.
Cause it's, cause that's the thing
I've always noticed is these articles
that always told you that There's
benefits of regenerative grazing.
You should do regenerative grazing.
Here's why.
Plenty of benefits, but no
article has ever told you how.
And you have to find it out on your
own and At that time I didn't never
even heard of Ranching for Profit
nor Noble Research Institute.
None of these I'd ever heard of before.
'cause we've been in conventional farming
and even Drovers and other magazines
that you would, us commercial guys would
get, don't have those except for just a
blip going, Hey, this is something new.
It's cool.
You
should try it.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: yeah.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
But it took me going through, I think,
University of Michigan, Nebraska, I
think one from Pennsylvania, to dial
in how to do a daily move system.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Mike,
let's jump a little bit
deeper into those daily moves.
Because I know Facebook groups,
other places, you hear that question.
much grass do I give my cows?
Or my animals?
How do I calculate it?
You mentioned a spreadsheet there
where you take 50 measurements.
Let's talk a little
bit about your process.
calculate how much forage is out
there and how you get to the paddock
size you want for your cattle or
how many days you get out, sorry,
to calculate paddock size or how many days
you're going to get out of that pasture.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Yeah, so it really depends on the
type of year, like this year I
haven't even measured anything and
have taken a step back and have
open grazed because it's gone wild.
But, Really, if you got a good, let's
say you're on a second graze and you
want to know if that paddock is high
enough to move them, or how much you're
going to need, you think it's ready,
you're going to see what your average
height is, so I walk around with a
little basic yardstick and step out and
take measurements Just all up and down
your paddock, I say a minimum of 50.
The more measurements, the more
accurate you're going to be.
And I take the top of the leaf
height of just whatever is around.
You can pick clover, you can pick,
there are going to be different
variations, so I try and pick, I
go, oh, that's a good spot for a
height that I, you would average say.
C.
So if you see a bear patch that's
five feet go, okay, I'll measure the
smallest part of that and then I'll
move on to the next part, measure
something that's a little higher.
And you get a good kind of an
estimate of it because you take
the all those measurements and you
get an average height out of it.
So an example would be if I had 10.
4 inches, there's a table I used
from Iowa State that would tell you
what, how many pounds per inch per
acre a certain pasture would be.
And an example on mine.
would be 200 pounds per inch per
acre was according to this Iowa
State chart and I'll have everything
posted when this broadcast airs.
I'll post it in the
grazing grass community.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh, wonderful.
I think that'd
Also, as you mentioned that, Iowa did
you say Iowa State is where that's from?
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
yes, it's a,
Yeah.
it's a table from Iowa State University.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: of the land grant
universities those available for your
state, if you're in the United States.
Or, I'm assuming that because
OSU has one for Oklahoma that I
referred to different numbers.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Yeah, but yeah, as long as you can figure
out what your pounds per inch per acre
is You can so let's say if my grass was
10 inches tall You can multiply that
by 200 and you'll get 2, 000 pounds
per acre of dry matter Now these are
real estimates that I mean Really
guesstimating here, and I really like
the low ball of this my, my pasture might
be already 250 pounds per inch per acre.
When I actually first started
grazing the, this, I started at
150 pounds per inch per acre.
And I guess in, in the example math
here, I get back to reading here.
So yeah, what the 2, 000 pounds of matter
Yeah, I had to flip through this because
a lot of it's not in my head anymore.
It's what I let the
spreadsheet do its job.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: And, but it's
a great process to go through, and,
because I think after you've done it
a while, if you have some automated
method, like your spreadsheet or
something, or you've done it long
enough, then you're just eyeballing it.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Oh yeah, I can go eyeballing it now, But
still even if I'm going into
the second rotation, I go
I eyeball and think, hey, that looks
ready and I go out and measure it.
If it's only 10 inches average,
there's really no point.
Yeah, I could dial it in
if I absolutely needed.
that forage, but to know how many
days is out there is actually a
really good thing because and I'll
get into this a little bit further
after a bit,
But if you take it
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: needs
to happen every once in a while.
Yeah,
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
I'll talk about even calibrating
that The calculations because I've
done that before, but when you take the
total dry matter of the paddock, like,
okay, so my example is 1, 563 times 5
acres, which I was using the 150 pounds
per inch per acre in this calculation now.
goes 7, 815 pounds of dry
matter over five acres.
So to figure out the decimated number of
days you need to how much know how much
a lactating cow or dry cow or yearling
is going to need for that one day.
So I've guesstimated my 80 cow calf
pairs would be eating 40 pounds a day.
I like to overestimate that one.
Underestimate your forage, overestimate
how much they're going to need
to eat, so you leave And so that
equaled to be 3, 254 pounds a day.
I took the total dry matter of the
paddock, divided the dry matter
requirements, and it would equal 2.
4 days on the 5 acres.
So doing that, I whip out my
handy dandy mapping tool, and
map out on my paddocks, 2.
4 or if it's 2.
4 days on five acres,
I can split it in half.
So two and a half days here, two
and a half days there, but when
you start to get into So many days
in bigger paddocks you can go.
All right.
I need three acres for this
day Three acres for that day.
And so you can map out on your mapping
program three acres And I do have a
mapping program I really enjoy that
I paid 16 bucks for the pro version
of that just does a simple area,
line, and the reason I, and it's
absolutely free to use for unlimited
mapping, but you only get one color.
So I like to color code everything.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh, yeah.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244: So
that's why I paid the 16 bucks for it.
And it is really paid off.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243:
And what is that app?
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
I believe it is field area
measure pro is the name of it.
And it's really nice, simple mapping app.
I have hundreds of things mapped all over.
different areas.
I've even mapped my neighbor's pasture.
It is a simple if I had that, what
would I do for rotation on his
pasture?
I've tried to map out a rotation up
on my north pasture, but that's a
quagmire of a creek, a very major
creek that likes to flood and a
three gravel pit system that trying
to fence everything and figure out
rotations and good paddock sizes.
which is when I'm waiting for virtual
callers to become more reliable
and affordable.
But yeah, when I do the mapping,
that really helps figure out which
paddock sizes you can get, and along
with the the calculations that I did.
I decided to really actually try and check
myself and the best way to check yourself
and measure it is try it on a hayfield.
See how many round bales you'll get.
I estimated our
round bales to be about 1, 200
pounds completely dry, so I bumped
it up and said, yeah, let's say
our bales are 1, 300 pounds.
If they're just slightly damp from,
how you're trying to rush hay,
you're not going to have it as dry as
Out of an entire 40 acre hay field,
we, I was off by three hay bales.
Just by measuring before cutting and
baling, I was off that far, and
three hay bales in the grand
scheme of things is not too bad.
Yeah, it's 1, 300 pounds per bale, but.
If you think about it,
I was three bales short.
So that's three bales left on the pasture
now, basically, in my mind for when
you're doing it as a measuring system.
So to me that, that told me
what I was doing was correct.
Yes,
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: that
benefit of under utilizing your
grass versus over utilizing it.
I'd rather leave a little bit extra
out there than to take too much.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
and yeah, that used to be a big argument
with my grandfather too, was that, oh,
you're leaving too much grass out there
and through a drought year one year I
actually had a hay field that was at
my disposal because the next year we're
going to turn it into crop ground.
And so I was successful
in turn, that 36 acres.
I was able to make it last like 48
days on my normal second rotation.
And so I couldn't believe that
and I was doing so well for, this
was year two that I had actually
started a daily rotation system.
And my grandfather's response out of
that was let's rip some more acres.
He took that and another 40 acres.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: You talked about
your hay meadow, and you were able on
the second cutting to get 46 days out
of that, and your grandpa decided to
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Yeah, he wanted to rip some more acres,
which put me into more of a bind because
we Little known to us we were going to be
getting into more of a drought situation
and luckily for us we had some CRP ground
just coming out and the duratio happened
in 2020 which completely ripped out a
whole bunch of trees along this old fence
line we had from what was a CRP that I
had as a pasture but the duratio actually
did us a favor Because when my grandfather
went through, ripped all those trees out,
he also ripped the fence line with it.
I figured we'd have a bigger
open pasture at that point.
And the next year, the the 2021, I
had, I put some cross fences in over
there and turned it into a really
nice daily rotational move system.
Hoping to regenerate that because in the
bottom area where it had been rotational
open grazed, normally on a regular
rotation I'd put them out for two weeks.
But With 90 pairs, I'm able to go an
acre a day in good vegetative growth,
or even in full mature growth, still
an acre a day, but going in a third
trampled, a third grazed, and a third
standing.
And just figuring those things out.
Small things out and then I try to
a rule of disruption for I remember
listening to I think that's the
understanding hag one of the principles
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh, yeah.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Yeah, it was the principle is disruption
and Tried that this year by going I'm
on my fourth year of doing this now.
What if I ripped the cross fences out
and run it a completely different way?
So that way it gives these,
because everything I drew, I used
for water is out of the creek.
We're able to use the
creek where I'm from.
So I just let them have the creek,
but just limit their access to
more than less than five days.
So they have the whole bank, but
because I don't have, don't want to
put in all the creek bed areas, try
and keep them out as much as possible.
But if I minimize the
amount, they're there.
So what I was trying to
do was split them off.
This year we got Probably six
inches of rain so far this month
and haven't been able to fully
utilize building that type of system.
So it, hopefully by maybe tomorrow
or the next day, I'll have them all
under control and back into a one acre
section and grazing the mature grass.
It, I know, year two, it, I
noticed a difference, and after
he had ripped, I got less acres.
I was running, last year I ran, what
was it, 90 pair on 80 acres of grazional
ground.
And I, I didn't have to
supplement feed, but I did.
I had a bunch of old corn
silage I wanted to get rid of.
As they were grazing a 20 acre
section, I just fed them every
single day a ration of silage along
with their day of grazing, and that
actually extended me by two weeks,
because I had a section that was a
one acre narrow strip that couldn't
have been 20 feet wide, that went
like 400 feet long, and I had to
rain the night before, And I'll
post pictures of this later when I
post it, but it was a just a nice muddy
strip and even it's still on my Google
Images, I can still see this muddy strip
from this year on my mapping program.
And I have a Reddit post
that shows the comparison.
I had 58 days of rest on that one section
and you couldn't even tell where that
strip was.
I mean it was just nothing
but hooked down, trampled
down, and it was mature grass.
So it made a nice muddy mat
and then everything came back
within that 58 days of rest.
But it didn't I I've slightly
been impressed with, even in
drought years, how I've been able
to maintain 90 pairs on 80 acres
just by moving once a
day and sticking to it.
And that that's what the biggest
thing is, that somebody's just
gotta remember to stick to it
and you will see results anyway.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: One thing
that I have happened out here, just
right outside my house, didn't plan on
it, but it's been really nice to see.
I kinda did drift lamb,
lambing with my sheep.
And I say kinda I moved the ewes
that had lambed, I left them be.
And I moved the u's that hadn't lambed
yet forward, and then I just combined
them with the u's behind as they lambed.
And so one area I was, for
what, Oh, I remember why.
I had some other ewes that I just weaned
some lambs off of and I'd use electric
netting there, but on the others I had
used just poly wire and I was afraid those
ewes would jump it if I put the dry ewes
in there that I didn't want in there.
So one area got grazed way too
short, but I thought I'm here just
for a little bit I'm off of it.
The next day, or actually it was
a few days, they were on that
area and they grazed it too short.
Didn't they?
The next few rotations, I did
not take it near as far down.
It was just one day, I moved on.
And I can walk out there today, and
it's amazing the difference in growth.
Leaving some of that grass there
versus taking it so far down.
Which, we hear that and we know that.
Take a third, trample
a third leave a third.
Or take half, leave half.
Something of that.
Leave some cover there.
sometimes we don't get that nice visual
reminder of it, and I can walk out there
and I'm like oh yeah, look how much forage
is getting produced here, and this one
I've set it back quite a while longer,
I've got a lot more rest period on it.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Yeah, that's, and that's what I've been
trying to do, is get more rest period
and The more severely grazed areas that
had been grazed that way for 10, were
more than, more or less white clover
and bluegrass are about the only thing
that grow, and a few weeds like horse
nettle and stuff start to filter in,
which I have gotten my cows to eat horse
nettle, I have picture proof of that too,
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: yes.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244: And
that's the other thing with keeping them
in a tight one acre paddock is they'll
eat about everything they can find and
I laughed and the reason why I know why
the forage comes back so much and my
grandfather criticized me I think one time
because of how much it was just trampled
over of the mature grass because I Every
year I get too far behind And everything
goes to seed everything has gone to head.
So I got used to grazing that way.
Now, what I think my saving grace is,
they give them that third, and if they
get that great cover of mat over the
ground, and then every morning dew,
that, that ground is getting a moisture.
And then the sun comes out, dries
out the dew, where it's not getting
on your pants in the standing grass.
But if you were to go out to where
they just have been and pull that
grass back that ground is still wet
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh,
yeah, that ground is much cooler.
Yes.
Yeah, and to concur with that.
I go from I felt like this
spring I'm counting days.
I'm thinking how much how
many more days do I have?
Do I have to destock some because we
went through a little bit of a dry period
not bad But we got rain then it dried up
for just a little while and i'm starting
to get worried And i'm like grass not
growing fast enough I'm, like, so I'm
going here, how many days do I have?
Then the rains hit, and it went
from and it seems like overnight.
It went from I had everything in a
vegetative state, and to everything,
all the fescue heading out.
Seems to me it happened overnight.
And it's just part of the
battle with fescue, I think.
But I see that every year, and it
happens every year, and I'm like, I'm
gonna do better this year, and all
of a sudden, I've got too mature of
grass everywhere, but it still works.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
yep, as long as you don't let it go
mature too much because I Because I
remember Years back when I was looking
at my pasture at the spring green up
I would compare it to the ditches.
Our road ditches are
full of smooth brome grass and that
stuff would always come up great.
So I go, okay, why is my
pasture not moving that fast?
Of course it's grazed on.
I didn't know that it was being grazed
too much, taking it down too far.
And this year I realized, hey, my
pasture is growing just as fast as my
brome grass is in the pasture or in the
ditches.
So that was my success story, theirs
that, I've already achieved that
within three years on one spot anyway.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh, very good.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
And that was an area that hadn't
had any animal impact on it for, I'm
guessing, had to have been over 50 years.
Because it was previously CRP, and then
it was a, Part of it was a crop field,
which you can tell the part that's the
crop field is still the hardest to Get
to full Density, the grass is a bit it
may be tall, but it's a little sparser
than just down a little ways from it
and It's amazing when you go out in
the pasture and see everything that's
coming back and especially the old places
that I would really Overutilized It's
like a a straight and narrow area on a
bottom creek that is probably from the
fence to the bank is less than 50 feet.
And so either side of that, and I
used to give them maybe two days
on it until it rained one time and
they had mucked it all to complete
hell.
And so I, I had told myself, okay,
no matter what, they're either going
through there and act out, or if
it gets too much, they get one day
on a dry day, they can have it.
And so far I've been
finding trees come back.
Little
oak trees, cottonwood trees, I
think I even have a black locust
thorny tree that I'm gonna fight
to make sure nobody sprays.
Cause, yeah, I know everybody
does not like the thorny locusts,
but, they're a hardy survivor.
I've actually heard
good things about them,
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: What with the,
yeah, and the, what, what does I can't
think, the author doppled or dabpled.
Dappled shade, so the
grass can come up through it.
It's not a nice.
It's not a thick shade or heavy foliage
to keep the Sun out the Sun still gets
there, but still provide some shade Yeah,
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
And nothing messes with it.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: yeah, I rent
some land that was Dug or mine for
coal and they went in and because
they'd removed trees They had to remove
They have to put back so many trees.
I think it's, I could be totally wrong.
I think it's a tree for each
tree they remove or something.
Anyway, I'm maybe wrong on that, but
they put back a lot of honey locusts.
I remember I'd showed my dad it and he's
Oh, you got these awful honey locusts.
They'll be okay.
And cause he has a different
opinion than I do about them.
But someone else had use of it till it
was fully released and they went in.
and sprayed all the honey
locusts and killed them.
So for one, the government
spent all this money.
I guess the government
didn't spend the money.
Let me rephrase.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244: The
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: The co company
spent all this money to plant those trees
in because the government required them
to and then just a few years later the
person that was leasing the land from
the co company, they weren't really,
they were They had some kind of agreement
there so they could graze and keep
Johnson grass in check, but they went
in and I'm assuming that's who did it.
I could be totally wrong, but anyway,
someone went in and killed all those
locust trees they had just planted.
I'm like, why plant them?
You gotta plant them because
that's the government requirement
for them to do, but I'm like,
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Long term cover crop.
That's kinda what we do with our
rye, and we're doing our crop fields.
Just planting it and then killing it,
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
hey, built a root system there you go.
That might help with some of that.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Yeah.
You'd mentioned cover crops.
Are you grazing cover crops as well?
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Yeah I, as I said, two years
ago we tried a rye for the first
time and baled 218 bales of it.
Out of a 70 acre field
and I got done using those
218 bales this year so
we had already so we put soybeans
out and then we rotated back to corn
on it and This year we put rye back
out on it, which I have not baled yet
or mowed or done anything with and I
had two other fields that I put into
rye that I completely total grazed.
Totally grazed one of them perfectly
fine, was able to get a kill down on it.
Grazed the other one as best as I
could until we had a major storm
system coming that I decided my
main pasture is already mature.
I might as well get them out on the
mature pasture in case I get a flood
because I'd rather have them out on
that side of the pasture if there,
it turns out to be a week long event
of rain which it ended up being.
So yeah it can get sprayed and it's got
enough cover for a decent amount and then
I've got a 19 acre amount of rye that I
have no idea what I'm going to do with.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Besides maybe roll it over and do a fall
perennial pasture mix into it, because I
plan on turning it into a pasture anyway.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
So it gives me 19 more
acres to play with, which I
had planned on putting
summer annuals through
in width, but that's, now that the
rye's gone crazy, I different plans
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Why do
you use rye as the cover crop?
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Mainly is because I don't know
any better right now, and I Just I
guess that's what everybody said.
You got to use rye on as
most common I guess and
now I've been the Diving deeper into
it a little bit and thinking okay,
maybe I can add this as a cover crop
Maybe I should add this as Wherever
I'm going to put cows, I'll put
more of a forage mix cover crop in,
and instead of just a rye, because I'm
finding out rye is really difficult
to control by just cattle anyway.
Unless you have less acres, I mean I might
turn it, if I do a more rye system, I
might do a stalker operation or something
like that and put, or put some of my
lower performing yearlings out on rye
forage mix, but I didn't have enough
head to keep it under control this year.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243:
Which is a good problem.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244: Oh,
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: If you have
too many and you don't have enough
grass, that's a worse problem.
As far as I'm concerned, I'd rather have
too much grass than too many animals.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Yeah, and until I think I had it
was one year I had a rotation to
where where the brome went bad.
And
because it, I think it
was a little bit drier.
So when it went to maturity,
it went to maturity way fast.
And it had its seed formed and
you can just see how thick it was.
thin each one of them leaves looked
and they were turning a I guess a
blue green color I get that were so
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: yeah.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
it does matter when you're doing I guess
mature grass that You get it knocked down,
ate down, before it gets way too late
and thin and dry, because it takes even
longer to get that to come back again,
I think, in my opinion.
Even in a 60 day rotation, I've had
this one that used to be hay, used to
be crop, it gets mixed into different
things, but now is a permanent pasture
for me, and That one, I'm finally
getting it to where we'll go over a 15
inch average height on a good spring.
Right now I can probably have it
20 inch in certain areas of, on
a good vegetative state anyway.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh, very good.
Let's talk just a little
bit about your cattle.
I'm all about what breed are you running
share just a little bit about your
cattle and what you're doing with them.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
yep, just a typical commercial
Angus cows on Charolais bulls.
And, yeah.
my family's always been a fan
of the Charolais, and we've
always had a market for them.
For, the packers until I guess I lost
one packer and we disagreed with a
second packer and I decided to go
a different route and so charlays
are now just sold on auction so
it's they're in around my area
they're a little difficult to sell
because one of the packing plants
only accepts angus cows or black eyed
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh, yes.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
So I had to actually add Anguses onto
my herd just so I can, I like to sell
on the grid for packer and you're trying
to be the big guy into the As a small
guy in a feedlot industry there which
is a difficult game to be playing.
I know a
lot of guys that do this rotational
grazing or regenerative grazing.
They don't finish out like we do
because they mostly sell feeders.
And I think I was the one that first
sell feeders in the family line.
And I just had to because I wasn't
going to sell everything on auction.
I had to have.
Second option.
I just didn't
have room
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: yeah.
You'd mentioned 300 head feedlot.
You taking those animals through a
feedlot and directly to a packer?
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Yeah, I we have the My grandfather
actually had built one of the first
I think in the county or one of the
first in the state I can't remember
how many head, it was like 150
head confinement building feedlot,
or yeah manure pit confinement building,
the slat I think they're 38 or 36 foot
by 36 foot or something like that.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: So
it's got a slatted floor and
it's got the pit underneath
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
yep, the slab floor pin underneath
which has finally gotten too old
to be handling cattle anymore.
So everybody's out in my three lot.
feedlot system I've got there
and so I split it in half.
I try and keep about 100 to 150
to sell live auction at the packer
close by that takes the Anguses and
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
to get into some genetics program,
not genetics, but my own breeding.
I bought two of my own charlay
cows and tried to put maybe a
charlay bull on Failed this year.
'cause I tried to keep
'em as separate herds.
And yesterday they all merged.
'cause my big herd decided,
oh, we don't want to be here.
So they went all the way up and met the
other group and decided to go through.
And I've been so far behind.
I haven't even gotten my bulls out except
for one bull who I turned out early
'cause he was gonna be the last one in
the lot after I had just bought him.
Cuz, I had the rest of it, I put him
in with the bread cows, and I was like
I'm gonna have to kick them all out.
He's gonna be five days ahead of
the other guys, what's the big deal?
Fifteen days later, my bulls are still
sitting out here in this rye field
that I haven't even kicked out yet.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243:
Things like that happen.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
He's doing, he was doing all the work
for 70 cows and he just had 16 more added
to him.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243:
Yeah, he's been busy.
I know for Charley, I see more
Charley bulls in this area over
the last, I guess 10 years.
Maybe a little shorter period of
time than that, but I'm seeing
a lot more charlays around.
My neighbor to my north, to the north of
us he usually runs a few charlay bulls.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Yeah they're a really good breed.
I, they're pretty docile.
I know a lot of people Think that
they might be a bit high handed it's
just if they getting if they don't
want to do something, they're just
gonna walk for you anyway, but They're
really great Meat producing bulls.
I mean we look for heavy carcass weights
heavy birth weights heavy large ribeye and
I'm trying to now just Maybe mix and match
and try and find a right mix of charley
and angus, because I was picking my angus
bulls the same way as I do charley, as
carcass, the same carcass traits,
which ribeye area is the biggest one
for me anyway, and It's been pretty
good at determining what would get
heavy near the end of it, I try and,
my average weaning weights are around
in the 700s, 600, 700 weaning weights.
And the one pasture is with
supplemental creep feed.
And the other one I tried doing that,
but trying to keep up with that on
a daily rotation is very difficult.
So this year I
completely said I'm not going to do
any more creep feed on that one, and
I'll, I guess I'll see what happens.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243:
And that would be great.
You'll be able to compare and contrast
the two herds and see how it does.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Yeah, and I do have A south a herd on
a south farm that's run by another guy
who's been doing our, managing it for, I,
it has to be 15, 20 years now, I think,
right now, and he's managing our other 150
head down there on 750 acres, but that's
An open graze, maybe a, He
might have a few paddocks.
I'm not actually too familiar with
it because I've been too busy up
here and my family's, the rest of
my family has been managing, my
grandfather manages that with him and
stuff on that end.
I technically just work for the
farm, but I'm still, as a family
member, working towards that goal of
ultimately, hopefully, everything.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh, yeah.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
But yeah, this whole operation
up here is actually ran by my
grandfather, who is 88, and my uncle
and father, who are in their 60s.
And I'm 39 years old, almost
40 now, so a lot of age here.
And we also have a hired man that has
been with us for 14, 15 years now,
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: yeah.
Oh, yeah.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
But a lot of the cattle work
I've done pretty much myself.
I got to the point where it's funny,
it was, my grandfather would go,
oh, that'll never work, or oh,
you'll never be able to do that.
The best, my, my favorite memory
of that was he told me, the old way
was we'd had to go and get the cows
up, get them in the corral, just to
sort one that was off that was sick.
These cows were a mile away from
the corral in my rotational.
pasture at the farthest end I could be.
And I would have to bring
the whole herd up for this.
Really, she was a, one of our wild ones.
I had her marked as wild
on the birthing truck.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh, yeah,
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
and we do controlled
calving, so if they're crazy.
We try not to have that.
But,
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: right.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
her calf was sick.
I thought, what if I take the truck and
trailer, stick it out there, I can grab
the calf, put him in the trailer, she
really likes that calf, with one gait,
and stand behind the door of that truck
and trailer, and I waited there for a
half hour before she went in the trailer.
Jump right back out as
soon as that door moved.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh,
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
I thought, okay, maybe Grandpa's right.
The hell with that, I gave myself
two hours, I told him, I said, I
bet you I can do it in two hours.
It was about another hour later.
She come right back up that door, went
right up, and I was just too early the
first time because I got that door closed,
came back, and showed him, and I go,
yeah, I got him.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: very good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Mike, it's been an excellent
conversation, but it's time for us to
move on to our overgrazing section.
In the overgrazing section, we
take a deeper dive into some
aspect of your operation, find
out a little bit more there.
And something you had mentioned earlier
on was educating yourself about rotational
grazing, regenerative practices.
without going to one of these schools.
It seems like there's schools on every
corner right now, but at the time
that wasn't the case And oftentimes
even with the schools you gotta find
time and make sure you can get there.
Is it somewhere close?
So let's just talk a little bit about
how you educated yourself about it
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
first I'm going to give the
disclaimer that I'm not saying
any of these schools are bad.
These schools
are actually, in the complete opposite,
these schools are even better than I
would say in land grant universities.
for
trying to learn on how to get started
and actually how to graze because they
can teach you in so much faster time
than it took me to even get just the
idea and this was without social media
when I was first learning but with social
media it's been so much faster so many
more ideas to where I'm throwing out
summer annuals in my sacrifice panic
when I would have never thought of it.
So when I was saying about the schools
is that yes the schools are great but if
you really don't want to try and burn the
fifteen hundred dollars or however much
it was because or you may be just like
me and some guy's claiming Increase your
forage capacity or your stocking rate
by 300 percent and stuff like that, then
I guess start with your universities.
Some of these universities have
actually done some research into it.
Also look into how some of these
others, I'm not a book guy.
The only book I've actually listened
to on grazing was Holistic Management
by Alan Savory, which was good.
I enjoyed that one.
And it's a thinker, but
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: It is.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
not much of an instruction tool
exactly, but it does make you think.
But, just by seeing what other people
do, and learning how, what works
for you, and I guess going into the
holistic manner of what your context is.
Everybody's context is going
to be completely different.
And it took me just dedication and
kind of a desire to do it right.
And to tell myself, I actually told
myself when I first started it that
I will only do this for three years.
And if it doesn't work, or it becomes
too much of a headache, then I'll
just go back to what I was doing.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh, yeah.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
And I was hoping to find more pasture to
just lighten the load, but now that I've
done it, and figuring out I'm running by
however many pounds per acre, or stocking
rates, and getting into more maybe I
ought to move my paddocks north and
south instead of east and west this time.
Stuff like that.
And then seeing the results, it's when
you stick with it, try it for a year
two, you'll see a little result by year
three, you'll see even better results.
And by year three, I was already
convinced by year two, but.
By year three, I started thinking
even more, what can I do more of?
And you just, you have to have the drive
and passion or the least desire to learn
about it and look up, look it up on almost
a daily basis and to keep it in the mind.
You're already listening to this podcast.
So the, that's a start.
And I listened to podcasts every year.
By the time I get a chance, I've taken
a hiatus from it lately, but I try and
listen to at least your podcast, a herd
quitter podcast, a few other ones that are
cattle related, and see what other people
are doing in your area, and I follow
Facebook now on different grazing groups,
and so that, that's been a lot of help.
So it's, you can educate yourself.
into knowing how to do it.
And if you don't know how to do it, there
are people, you can probably ask how they
do it and they will freely teach you.
And biggest thing is trying
to find someone in your area.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Yeah, I
really think that is because there's
lots of people out there that, that's
willing to share what they've learned
so you don't make the same mistakes.
Educating yourself is a great way
if you can't make it to one of those
schools, or you're working at a slower
pace, you can't get time off work.
Whatever, the schools are really good too.
Now one thing you mentioned that we don't
hear often on the podcast is Reddit.
So tell us, do you get a lot
of information from Reddit?
I'll be honest I'm on Reddit
every day, but very rarely is
it Regenerative Ag focused.
And I was sitting here thinking,
as you mentioned, I thought, why
haven't I used it with that focus?
So share about if you're able
to get information off Reddit,
if it's beneficial to you.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
I guess I get some news off of it.
I was more looking for
community, because I was
always following Reddit on, as far
as, like my normal social media,
enjoying jokes, memes, and other
fun stuff.
And then I found the farming subreddit.
And I've also found, was it
ranching and cattle, subreddits.
I think those are the main
three that I usually follow,
but you get some information, you
get some back and forth dialogue.
I like to answer questions that people
have about, that are cattle related, cause
I know a lot about, I mean I actually
just take an interest in the cattle
themselves, their behaviors, the, every
time we've had the vet out, I've, Since
we do deal with Iowa State University as
their vet, they're a teaching school, so
I might as well be a student along with
them.
I'm paying them anyway to do a service,
I might as well be letting them
teach me how to do it myself, which,
Has saved a lot of times a lot of
money to where I actually had the vet go.
Hey, we haven't done our Vc wasn't the VRC
VCRP the veterinary client relationship
Protocol.
yeah.
that because I went to order
meds and they're like, hey, we
haven't been out there in a year
I'm like
oh, yeah, we'll call it out
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Yeah.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244: But
I was just looking at the reddit site and
they do yeah, they have a regenerative bag
Subreddit, which has got 9, 403 members.
And I think a lot of it is when you look
at regenerative ag, it's a different
When you see regenerative ag, it seems
that it's more row crop regenerative,
or crop related regenerative.
When we're going into regenerative
livestock, we're talking about
regenerative grazing, which I know it's
going to have a lot of different names and
labels, management intensive rotational
grazing, mob grazing, regenerative
grazing, I prefer to call it adaptive
grazing, because you're, you can adapt it.
wherever you want to put
them if you can put them.
Like right now I actually took a
step backwards and opened my 40 acres
up to the cows and said have at it
until I can get you under control
because things are chaotic right now.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Mike, I have to
say I think that's so important as we as
farmers, we're not doing this in a vacuum.
We have the rest of life that
that we have to account for too,
whether that's some other part of
the farm or something else in life.
I just put my cattle into a paddock.
They're going to stay in for
I guess four or five days
because we're going on vacation.
So that's what I spent today doing
was getting all the paddock size
and getting everything moved so they
don't have to move for almost a week.
Because that's, that worked for me,
but that's part of the adaptiveness.
You have to realize what's happening
around you, and you have to do
things that work in your context.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Yeah.
And sometimes they don't work.
Like I, even in my case right now, and
that's why I like to call it adaptive
because as I said that I've got them
out in that 40 acres open pasture right
now, even though it's been, this would
be the second or third week they've
already been out on grazing, and it's,
okay, it'd be the second week they
were supposed to be on that paddock.
And then this last week they ended up
from since Monday, they ran back up
to the main sacrifice paddock and then
I pushed them back into finally back
into where they were supposed to be.
And my idea that I had before was I was
going to make and took out all my cross
fences and I wanted to go north and south
and keep them out of one specific area.
The weather turned bad and
that idea went, so I ended
up taking one line out.
They were in a paddock for three
days at five acres for three days.
And that turned out perfectly fine.
They actually stayed there until
the water went down and they went
and had access to the whole pasture
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Yeah.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
and sadly I had a a family friend of
ours they lost the farm in a tornado.
So
I had to go and spend a couple
of days helping clean up.
So I thought I'm not going to take
the time to get you guys put into a
daily rotation right now, have at it
and I'll get you under control later,
which I'm hoping to do by tomorrow.
But they've already had about a week
or so of open grazing that, but they
still haven't knocked the whole thing
down because that's When you get into
selective, non selective grazing,
it, selective grazing is okay for a little
bit, but After a week, especially if
you're trying to achieve a regenerative
goal, you still at least need to have
some sort of control at some point So I
know I have to have them back
into One, one and a half acres
of daily move at some point.
Otherwise when I put them out on
that 20 acres, I come back to it.
I'm going to have a mix of
some good, some overused grass
and
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Yeah.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
It's a game you just have to play
and, but it is, as long as you can
keep them moving around, because I was
even thinking about that, I was like,
what if I start doing herd moving?
Just
going out, kicking, out of here ladies,
let's go over here today, and, I don't
have time to set up a fence, I'm just
going to put you over on this corner.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: I've been
reading for Love of Soil by Nicole
Masters, and one thing she talks
about in there is range riding, or
some of the ranches she worked with.
And then we had Bob Kinford, that was
on the podcast a while back, and his
instinctual migration, migratory herding.
I think that's really interesting.
Most of the pastures I work with
is too small to get anything done
on that, but I always think that's
really interesting how they do that.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Yeah.
I think it's interesting that there is
some Good stuff into that herd moving.
Yeah, if you want to be a dedicated person
I guess I should have said something
about Where proximity and location
because that does make a big difference.
I have the greatest fortune
that my pasture is one mile
away or two miles away.
So that is why I can do this daily
move and be so easy and quick and
make it seem so effortless on my part.
So I will say that's that.
That's a big deal,
because if I was to try and do this,
my other pasture is 18 miles away,
and to do a daily move on that, I
understand, would be rather tedious.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Yeah.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244: even
if you were an hour away, I think even
a weekly move, or some sort of keeping
the cows moving, which I think virtual
fencing technology is suddenly popping up,
And that could be a whole nother topic.
And I actually hope you would find,
maybe find somebody who is using it
and interview them because that I've
actually went to a no fence conference.
It was a grasslands and forage
council convention, and they
had somebody from no fence.
I was pretty impressed.
They were close enough to get me
to want to buy at least 40 collars
and put them up on that, that
north pasture and see what happens.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: I'll be honest.
They are really close to getting me.
I think it's no, no fence
is the one I've looked at.
I think Vince is way is not
as accurate for smaller areas.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Not only that, but the
vents, I talked to them.
They were non, they're not solar.
And
If you were to do a smaller area, because
I actually just tried to pick the brain
of the sales consultant on the phone
and said, let's say I decided to do it.
How often would you think I
would have to change the battery?
She said every three months.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh, yes.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Imagine hands on cattle
every three months.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Yeah that, yeah,
but the great thing, that technology
is just going to continue to get
better.
It's going to get cheaper, and like
you, I am just eager to try it.
I can't quite justify it yet,
and I've even thought about, and
it doesn't even make sense then,
I've just got a handful of goats.
If I just used it on my goats to, to
do some management with that, it'd
give me some experience with it.
But then, you're working with a
small number, it's hard to justify
the base station and other stuff
but I'm watching very closely.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
yeah.
It's exciting to see that stuff come out.
There's been other companies that just
started popping up on Facebook I've seen.
Even Gallagher's got one.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Yeah,
I saw something else on, another
company on Facebook, I don't remember
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Oh, Halter.
yeah.
Halter is the other one.
Yep.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243:
Yeah so interesting.
It's going to be an exciting time to
see how that goes and works for people.
But Mike, it is time
for us to change gears.
We need to transition to our famous four
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cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: It's
the same four questions we ask of
all of our guests, so we'll get
started with our first question.
What is your favorite grazing
grass related book or resource?
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Not to brag to you about your podcast,
but yes, your podcast is one of them,
and
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: you.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
basically any podcasts that
are cattle related I try and
listen to, and I've already
mentioned Hurt Quitter, Ranching
Reboot oh, I know Practically
Ranching, that's the other
one BCI Cattle Chat, and UNI
Beef Watch is another good one.
I listen to a lot of podcasts while I'm
working, I have a headset that I just
like to listen to, and reading, like I
said, Facebook and Reddit is about it.
I'm not much of a book reader.
I did listen to Alan Savory's Holistic
Management and might get a few more
audio books if one piques my interest.
But I enjoy mostly the social
media aspect of learning.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
And excellent resources there.
You mentioned the audiobook.
I've recently started listening
to audiobooks and I really
struggle with the audiobook.
If I tell someone I'm reading a book,
but it's an audiobook I feel like I have
to clarify while I'm listening to it.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Yeah, I'm
listening to
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: a
social dynamic there.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
go Old School, and it's a book on tape.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: There we go.
Yes.
Yeah.
Our second question, Mike, what is
your favorite tool for the farm?
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
I would actually have to say
my favorite tool, my number one
favorite tool is my smartphone.
Because, as we've already discussed, I
put my spreadsheet calculations in there.
All my random data that I
hardly ever use is in there.
My mapping program's in there.
My ability to reach out and
listen to you is on there.
And so pretty much my, a lot of
my cattle management and a lot of
stuff, cattle related is in my phone.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh,
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
And I'll also post this in the
grazing grass community, but I've
also built a few other tools.
Built a corner post out of like
basically two pieces of channel iron,
one inch channel iron that I put
stakes in and mounted a PVC post to.
Like a
PVC pipe, and I make it as like
a corner post for my polylines.
I mainly use like those those,
they're like the O'Brien step
in posts, the plastic ones, but
they're, the cheaper.
I get them from like bongars or
it's like tractor supply type
there 1.
49 a fence post and snap with the
first time something hits it, but
I've been switching to the Gallagher
ring tops And so I've been trying to
find different tools and been getting
innovative on trying to find different
ways of setting them And so I know
I've shared with you before on that I
actually have a tile tube that is like
an eight inch tile tube that I capped
off at one end, put a strap on for
my shoulder, and I can carry over 20
fence posts, those step in fence posts
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh, yeah.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
And I can set 400 feet of fence
line, which I don't like to go over
400 feet if I don't have to, because
it's, becomes difficult to carry
that much and stepping it all out.
But I can set up and tear down
my normal daily moves cause
I don't usually back fence.
I'll let them just stair step up
my moves.
And it's all just set
offense, take offense.
And that, that quiver is what I call it.
My, my post quiver has been a lifesaver.
Another one good tool is
a pair of plastic pliers.
They're bus fuse pulling pliers.
They're meant to
take out, they're meant to take
out fuses like those little the
copper fuses that out of big,
like shutoff, industrial shutoffs.
yeah.
they're a complete plastic plier.
And
that has saved me so much where if one
of it comes off, like your comes off
your fence post somehow, or the wire,
you just need to touch a live wire.
Yeah.
Boom.
Makes it really nice.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh,
Yeah.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
the last one that's, is a pretty
cheap invention is my my fence tester.
I actually carry it in my pocket
most of the time so I don't lose it.
But I, all I need is to know my
voltages and that's all I, good
enough for me, cause I know my fence.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: And knowing
your voltage is so important.
It makes a big difference.
It explains a lot of things that happen.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Oh yes it does.
It's it's running 6.
3.
It's perfectly fine when it's normally
supposed to be running 8, but 6.
3, it's got a little bit of a load on it.
Okay, it's 5.
5 is too much.
I gotta go clear some grass or figure out
if it's just barely zapping onto a post.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh, yeah.
Mike, our third question is, what would
you tell someone just getting started?
Oh, yeah.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
I I guess I had talked about it
in the overgrazing section, but
Tell somebody getting started.
If you're like me and you're in
just your conventional ag and you've
been, let's say, open grazing or
set stocking, close off a section.
Once you feel like your one
pasture is getting overused,
move them into another section.
Start that way.
Start with simple moving.
Keep the cows at least moving
as often as you really can.
And learn how to measure forage
and you'll eventually, once you can
measure it by stick and put the math
to the numbers, your head's going
to do it for you by your eyeballs.
You'll know how much is too much
trample, how much is too much
grazed, and then you'll start
to see the results in grazing.
Even two years, but I guarantee it
in three years almost and I'm not
the guy for somebody who comes up
to me and go, I guarantee this.
No, I, I've heard it from people
who say they guarantee it,
and I'll say the same thing.
I swear by it.
I guarantee in the third year is that
magic number that the results do happen.
If you don't notice results by year
three, then you probably need to
rethink the strategy and destock.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Yes, yeah.
Excellent advice there, Mike.
And lastly, where can others
find out more about you?
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244: I
don't do too much for, I'm not really that
open, this is the most I've been opened up
for a little while, but I'm on Facebook.
I actually do have a Facebook
group called Grazing Iowa.
And
I, this, You would be the first time I'd
actually advertised it out anywhere, but
I'll, along with when this gets
broadcast, I'll post a link on
the grazing grass community, but
I want to get, along with getting
people nearby, I want to find
other people who are grazing
nearby and see what's going on.
Get them all together so we have, in the
same environment, in the same context,
that we could figure out together,
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: I think that
local area is so important grazing Iowa.
I'm sitting here thinking we need a
grazing Oklahoma if there's not one.
I like that idea.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
I mean there's a lot of the
regenerative grazing groups and I
enjoy your grazing grass community
too because I also see people cross
post to regenerative grazing Facebook
too so I get double fees which I don't
mind more information because people
don't follow some people follow others and
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: I, I agree.
It seems like the answers are a little
bit different in both cases as well.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
Yeah, and that's what I enjoy is
seeing see which one has the better
of the comments and, or which
one's got the best different comments.
And no I would like to get an Iowa group.
So if anybody is from Iowa
I do have that stipulation.
I'll even, if you're nice about it,
I'll allow within an hour border
because yes, you do business in Iowa.
But it'll be grazing related, any species.
I know I just do cattle, but I know this
is a more species than that, but so if
anybody wants to join and just request to
join it, and you may be able to find me
on Facebook, which I'll make a post, of
course, so then you can find me, because
I actually looked myself up, and there
are many Bassett farms on Facebook, so
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Oh, yes.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244:
I, wait, just look for me in the
grazing grass community, and I'll,
have a post.
cal_1_05-29-2024_183243: Wonderful.
Mike, really appreciate you coming
on and sharing with us today.
squadcaster-7520_1_05-29-2024_183244: Yep.
I appreciate it and have a good one.
Cal: I really hope you
enjoyed today's conversation.
I know I did.
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