Grass-based Dairy Farming at PastureLand

More pics here from Michelle’s Farm Beginnings project to show their farm through every month of the season. This first cow is Speckles, she is Missy’s half sister. You may remember seeing Missy in other PastureLand photos. She is a beautiful cow with a similar speckled pattern.

We will put a round bale out in the middle of a pasture like this to reduce wear and tear on the pastures, and so the cows spread their manure on the pastures. It’s one of the great labor saving devices of raising pastured livestock, keep the farmer from having to load up the manure spreader and use fossil fuel to spread around the natural fertilizer!

Good place to bed down and stay out of the wind. The hay is a nice insulator when the cows want to lay down. One way this post ties in to the “Access To Pasture Rule” conversation is that this is what grazing cows look like in winter. They still need access to fresh air, still need to be able to move around, but the farmers have to protect the cows from the weather at times, and they also need to take care of their pasture resources and make sure the cows don’t get hurt on a slippery pasture, or destroy a sensitive pasture if it’s muddy or wet.