Mountain Glen Farm Cows To Matriculate

Yesterday, while I was enjoying a peaceful day on the farm, Glenn and Becky attended a day-long forage conference.

The most important subject to come from this conference (I got the Reader's Digest version)    is how to teach your cows to eat weeds. Yes - weeds! Yes - teach!

Weeds can be a problem, taking up space for more nutritious grasses, but weeds also have nutritional value. So,  why not get the cows to eat them - prickly thistle included. 

'Teach Your Cow To Eat Weeds' is an 8-day course.  I wonder if the cows know that????  Will there be any over-achievers?  Teacher's pet?  The idea is to expose your cows to different kinds of feed adding weeds along the way until the additional feed is 100% weeds.  At that point, the cows  introduced to said weeds will now naturally eat them if found in their pastures - simple.  Really???

Weeds?  Sorry, have to go to where the grass is greener...

So, come spring; our cows, and we are going to add the sheep in on the attendance, are going to school.

SCHOOL?  NO WAY!

Our main farm has weeds, but a minimal amount in terms of the total percentage of pasture acreage.  Unfortunately; our new farm, from lack of real management for years, is inundated with thistle.  We had anticipated using a chemical herbicide because the problem is so bad, so very bad; but with this new tool, we are going all cow. 

This spring, after the cows learn to eat weeds, we will move about 20 head to our new farm and let them clean up, as in eat,  the weeds.  A win-win situation for sure - again, using the flerd in a beneficial way. Cows/sheep will gain more forage compatible to their taste buds, and the pasture quality will improve.  Pasture quality improves, livestock quality improves.  Natural, sustainable, economical,...win, win, win, win, win...

Hmmm...desks, paper, pencils, calculators, report cards - only kidding.

I wonder if we could teach the cows to weed between the vegetable rows in the garden????