As the summer grasses die down, we need green grass, legumes and brassicas for our Dexter dairy cows to eat – so we’ve done an experiment. The results so far are very encouraging!
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Today I’ll take you through the pasture to share some experiments with growing winter grass. We planted ecotill radish, Austrian winter peas, winter rye, grain rye, oats and three types of clover, starting in one pasture. Then, when we started to see results there, we did the same in the larger pasture with some changes in the planting/dragging/mowing order. As a bonus, I take you on a tour through the crazy cow highway we cut through the woods to connect two pastures. You could plant a no-till cover crop in the garden this way, by oversowing right on top of your grass, just by hand-seeding. The results are intriguing. Also, we look at how we fed seeds to cows and let them do some sowing for us, as the seeds pass through into manure and are put right on the pasture where they’re thriving. These ideas are inspired by Greg Judy, Gabe Brown and other pasture management experts. I’ve also learned from people planting deer plots, though that usually is done with discing. What if you couple plant a deer plot without even tilling the soil? As we learn to grow great pasture and take care of dairy cows, we’ll take you along with us. Thanks for watching.
34 Comments
This is hilarious! I went to my local feed stores and seen deer plot seeds and was like 😱. This could help if my animal feed is low. I bought a few different grasses and brassicas to sow. Thank you God ! Thank you David for this video🤗🤗🥰
Oh heck, forgot most things will have dropped their leaves. Anyway, next warm season, you can feed mulberry and other forage trees.
Great video. This is alot about soil building. Amazed at the cow poo and rye seed.
That property is most certainly an answer to prayer, many of them, and it shows!
I fed my chickens a lot of Moringa–hope to again soon! I wonder if you could with cows?
Hunted my best friend's uncle's prooerty in between Saladin's & Brian's last year….
He raises Angus calves on 1K hilly acres and calls himself a "Grass Farmer." Good people.
Another great video! Thanks for sharing!!
You should be able to feed some of that bamboo to your cows if you run out of grass too
I’m new to LA (lower Alabama) and I’m really glad I found your channel. I’m coming from zone 5 and starting a new homestead. I appreciate your work. It will be tremendously helpful as I navigate this new climate. Thanks for the killer content!
So I guess you would be the elite of the elite. Thanks for the info brother
Adding this to the seed bank of ideas in my head. Thank you!
good infro Thanks
algae in the water has been known to kill domestic animals like dogs and stuff
I was actually walking in my garden this afternoon and was wondering is this would work. Thanks for the info.
Always enjoy your story and your company. God bless you and your family.
Maybe it was the watermelon not the pool water?! 🤪
Makes me happy to see you coming into a property with so much potential! Excited to see what will be coming from another GOOD garden! Great looking soil.Thanks for bringing us along for this one!
Thanks for the great information!
You should have just dragged with a chain link fence section.
I don't know about proud of myself but did enjoy the video. Saved to playlist 🙃
Cheers to the Elite!!! Lol… and thank you for pursuing YouTube and making the awesome content. My goal is as close to off grid as possible and you sir, are an Elite inspiration… keep it up brother!
Pleasa make sure the seeds have not been Treated..as the do this to help from bugs eatting the seed before they sprout.
Why not sow in smaller fields, with one kind of seed in each field, instead of mixing seed and sowing one large field? The question in all this is:
how does mixed seed in a field grow in comparison to one kind of seed in a field? Also, which will produce a better quality crop?
It is more work establishing field zones in the beginning, based on the kinds of seed you want to sow (assuming you sow each field with one kind of seed), but if you harvested the seed those seed made, it would be considerably less work at harvest time in comparison to mixing the seed.
In addition, your cow patties would continue carrying one kind of seed in each patty, because of their slow grazing patterns.
Also, I have read many of your books, and I anticipate the day you publish “David the good’s biblical gardening series” solely based on how the Holy Bible instructs us to be good gardeners.
WWGJD? (What Would Greg Judy Do?)
Have you ever tried mixing grass into the chicken feed. ?
I tried something like this last fall with just cereal rye and a mower. I had very limited success.
A drag harrow would have helped, I'm sure.
I tried again with several types of cover crop seeds this last spring with also very limited success. I'm getting a stick welder for Christmas which I intend to use to build a short-tined broadfork and a wheel hoe and give it another shot.
Glad to know I've reached elite status DTG. Thank you.
I have learned new things here.
<- 1337!
The only way I've had any luck with this is to immediately put sprinklers on it and keep it damp until it comes up. I think a lot of it ends up feeding fire ants otherwise.
all right you got sweet DExters!!!
I always watch to the end. I love your cow trail! So, Rachel needs a proper milking barn that is more sanitary and cement than falling down spider city… and you need a seed spreader. And the cows would probably appreciate some hay. Let’s put this out in the universe and get it done ✔️ Time for all those end of the year tax deductions😉 😉 get it right back. The pool and pond water did not go unnoticed… I get my water from an artesian well at the fairgrounds. Makes awesome coffee! You remind me of my dad with the red clover, it was his favorite. My favorite is rye. 👍🏻
Bovine boulevard
When my husband and I bought our first little starter home the yard was in terrible condition. It was on a pretty steep incline so all of the soil had begun to drift down the hill and the grass was very sparse. We threw ryegrass on it and after doing that several winters the summer grass flourished and filled in all the bare space.
man you really do look like a hostage in that thumbnail. blink twice if they're aren't feeding you…