There is going to be a shortage of hay this Winter. In anticipation of that, I decided to plant an 8-9 acre patch in winter grazing, specifically, wheat. I started prepping the field about mid-October, late because of the tractor troubles I documented here earlier. Luckily, I had decent weather, not too wet and not too dry, and got the field subsoiled, subsoiling about 14 inches deep on 60 inch centers. Next spring/summer, when I plan to establish a permanent pasture on the field, I will pull the subsoiler at about a 45 degree angle to the direction I did this time. I harrowed to smooth after the subsoil operation, added a ton (literally) of 5-10-15 fertilizer, and harrowed again to level the field even more. A note about the fertilizer; 30, 40 years ago, we didn't worry about sulfur, a very necessary secondary nutrient. There was enough in the atmosphere and rainfall. Starting about 30 years ago, due to clean air efforts, soil samples in this area started showing shortages of sulfur, so we now have to specify sulfur in the fertilizer blend. I believe the fertilizer I applied had about 12% sulfur.
I planted about 120 lbs of wheat per acre. I used a 40 year-old but well maintained Massey Ferguson drill. It did a wonderful job. We got the wheat drilled the last few days of October, and have had adequate moisture and enough warm weather to get some good growth before Christmas.
My options are to graze 400-500 lb weanling calves, cow-calf pairs, or dry cows, hopefully starting about mid-February. Stocking rates depend on which combination I use. I believe I could get six weeks of good grazing for 25 calves, using controlled access grazing. That depends, of course, on the weather.
So far I have about $1000 out of pocket invested in the wheat. I will have to spend another $300-$500 on nitrogen fertilizer in late January or early February. Given good gain rates for the calves, it is probably a break-even proposition at best this year. It is still a good way to get land that hasn't grown anything but weeds and a few small food plots into a productive pasture. It's a lot of fun, too.
I planted about 120 lbs of wheat per acre. I used a 40 year-old but well maintained Massey Ferguson drill. It did a wonderful job. We got the wheat drilled the last few days of October, and have had adequate moisture and enough warm weather to get some good growth before Christmas.
My options are to graze 400-500 lb weanling calves, cow-calf pairs, or dry cows, hopefully starting about mid-February. Stocking rates depend on which combination I use. I believe I could get six weeks of good grazing for 25 calves, using controlled access grazing. That depends, of course, on the weather.
So far I have about $1000 out of pocket invested in the wheat. I will have to spend another $300-$500 on nitrogen fertilizer in late January or early February. Given good gain rates for the calves, it is probably a break-even proposition at best this year. It is still a good way to get land that hasn't grown anything but weeds and a few small food plots into a productive pasture. It's a lot of fun, too.
