How & Why We Feed Our Cows Hay

This week we want to share two items of interest from our farm.

The first is a video made last year about How & Why We Feed Our Cows Hay.

This time of the year we are in-between grazing seasons - the summer grass is dormant and winter grass is not yet ready for grazing.

So, we buy hay from a local farmer, who we appreciate very much, to feed our cows. As described in the video we do not use hay rings like most farmers because we want to spread the manure across the pastures vs. only around a hay ring.

Additionally, a major bog develops around hay rings from cows constantly moving in and out. Much of their manure is deposited very close to the hay, This saturates the ground around the ring and causes high levels of ammonia where only weeds will grow.

Did you know that a cow passes 70% of the nutrients she consumes back onto the soil through her manure and urine where it is used by soil microbes and other insects to regenerate the soil?

So, we want the cows to spread her nutrients back across the pastures vs. piled around a ring.

And, an equally important benefit is the interaction with the cows - especially the yearlings who will see you less as a threat as you gain their trust.

It is more work to hay regeneratively but, worth the effort.

Watch Video On Haying Cows ​

The second item of interest is a recent article published in Mississippi AGRICULTURE about Nature's Gourmet Farm.

We are very pleased to have been selected along with several other well known Mississippi farms. And, the photos and article were well done.

Yes, I would like to read the article