Maintaining a Safe, Healthy Pasture for Your Beef Cattle
Having a good pasture is one of the keys to having healthy beef cattle. Not only is pasture grass important in terms of providing your cattle with the roughage it needs, but your cattle will also rely heavily on the pasture grass to provide it with many of its necessary vitamins.
To ensure your pasture provides the best results possible, proper maintenance is essential. To that end, here are some tips to keep in mind for proper pasture maintenance.
- Seed the pasture with the cattle mixture recommended for your area.
- Test the soil each spring and make the necessary amendments.
- Take steps to eradicate all weeds. At best, they take up valuable water and nutrients. At worst, weeds such as White Snake Weed and Jimsonweed are poisonous.
- Alternate resting at least one pasture each spring in order to prevent over-grazing.
- Check fences and gates and promptly make any necessary repairs.
- Purchase a guard dog or llama to keep coyotes and other pests away from newborn calves.
- Spread, rake or collect manure so it doesn’t burn the grass.
- Place mineral and protein blocks in special holders beneath an overhang so they do not get melted away by rainwater.
Of course, you should also take steps to ensure your cattle have access to plenty of clean, fresh water while pasture grazing as well.