Grazing in Iowa!!

big tee · Feb 17, 2019

Not much to eat out in the woods--we got another 5 inches last night---Tee

Brian G. NY · Feb 17, 2019

What a great picture!
I'm going to put that on my desktop.

jm. · Feb 17, 2019

Great photo, don,t see too many Herfords around these parts any more. Keep that snow up there. They say we will get 5 inches of rain Wed but no snow.

mtf · Feb 17, 2019

Gotta love those herefords. And they look like their bellies are full. Nathan

ohiojim · Feb 17, 2019

not much to eat in the woods,...but they look well fed.

UncleTom · Feb 17, 2019

They look like deer to me. Just kidding.

dzc3 · Feb 17, 2019

It's amazing how cattle will shelter in the woods, it can be blowing a blizzard out in the open but down in the woods, maybe a light breeze. Cattle are cleaner and healthier than in a barn. Just coming out now to be fed.

rossow (mn) · Feb 17, 2019

I used to have Herefords when I lived in Iowa, even showed one year at the Iowa State Fair. I also had a few purebred Angus and found the Herefords to be much calmer, more predictable animals. Both breeds are beautiful.

gab · Feb 17, 2019

So that's where they been hiding, pastures and hill sides used to be covered with Herefords fifty years ago, haven't seen one in years now.

caterpillar guy · Feb 17, 2019

Pasturing a woods ruins them, as there will be no new growth trees to reseed the woods, and as they tramp the roots to death the trees will also die. I have seen more than one good woods that was destroyed that way. I suppose if you don't want the woods then that would be the way to get rid of it without a dozer or excavator.

hd6gtom · Feb 17, 2019

Cows destroying woods??????? Dad kept over 200 head of cows in/on woods and pasture. I never seen any damage to the woods. Mom just sold that farm. They had to bring in dozers and clean it up because it was so thick.

jm. · Feb 17, 2019

I guess or might be so if you really confine them but we run over 160 acres of mixed pasture and woods and have seen NO negative affect over 40 years and if anything maybe better woods and removing some of the undergrowth helps the other trees. Just my experience, mid hills of Tennessee.

jm. · Feb 17, 2019

HD 6 I was typing while you answered , guess we just do things different here in Tennessee. See my answer below.

Traditional Farmer · Feb 17, 2019

My cows run in woods that have been woods all my life to no ill effect.If cattle destroyed trees I don't see any sign of it as small trees and bushes will over grow any pasture field in my
area if not bush hogged.I started keeping meat goats to keep the bushes and saplings down they do a good job plus they will keep things like honey suckle,grape vines and ivy vines from
over growing on the trees that will eventually cover trees and kill some of them.State Forestry Dept has a program about running goats in stands of planted pines to keep down competing
growth and their manure fertilizes the pines.

Mike(NEOhio) · Feb 17, 2019

My father in law pastured his Holsteins in woods. Didn't bother mature trees but there was no younger growth. When he quit the hawthorn and multiflora rose grew in so thick you couldn't walk through it. 40 years later smaller trees are filling in and the understory is clearing.

showcrop · Feb 17, 2019

If you overstock them cattle will kill good grass pasture too.

old smokey · Feb 17, 2019

what part of iowa do you live big tee...western iowa here..by the way nice looking herefords

chevytaHOE5674 · Feb 17, 2019

Cattle in the woods all depends on the soils and tree species growing there. We have heavy red clay soils and early sucessional tree species (aspen, birch, fir) and if the cows go in the woods when it's wet the trees start to experience top dieback within a year or two. The shallow rooted species in the clay soil can't take the hoof damage. I have acres and acres of trees with dead tops that started within 2 years of cattle being pastured in there.

I'm a forester and have seen plenty of example of woods pasture that haven't had this issue. Drier more drained soils helps as does deeper rooted species.

Logan in S.E. Texas · Feb 17, 2019

I've seen cows run in what is called The Big Thicket here in S.E. Texas all my life. I remember as a youngster hearing stories from old timers who ran livestock in the woods, both cattle and hogs. Before the fencing laws of the 30s I think. Every fall they would do a community gather at pens sort by earmark. I can understand that in different soil conditions the trees could be harmed.

2x4 · Feb 17, 2019

Woods that had cattle in them for a long time always had a lot of rotten (on the inside) trees. Outside the trees looked great but once cut down the rot was widespread. Old-timers claimed that cows compacted the soil around the roots & weakened the tree. With 50 years of looking at timber & logs, I believe they're right.

kcm.MN · Feb 18, 2019

Tee, I feel bad for not checking this thread sooner. GREAT PHOTO!!

big tee · Feb 18, 2019

Not my photo-I can't remember where I got it---Tee

Grazing in Iowa!!

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