From the Barns: Historic investment

After a week with my youngest granddaughter, who is 14, as my guest during her spring break from school, I have to feel 20 years younger. I walked; she explored. She picked up small bones; I helped carry. I changed the house water filter; she cleaned bones. I read; she played on her tablet or phone. I did some outside small jobs; she trained the barn cats. I drove us to Fairview Sale Barn; she heard her first auctioneer. I drove us to Springfield; she experienced the Lincoln Museum. You can understand why I am somewhat weary, yet invigorated.

Spring has finally come and even though our cold nights are still with us, several days have been above average and the rye has finally popped. Carson turned in the cow/calf pairs yesterday, but my bet is they won’t keep up with the growth. The great stand there is from a fertilizer application in 38 acres of corn residue.

Along with the spring days, we have had spring rains and surprisingly all ponds are full and overflowing. All our grass pastures are also showing some good early growth. I keep searching for germination of our frost seeding or the 20-plus acres of drilling I did with the GP 1006NT. Our winter grazed fescue looks too good after a pass with the Colorado harrow to break up the many manure pats. The race to “graze and move,” to give our seedlings the best chance to survive and keep the forage in a vegetative state, will soon begin.

As I type this at noon on April 7, I anxiously await the press release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service for the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative because our Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition applied for and received a grant under the title “Building Illinois Grazing” — and there it is online. The website with all awards, including ILGLC, can be viewed at: https://tinyurl.com/5e5memrf.

We received notification on April 6 and were overjoyed to be awarded a large grant to help with our mission to promote regenerative adaptive management intensive rotational grazing systems throughout our state. The ILGLC is on the move as the true voice of grazing in Illinois.

The extended forecast looks good, so we are hoping to get a brush and fence clearing project done that has escaped us all winter. It will more completely define our east boundary through a wooded area, as we will follow the clearing work with a high-tensile, one-wire fence.

Enjoy your spring work days. They bring out the very best in us, the plants and the animals. Stay safe and sane.