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Turn Sunshine Into $ by Understanding How Plants Grow
Raising livestock on pasture is like a miracle. It starts with nothing more than an egg from the dam and a sperm from the sire. Then a cow, ewe, or doe produces an offspring. Pastures full of plants gather sunlight, making food for the grazing animals. The animals turn forage into body weight and maybe even milk. If all goes well, at the end of the season we have a new 500 pound calf or a set of twin lambs or kids.
Understanding the intricacies behind this miracle can help us improve pasture production, quality, utilization and animal performance. It also enables us to see how to adapt to change in weather and interpret how research and farmer experience from other areas applies to our operation. So let's start with the first part of the miracle, how plants use sunshine to grow.
Photosynthesis
Kids who don't appreciate their veggies probably aren't aware of all the sugar they contain. Through a process we all know as photosynthesis, a plant uses its green pigments (chlorophyll) to absorb energy from the sun. Then the plant draws in a deep breath of CO2 (carbon dioxide), and
I know I have cried about winter being too muddy, even too cold, I have read and heard Victor Shelton say free concrete this time of year is welcome. I can only smile with snow before the upcoming arctic weather, how snug our pastures seem with 8” of snow protection when temps actual and wind chill drop below ZERO, cows went out after snow and played like we did when we were children, with increasing winds they look at me like I am crazy when I open the gate let them out.
A lot of words to say we should take time to eat the roses even in winter.😀