Pasture and some special considerations on spraying

Pasture is what makes you money in the cattle business. Some people don't spend any money on pasture and can't keep many cattle on their ground. They may even find they have to keep moving to new ground or go out of business. You need to provide as many days of pasture to your stock as possible. It's a lot cheaper than feeding hay.


At present there are three techniques that are feasible for weed control: spraying, clipping pasture that isn't too grown up, and and basal spray. You'd as well plant more brush as to brush hog. The objective is to keep the grass and legumes from being displaced by brushy weeds and forest, and to maintain the grass in the vegetative state as much as possible, rather than in the reproductive (going to seed) stage. Seeds and seed stems are low in digestible nutrients and have poor palatability. Proper rotation is the most important way to keep grass vegetative.

Spray You have to use herbicide to really kill brushy weeds. Spray works best if the brush is shoulder high or less, and use it when the brush is growing , not a dry time. I once used Crossbow, and they say you can use it at any time the snow is not on, but I have always used it as a foliar (leaf) spray. For two years now I have used Remedy Ultra and Forefront, which contain much the same ingredients plus a small amount of a similar herbicide. Remedy contains nearly twice as much triclopyr as Crossbow, and Forefront has a large amount of 2,4-D and a smaller amount of a similar compound. The combination was ecomended by my local Southern States dealer. I found using 80% of the recommended minimum of Remedy and 25% of the minimum of Forefront is very effective for susceptible weeds all season, no increase needed as the season advances. I have yet to find anything that will control raspberries, redbud and a very few other species, but these are a minor problem due to slow growth and limited propagation. They can be controlled manually. I use spot application, so application rates are far below the amount allowed per acre.

The instructions say to wet leaves and stems. Folks, you can't do more, because the excess runs off. Be through, but avoid a tendency to over do it!

It is hard not to get yourself wet with spray, and it is often hard to tell whether you are wet with spray or sweat, because putting it on is work. I haven't had an adverse effect from Crossbow, and I have been used it and it's predecessor for forty years, except twice I have had an effect from inhaling it. The effect was to make me feel a little weak for two or three weeks. Occasionally it would cause a runny nose or phlegm. I have never felt ill effect from the combination I use now.

I did some occupational health work for a few years, and worked in biological warfare two and a half years in the 50's, and from these learned a little about the body's defenses that apply here. The lungs consist or many small sacs the size of a grape, each enclosing an airspace which is connected to the trachea, the pipes air passes through to get to the lungs. These sacs are two cells thick, with air on one side and blood on the other, to facilitate movement of oxygen to the blood and and carbon dioxide in the other direction. They are very tender. "Smoke inhalation" in a fire is usually inhalation of hot air, which sears these cells. Sear enoug of them and you can not exchange oxygen. Goodby! Likewise if droplets of spray solution get down to them, they would allow ready absorption.

The passages which lead to these sacs are lined with fine hairs, and a think fluid catches foreign materials, solid particles and liquid drops, and they are slowly moved back up toward the entrance by the hairs. Your phlegm is this fluid. It comes up on its own, and comes up when you "hork it up." It also includes drainage from your sinuses. If you have worked in dusty conditions you may have noticed the thick part of what you spit up has dust caught in it. Same thing occurs with inhaled droplets. If you swallow phlegm with germs in it (when you have a cold) the acid of the stomach kills most all of them. If you have dust in your phlegm, it will pass through your digestive system with little effect. I really don' know abut he effect of the materials in spray, but I would think it is a good idea to spit the phlegm out - I always do.

In the biological warfare of the 50's (fifty years ago) they made a great deal of getting very fine droplets in the dispersing spray, because very small ones would be carried into the lungs, and not deposited in the airways, as larger drops would, which are cleared out. I don' think much of the volume of herbicide would be converted to very fine droplets in the low pressure sprays in ag use. In other words, most of it would come back up in phlegm.

Another consideration is that sprays are a complex mixture. The "active ingredient" is a plant hormone. Being a hormone does not mean it has an effect in human biochemistry, because human (and other animal) biochemistry is so different from plants. In effect, the hormone is a plant growth regulator.

In addition to the active ingredient (there are actually two of them working in tandem in in all three herbicides mentioned) there are other chemicals. The active ingredients are not water soluble, which necessitates an emulsifier, because you dilute with water, which is cheap. There is also a detergent to help the spray stick to leaves and get into holes and cracks. I suspect the problem I have had from inhalation was from the detergent, because there is a surfactant that controls the surface tension of the liquid in you lungs and the rest of the breathing apparatus, and I think that was "messed up." Best not to breathe the stuff!

At one time I used a full-face gas mask (I'd researched the appropriate canister for the spray), but it was hot and clumsy, so I quit using it. The kind of paper or fiber mask a painter uses may help, at least with the larger droplets, but this is questionable.

One problem with our West Virginia fields is that they are so irregular, and have many edges. At one time the woody growth was cut out of all the little valleys , and off all the places now too steep to get to with a tractor, including knobs. You could see all over the field. Doubtless these places were not smooth, they would have had tracks cut into the steep slopes so animals could walk around them. We could return to such practices with proper husbandry, if the (market) conditions encouraged it. This would mean elimination of cover for deer and coyotes, too, which would be an advantage.

Originally I used a tractor with a 150 gallon sprayer and got over all the farm every second or third year. Now we use a four-wheeler with a forty gallon tank on a low trailer behind. Using a tank mounted on the four-wheeler itself is a tip-over hazard when the liquid splashes from side to side. With our arrangement (see article below) you can get all over the farm, and can get it every year. Our arrangement eliminates getting on and off the tractor frequently, you can remain seated. It is far less labor, less exposure to the operator, and requires less material.

Basal spraying The use of basal spraying has been known for some time, but hasn't been widely used in this area. The solution is made up in diesel fuel or kerosine and is more concentrated than foliar spray. A hand sprayer is usually used. Spray is applied to the bottom fifteen to eighteen of the plant, all the way around. It is better than foliar spray for woody plants more than shoulder high (one application will frequently kill plants up to a foot or more in diameter for many species), and it can be done at any time of year, even if it will soon rain. However the February and March season suggests itself, when the ground is dry enough, and leaves are off. Inhalation of spray should be less of a problem, since the operator is always spraying downward.

Clipping pasture The advantage of using a mowing machine is that it is relatively fast. It gets the weeds that are not killed by spray, too. When you cut with a brush hog you cut six feet wide the first time around. After this is this considerably less because the brush hog is free to swing from side to side and you can't directly see where the edge between the cut and uncut grass is located. You do well to get a five foot width of cut after with a six foot cutter. With a mower you have the full width of the machine with perhaps four inches off for ovrlap. The problem is that the mower is much more easily broken. This means you have to pick up rocks, especially, and also fallen branches, etc. Trees must be cleaned up regularly, in any case, becausethey harbor new growth of woody weeds and make new edges to the pasture.

Never hit the same rock twice I usually have he loader bucket on when I do a piece or the first three times, so all I have to do is to stop and throw the rocks in. After that you don't need the bucket all the time, but can leave it in the field, and attach it when needed.

If brush gets larger than shoulder high, by neglect, no other word applies, you may want to brush hog it, then spray the shoots the next year (or likely for two or three years). The must be a delay of a year or two after the brush dies before you use the mower again because of the stumps. I recommend brush hog only on very steep ground, rough ground (where there are little washes, old cattle tracks, hidden stumps, etc), and there only because a brush hog is harder to break.

One disadvantage of the brush hog is the clutch. they all have a clutch to prevent injury to the tractor drive shaft (an expensie repair). But it requires some care to get it adjusted right. It should turn when something solid is hit, but should not be so loose it will get hot by slipping. It would be best to have it slip a little in ordinary use, to keep the clutch plates free of rust, but it will "polish" if they slip too much. The clutch must not get wet, because it will rust, and freeze up. Then it must be loosened so it will turn and you have to go through an extensive process of tightening until it is the right tension.

You can cut anything you can ride down with the tractor, by going slow and backing up a few times. However, many tractors have hydraulic hoses and other bendable parts under them. This riding down characteristic is how the brush hog gets its name. Hogs are sometimes put in standing corn, and they straddle the stalks and ride them down to the ground where they can get the ears. No tractor tha I know of that is now being manufactured has a truly hardened underside. Older ones are better in this respect.

You may be able to find a special kind of brush hog that is designed for larger trees, which allow you to cut them off by back up into them. They have a large heavy wheel underneath, which serves as a flywheel, four short heavy blades and a protective device on the back which retracts through compression springs to allow the blades to come in contact with the tree. With this you can cut trees six inches or more in diameter. It is about 20% to 50% more expensive than the regular heavy brush hog.

Pasture rotation The best way to maintain te grass in a vegetative state is to use adequate lime and divide the pasture in several fields and rotate pasture. This s a relatively new technique, and you should consult experts. The basic idea is to force the cattle to cleanup grass in one "paddock" and then move on to the another. When to move depends on how many paddocks you have and the condition of the grass. You don't want to graze the grass too short, because this will delay recovery, but at the same time you want them to eat it all, including cleaning out the fence rows.

Many experts say the more paddocks the better. Some try to move to a new one every day. The problem with this is you have to have water for each paddock, which increases the expense considerably. Of course the additional fence requires additional maintenance. Another problem is the variable rate of growth of grass. It begins in April, reaches a maximum in May and June, declnes cosiderably in the heat and dryness of the late summer and then has a second growth spurt in September and October when the rains return. And some years are much more productive, basically due to the difference between a wet year and a dry one. Some years in West Virginia you can pasture three times as many cattle on a given acreage as in the driest years.

You should think about at least eight or ten paddocks. Some of these would be cut for hay in the May-June rotation, and used for pasture in the dryer season. The plan should provide pasture into December or later, and might provide some planted hot season supplement, such as Sudan Grass in paddocks for August and early September. Paddocks could be subdivided by temporary (electrified string) fence.

Rotation is said to considerably increase the stocking rate, and works well with highly developed (limed and fertilized) pasture. It should considerably reduce the amount of spraying and clipping needed. It does require much more careful attention to detail, however.

The future As you know, the world supply of oil will run out by degrees. By 2025 the pinch will be sharp. This means great uncertainty in many respects. The advent of the petroleum driven tractor revolutionized farming. You could keep four or five cows where you kept a team of horses. Horses need daily attention, long training periods, are capricious, get sick, must be acquired by birth and raising, all of which reduce efficiency. It is hard to think they might come back as a source of farm power after the age of petroleum, but they might. Level land could be used to utilize other, heavier sources of power than the internal combustion engine.

I think what will happen in pasture is more efficient grazing systems, particularly with the utilization of more than one species. Sheep or goats to clean up after cows, for example. There will always be some weeds that are not eaten by cows and these will need to be taken care of by alternate methods. Sheep or goats require more secure fencing and more protection against predators. Alternatively it may be the old "grubbing hoe" or some similar tool will supply the need for weed removal again, at great cost in labor. The land owning class and the farm labor class may again become distinct.

I expect labor to be used in place of petroleum, to some extent. The lonely business I have experienced may change back toward the gang labor farming of the past. Local markets will become more important, communication by wire more important. This is if the free market prevails. If the government takes over it is hard to predict what will happen, other than things will go to hades for sure. in any case the person who thinks about what is happening and plans ahead will have a significant advantage.

The main advantage the Western cattlemen have, aside for being closer to the packing plants, which are located in the West because the feed lots are there, is that they do not have as many problems maintaining pastures. The biggest problem they face in the long run is that they will have severe water problems in a few years. The Midwest, the South and the more southerly part of the Far West are expected to have the most severe loss of precipitation. The giant Ogallala Aquifer is being "mined" in the sense that more water is being taken out than is being replaced by nature. About 27% of the irrigated land in the United States overlies this aquifer system, which supplies about 30% of the nation's ground water used for irrigation. Many feeding operatons are in this area, due to the corn and soybeans grown there.

Summary It is my belief that a judicial mixture of spraying and clipping when needed is the best pasture maintenance at the present. Rotational grazing has much to recommend it, but it is more management intensive.

The farm as a buffer in hard times

(Started March 2004)

I was born in “The Great Depression” of the thirties, and heard a lot about it growing up. It never did end for the West Virginia farm economy, at least until after my children grew up. It continued right through the forties and fifties for West Virginia farmers. For laborers willing to move out of state, to Akron (“The largest West Virginia town outside of West Virginia,” they said) or Baltimore, it ended with the boom of WWII.

However, the worst of it wasn’t too bad for our family, because they had something to sell – milk and eggs. People didn’t always pay their bills – Dad often let men work off their bills in farm work. He often said, “I have a half interest in half the kids in West Milford (where he delivered his milk) because I kept them alive at times.” There was some exaggeration in this, but certainly he supplied the richest and most dependable part of their diet. The reason the family got along well was because Dad’s sister, Aunt Lotta, who lived next door, had a dependable job (teacher) and Dad had something to sell that everyone wanted, and his price was right.

When I first came to Jesse Run farm one of the neighbors who had worked for Carroll Bond told me about being paid for work in potatoes and meat. This was not unusual at the time.

At the present time I see our farm, like most around, as being rather specialized, producing feeder calves and occasionally, timber. It has the capacity to do much else. The easiest change would be growing out cattle on grass. The farm could produce other food, gardens and potatoes for home use or sale (it once did), and space to drill water wells. A shop could produce furniture, do light repairs and maintenance on autos and farm machinery. Sheep have some possibility, but require a lot of labor, and must be protected from predators. And they need a building in winter.

Any of these things are a technology, and one would have to acquire the knowledge to conduct these enterprises, but that is only work. And you’d need a little capitol. A high speed connection to the Jane Lew telephone exchange (three miles) would allow computer work here.

If you learn to like it, the farm provides work that is as much fun as most recreation. Keeping the farm going is a balancing act, though.

As this is written in 2004, the United States is going in debt to foreigners at a rate of $500 billion per year. That is the value of imports minus exports. The only way this amount can be paid is by debt (which carries interest) and by selling American assets. Our debt grew by 6.3 times the growth of the economy in the fourth quarter of 2002, $2.3 trillion vs. $363 billion. Overseas investment payments are were $333 billion in 2002. The value of the dollar with respect to the euro is falling rapidly.

40% of the graduates of U. S. institutions of higher learning in science and technology are foreigners. Blue collar jobs have been exported to other parts of the world, and now white collar jobs, such as computer programming and low level management are going.

The population is aging, and a Social Security bust is bound to happen, they say.

The stock market is over inflated. The returns (dividends) do not justify the cost of stock, prices are held up by the expectation of gains in the value of stocks, capital appreciation. In other words, by speculation.

The average U. S. family carries an immense debt load. Interest is going down, which encourages more borrowing. Manufacturing is seriously sick, and can not compete with foreign industries. The economy is being carried by expanding consumer debt and government spending. Neither of these increase national wealth, but consume it. Our military is a massive financial drag for the nation, but affords huge profits for a few.

Much U. S. currency is used in exchange between foreign countries. (Petroleum, for example, is usually bought with dollars.) If the euro or some other currency increasingly becomes the medium of exchange, there will be a vast excess of dollars, far more than would be needed for U. S. commerce, leading to very serious inflation.

In short, it seems likely that bad times will return. How is the farm related to that?

In a depression stocks fall in value, some of them becoming valueless. The value of land falls, also, because much of the value of land is speculation on future worth, just like ownership of stock in corporations, this portion of the value is related to the general economic situation. Land does retain some of its value in a depression because there are always people in a depression who have money. Land is space, which is in demand, and it retains its productive value through a range of opportunities for the creative mind. And it is the home, the most important investment for a family, any investment councilor will tell you.

If there is a cloud on the horizon, the farm operation needs to be kept nearly debt-free, because after a fall occurs, the debts don’t disappear. The creditor will also be in trouble and will be desperate for his money. You must pay or loose it. If you loose livestock or machinery, you still have your home, but if you loose the farm, you loose it all.

Since the exact nature of the coming problem is not certain – it will not be a 1930’s type depression – I can not give specific advice, but must suggest you use your mind well. Get information, think ahead for the consequences of your action, get along well with your neighbors. In any case, you should be better off if you live on a farm managed for the times.

It is now April 2009, and we are not at the bottom, in spite of what they tell us.

The mortgage bust hit last fall. Experts tell us that about as many mortgages will fail in the near future as have failed in the past year. General motors plans to take a nine weeks vacation this summer, rather than the customary two weeks, and the other car companies are also about broke. Layoffs continue at a fast pace. Various kinds of corruption have made the headlines.

Even the military has been hit to some extent. The F-22 fighter appears to be discontinued, but the fight is hard in Congress. It is estimated to cost, including development cost, about $350M per plane. The F-35, a later, more versatile, high tech plane is being continued.

The average 401k retirement plan has lost 27% in the past year, according to CBS Nightly News. Many families are consolidating as a revetment against lost income. The army is tightening it’s enlistment standards, because hard times has made many young people choose that option. Bank loans are hard to get, credit card interest rates are rising and limits are coming down, many companies are advertising twice as hard and food is getting expensive in two ways – it is getting more costly to buy an article and the packages are getting smaller.

On the farm, timber has gone down to almost nothing, cattle prices are dropping and people are talking about raising a garden. That is a great idea for a farm in hard times. It is a lot of work, but it helps replace money for one of the largest expenses a family has. Another good project is potatoes. The yield is good, they can be prepared in many ways, and they have vitamin C, B vitamins, potassium and a number of minerals. The skins are a good source of fiber (needed by us old folks). They produce more food value for less work than about any other source and the technology is simple.

A technology that is relatively complex is keeping a cow or two. She must have food for the winter, but can survive, reproduce and give milk on hay and minerals. You will want a shed for hay storage and milking (no fun in the rain in winter) and fenced grass land, some of which must provide winter feed. You also need appropriate vessels for milking and storage, and refrigeration. This gets you milk, butter, cottage cheese. When she gets a calf (she must be bred once a year), that provides beef from the same diet. A dual-use cow must be carefully chosen. The bull can be any beef breed, or she may be artificially bred.

The cow’s manure is good fertilizer for many plants, and excess milk can be fed to a pig, along with household food waste, including parings, scraps and slightly outdated food. A cow or two and a few pigs should meet the meat needs of any family. There is a lot to learn if you have not grown up with the technology, though.

An orchard is a good bet too, lots of work and lots of new technology to get started, but once underway produces a lot of food with relatively little work. An orchard takes 4 or 5 years to get into production, however. Grapes, berries and rhubarb are good choices for side projects. All of these must be kept from the deer, which like them as well as you do.

Old timey favorites from the garden easily kept for the winter include kraut, buried potatoes, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, roots of various sorts, dried corn and beans of some types, and canned goods, such as green beans, tomato juice, beets, pickles.

Think about trading items, rather than buying them. You may be able to trade for skills, too, such as mechanic work, carpentry beyond what you can do yourself, and labor in some of these enterprises.

Use you head rather than your feet, as Br’er Rabbit said!

August , 2010. There has been some talk of “improvement” of the situation a month or so ago, but it is mostly “wishful thinking.” The U. S. economy needs 200, 000 new jobs a month to keep up with the population growth, they say, but new jobs amounted to less than one-sixth of that last month, and that was about the way it is running now. It is slowly dawning that there is no use to flagellate the consuming consuming public for not spending (70% of the economy). They are already deeply in debt and afraid of the future.

The problem is that the good jobs were sent overseas. The new ones that have been and are being created are low-paying. The beneficiaries have been, to a small extent, investors, and to a very large extent top managers. Unless we can put workers to work in good-paying jobs, they won’t have money to dispose of, to bring us out of the economic troubles. The only people who will have money to spend are the ultra-rich and they will not create jobs but will speculate with their gains.

In some places today the rate of mortgage failure is twice what it was earlier. Money is easier to borrow for agriculture than many other kinds of business, because the farm loan is invariably backed up, directly or indirectly, by the farm land itself. Beware! There are a lot of investors out there who would rather have your farm to see them through hard times than their money.

Living in dangerous times

In dangerous times, try to be in a position where a reduction in income will do a minimum of serious damage -
Live conservatively, put any savings into an appropriate investment. The worst of all is stocks - they have a nasty way of disappearing completely. Some kinds of paper are better than others. But nobody in our family has so much money they have to invest in someone else's' business. Bank deposits are safe to the extent of insurance provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the government agency (unless the government goes broke). The problem with money savings is that in hard times it is almost certain to decline in value.

Some good investments are developing salable skills, developing your own business (selling something people will always need such as food, firewood, skills such as mechanics, house repair, etc .); buying items for resale in the near future (if you have the skills), but don't get over extended. Look for ways to make money on the side consistent with your life style.

The most important, and first investment anyone should make, is in a modest home. Rent is a bottomless pit you throw money into. Ideally, the payments should be well within your ability to pay. Pay off as quickly as possible. That way you are at risk for less time, and you don't loose as much money to interest. Fixing up an older house is a great idea, if you have the ability. If your occupation requires you to move, get something that can be resold easily.

Cars are a great sink for money. Own as few as will meet your family needs. Own one status car if you have to, but keep the others small and cheap. This saves gasoline, insurance, tires, etc. You are doing well by riding a bicycle if the distance to travel is short. This also great for your health.

Your occupation off farm, if necessary, should be something dependable, something that will be required even in bad times. Some government jobs meet this standard. Teaching is a good example. Of course, the salary may be reduced, but a job is better than no job. Some kinds of companies produce goods or services that are always needed. Groceries, health services, hardware, (but not clothes), public transportation (not airlines), etc. meet this criterion. You have to think about your individual situation, though. Think about the stability of a particular industry in which your skills are to be used. A computer programmer would find some jobs stable and others not. Hourly labor is very subject to changes, very unstable.

Don't use credit card borrowing. This is really important. If you have a credit card pay it off each time before interest becomes due. Interest on credit cards is sinfully high, and late payment or non-performance charges will eat you alive. For large items get a bank loan. Credit cards and too many big loans are the principal cause of bankruptcy at the present time, and any little nip up in interest rates, or downturn in the economy where people get laid off causes an upturn in bankruptcy.

Both husband and wife should have some insurance. The surviving spouse will miss them not only physically and emotionally, but financially, also. Term is best. Investment by the insurance route is secure, but it has a low payoff, frequently less than inflation.

Two incomes in the family help stability. You need benefits - medical, dental, etc. Getting them by one spouse is important, both is better.

Work hard to keep your marriage stable. Divorce is a disaster in many ways, financial not the least. For farm people it means “kiss the farm goodbye” in all too many cases. Get help from a pastor or councilor if you need to.

There are a lot of obvious things that you do already: avoid addictions (alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, gambling, expensive vacations, etc.), buy sturdy but inexpensive clothes and household items, look for bargains, don't buy until you can pay for things. Don't borrow from loan sharks. Don't put a mortgage on your home to pay other bills, or worse, to finance consumer spending. Better to have ratty clothes, an empty and cold house than no house at all.

It is absolutely painful to think about these things and make decisions, particularly when it requires withholding part of your income you are used to enjoying. People seldom bother to think about money and how to get it, nor was I taught to, but the older I get the more I realize all these things are within the range of rational analysis. Not one person in twenty does it until forced to. Many of the others get burned, some badly.

Electric fence, including danger

If mainline power is available and dependable, 110 or 220 volt AC (plug it in the wall socket) energizers are usually most practical for permanent fences. Will they raise your electricity bill? Well, depending on the size of the unit, they typically draw 2 to 25 watts. The operational cost of an energizer drawing 17 watts would be about $1.50/month (assuming an electrical rate of $0.12/kilowatt hour).

How dangerous are they? Energizers (chargers) are usually rated in “joules.” (pronounced the way a West Virginian pronounces jewels.) This is a physics unit for measuring energy. It is directly related to the “kick” the fence gives the animal (and human) that shorts it to the ground. My daughter worked in the cardiac care unit of Ruby Memorial Hospital at one time, so I asked her how many joules were used to revive someone whose heart had stopped. She said 450 joules. So I don’t think there is much danger of heart stoppage with a properly grounded commercial charger. But 4 or 5 joules from the fence will “really get your attention,” as they say. I know, because I have been hit many times.

At this point I need to introduce a couple of terms. A capacitor (also called a condenser) is a device for storing electricity. That’s what a battery does, too, but the capacitor is able to let its contents go almost instantly, were a battery stores a lot of electricity and takes some time to let it go.

Volts is a measure of how hard the electrons are pushed through the wire. The more volts the more electrons are pushed through a particular resistance (the animal, or you, if you are not careful).

The way a fence charger works is to take 110 volts (or 220 volts if so wired) off the high line, step it up to several thousand volts to load the capacitor (sometimes more than one) in the charger. This takes about three-quarters of a second, then it switches that line off and hooks the capacitor to the fence. When this happens the fence shares the load with the capacitor. At this point the fence should read a few thousand volts on your meter.

That sounds pretty scary if you don’t know the details. The function of the capacitor is to limit the number of electrons at this high voltage. That much voltage off the high line would “fry” you. In fact, 110 can fry you too, if you are sufficiently grounded so the current of electrons can flow through you. The high line is effectively an unlimited supply of electrons.

The charger lets the charge on the fence drain off to ground within a few thousandths of a second after it starts. The intermittent nature of the charge on a proper electric fence is an important safety feature. Most of the time there is no charge on it, just very briefly for a few thousandths of a second about every three quarters of a second. The intermittent nature of the shock increases the element of surprise too, increasing its effectiveness

If there are weeds on the fence, they drain off the electrons, and so reduce the kick. Fortunately, their resistance is rather high, so some weeds can be tolerated. You need to keep the bottom wire about 17 inches or slightly more above ground, so cattle can eat under it, which helps keep the weeds down. It pays to have the area under the fence properly limed so you have palatable grass there, too.

The resistance in the “voltmeter-fence tester” is very high, so not many electrons drain through it. It does not “short out” the fence.

A good ground for the energizer (fence charger) is important. It will interfere with a telephone cable for several tens of yards. Be careful where you place it. The standard grounding rod, half inch in diameter and six feet long works well. It needs to be down to moist ground, no matter how dry the surface is. The dryer the surface is, the more kick you need in your fence. The rods are made so long to get down to moist earth. Use a steel fence post driver of the type that is a tube with handles on each side to get the rod down as far as you can, then use a sledge hammer. The preferred method is to take it below the surface, and use a clamp to attach a large diameter copper wire, which is also kept below the ground to where it can go straight up to the charger. Use several, preferably four hooked up with the same large diameter copper wire as the first one. Steel fence wire should not be used, particularly below ground – it rusts.

Insulators are made for steel posts, but steel posts should not be considered permanent. You find this type of insulator at feed stores. They soon age. Use treated wood for permanent posts, or locust. Locust serves well if you can find good trees, with no fungus infected wood. Both locust and treated posts have considerable conductivity, so insulators are needed. Get polyethylene or polypropylene plastic insulators. Also don’t use fine wire for permanent fence, deer will break it in no time.

Use “string fence” with polypropylene cords and fine stainless steel wires woven in for temporary fence. Just tie it for connections. Use lots of wrapping in your knots so the tiny stainless wires will come in contact with the steel wires. Get good spools to wind it on, ones designed to roll up extension cords. Take care of it, and it lasts for years. Don’t use the fancy plastic fence posts for permanent fence, they age very fast, and you can’t keep the wires tight. If you plan to reuse temporary posts, get fiberglass. I have used some for ten years. I like three-eights inch round posts which you can get from some fence supply houses and add two adjustable holders for the string fence. This is called “Spider Fence.”

An electric fence is not a physical barrier, like barbed wire and woven wire. It is psychological fence. Animals avoid it, but learn to eat inches from the wire. Animals unfamiliar with it can stumble through. Under extreme conditions predators can drive them through, and baby calves do not understand it the first time they come in contact. They seldom go through twice.

We keep a road wide enough to run a four wheeler along the fence through the woods and where ever we can. Like any fence, they need to be checked often. The four wheeler makes checking fast and makes access for the few needed repairs easy. We keep a few tools with us on the four wheeler any time we go into the pasture so that repairs can be made without a return to the house for tools.

Finally, the electrons repel each other, because they have negative charge. Most of the charge when it moves is carried in the outside layer of the wire. Rust is an insulator compared to the steel or its zinc galvanizing. Wire needs to be changed when it guts rusty. An electric fence will last far longer than barbed wire, though.

Some don'ts for electrical fence: 1. Don’t hook to the high line directly, without a charger. In other words, don’t provide the legal profession with another lucrative case to litigate at your expense. 2. Don’t use barbed wire. The animal needs to get away from the fence. 3. Take the time and go to the trouble to build a good ground. 4. Don’t get cheap plastic stuff. The insulators sold by fence supply houses have additives which make the insulators last and last. 5. Don’t use metal posts for permanent electric fence.

Genomes for Agriculture

One of the most important things for agriculture that happened the past year not mentioned in the usual farm papers was the arrival of several farm animal genome studies. The one nearest to most of us is the genome of the cow, published in the journal Science for the 24th of April, 2009.

Cattle, Bos taurus (European type cattle) and Bos taurus indicus (India derived breeds) are not closely related to humans in their genetics, compared to many other species. They are specialized for converting low-quality forage into energy dense fat, muscle and milk. They were domesticated 8,000 to 10,000 years ago in the Near East. There are presently about 800 breeds. This variability allows study of genetic and variable traits, including milk production economic gain and tenderness. The most detailed sequencing was done on a Limousine, with comparison to other breeds.

They have 26,835 genes, somewhat more than humans, including about 22,000 genes responsible for coding proteins. It was observed they have many more genes for lactation and immunity than humans. The greater number of immunity genes may be the result of the huge number of different microorganisms in the rumen (which present greater opportunities for infection) or due to the herd life habit of cattle. Another important difference is that in humans passive immunity is gained by placental transfer, but in cattle it occurs by ingestion of immunoglobin IgG in colostrum. Core metabolism is very similar among all mammals

A second article in the same issue studied genetic variation in breeds. It conclude that variation was at least a great in cattle as in humans, in spite of constraints imposed by domestication and breed development. European and indian type cattle diverged 250,000 years ago and the Indian type have somewhat greater genetic diversity. European breeds are now so standardized they might have been breed from 200 to 300 cattle 200 years ago. This is believed to be to breed selection pressures and subsequent selection for milk or beef. Loss of diversity should be of concern to animal breeders, the authors suggest. Statistical evidence shows some of the highest selection pressure was in the genes affecting double muscling, milk yield and composition and intra- muscular fat content.

The genome of the horse, Equus caballus, was published in November. The horse was tremendously important most of recorded history for transportation, draft animals and for warfare from before the time of Alexander the Great to World War II. It is now primarily relegated to recreation, but is of interest to science and medicine because so many of the diseases of man also occur in horses.

Horse DNA is more similar to human than Cattle DNA, and we share many communicable diseases and at least 90 hereditary diseases with them. The most detailed sequencing was done on a Thoroughbred with comparisons to most of the world’s other horse breeds, including American quarter horse, Andalusian, Arabian, Belgian draft horse, Hanoverian, Hakkaido, Icelandic horse, Norwegian fjord horse and Standard bred. The horse genome is smaller than the cattle and human genomes, but larger than the dog genome. One of the remarkable characteristics of the horse genome is how few chromosomal rearrangements there are between it and the human genome.

A second article shows that horses were domesticated in and around Kazakhstan some 5500 years ago. Colors developed rapidly after domestication as the result of selective breeding by ancient farmers.

Tips for Efficiency

1. When driving the tractor some distance, try to make use of the trip in both directions. If you are on the hill to feed and have a little time, pick up downed limbs and move them to a place to burn or otherwise dispose of them. You can pick up rocks at a remote area and drop them in a road to fill a hole. If you need large rocks to make check dams, carry them off the hill when you return from feeding, don’t make special trips.

2. Store bales near where they are grown, then feed them back on the meadow. Use temporary string fences to protect the bales when you pasture the meadow. Do this if the mud doesn’t get to be a problem.

3. Large trees of useless species or otherwise unsuitable for timber can be removed by burning brush around them.

4. Someone who cuts firewood can be given rights to cut up downed and carry away unusable trees. They can also help clean up after timber cutting operations.

5. If you have pole timber you can cut (or can buy cheaply) pole sheds are a very cheap way to build storage sheds. Use locust poles in the ground. White oak poles or maple make the best rafters. Avoid using hickory, because it rots so easily and there are insects that burrow in the dry wood.

6. If you pick up small rocks in one place, that improves the pastue. They then can be used in roads in place of purchased gravel. Have your children pick them up. Creek gravel is illegal if taken from streams under the control of the Army Corps of Engineers.

7. All lumber should be “sticked up” and kept in the dry with a roof. Have the sawyer make sticks one inch thick and two or three inches wide to use for this purpose. Poplar lasts well in use, but piles of it are subject to boring insects which weaken the lumber and make piles of dust. It is best to use poplar within a year or two of the time it is sawed out.

8. Decking screws now available are much better fasteners than nails for gates, especially, and about every thing else. Also, use the appropriate screws for metal roofing.

9. Keep the tools necessary for what you can do. Don’t be in the position of having to borrow or buy them when a crisis occurs. If you are in the farming business for the long haul this is one of the best investments you can make. Have fencing tools, convenient tools for the mechanic work you will do on your machinery, simple woodworking tools at least. They save time and when you can do it yourself it saves money.

10. Maintain good relations with your neighbors. It’s worth the extra effort to avoid a perpetual fight. Be a good neighbor. Stop and talk occasionally, plow out their driveway when it snows if you have equipment, let them hunt, pick mushrooms, cut wiener sticks, etc. It helps when the cows are out or you accidentally spill dirt or hay on the road, when the odors get strong or other unliked things characteristic of farming industry occur that you don’t have control over. Pulling their car out of the ditch requires a little more care, because a tractor can damage the car. I mention that damage might occur if it is not hooked right, and insist the other man hook his car up. If it is a woman, custom pretty much demands you get down in the dirt, but be careful what you connect to. After a while being a good neighbor gets to be a habit and doesn’t cost any effort. They will pay you back in the same way.

11. Borrow only for things that will make you more money than the borrowed money will cost. Sometimes the benefit is hard to figure out in advance, be careful. Particularly, don’t run a big, expensive truck for personal transportation.

12. Feed cattle in the late afternoon or evening. If you feed in the morning 60-65% of the calves come in the dark. If you feed in the evening 60-65% come in daylight. If you are able to attend them, you have light. Even if you do not, it helps with the predators.

13. Unless you trade a lot, hire your trucking. Put the capital elsewhere.

14. Look for drains, pipelines and other buried stuff when there is a slight skift of snow on the ground, not enough to cover it. The depressions will catch blowing snow and become more conspicuous.

15. Breakers across roads need a little more stone than the rest of the rock based road. If you just put soft dirt from the ditch across the lower side, it will be broken down in a short time. When the breaker gets leveled out and won’t divert water add a three or four inch high row of stone about the size of one or two fists along the lower side and shovel soft dirt from the ditch over it to seal it. After you drive across it a few times it will not seem too high, because the rocks will be driven into the road base below and the soft dirt on top will be forced into the cracks between the rocks.

16. When building a culvert only the downstream side of the fill around the pipe needs to be secured, unless it is two and a half feet high or more. Use a wall of rocks, a concrete wall or some such on the lower side. The reason is that the stream only pushes gently on the upper side. What washes it out, if not properly constructed, is the current down from the top to stream level on the downstream side. When you build a culvert you must constantly watch for sticks that wash downstream and block the entrance to the pipe. Unless you must have a high quality stream crossing, fill in some with stones and be sure to have a stone area below the drop off to rceive any water fall to prevent it from washing out below the crossing. Once again, this applies to intermittent (dry up in a dry time) streams only. Streams with continuous flow are controlled by the Crops of Engineers. See your Natural Resources Conservation Agent about crossings, etc. of these steams.

17. Never hit the same stone twice with a mower or brush hog. Dump stones you pick up in the field into gullies or other spots where they will help, or use them for check dams in runs to prevent rapid runoff. Small rocks make road material.

18. Keep a barrel or two of diesel fuel and equipment to take it out of the barrel by hand in case of power outage or delayed delivery of a new tank of fuel.

19. Keep you fences up in fairly good shape. It’s better than chasing cattle. Use high tensile electric and keep the bottom wire about 17 inches above ground, to keep the grass off. They won’t crawl under that height.

20. Maintain a supply of bolts, nuts and small parts you use often. Don’t have to run to the store for small parts. Same for lubricants like SAE 85W-90, or WD-40. You loose time and money running to the store.

22. Check over machinery before you use it. Seasonal equipment should be repaired and good shape before you put it in storage or during the storage season.

23. Sheds are far cheaper than buying new machines. Don’t let machinery stand out in the weather unless you have it covered. Acid rain isn’t talked about as much as it once was, but it is still with us.

24. Keep a list on your computer of where you buy things on the net. Keep all the information needed for ordering, such as parts numbers, and the internet address.

25. Where possible, make trails along your fences so you can ride the four-wheeler to check fence.

26. Avoid culverts as much as possible. Use rocked stream crossings. Culverts are a nuisance because they stop up all the time. It takes only a few floating sticks to block the opening of a small culvert.

27. The two most convenient ways to thaw frozen locks are: a) Hold the lock in your hands for a minute or so. This is for young, warm-blooded guys, and it is good for a few degrees below freezing. b) For the rest of us and for really cold temperatures take a container of hot water from your house and pour half a glass or so on the lock. Water has about ten times the heat capacity as steel and it doesn’t require huge amounts of hot water.

28. Just as snow can help you find depressions caused by pipe ditches and other recent ground excavations, heavy rains can help you find seeps in your fields. Drive around after a heavy rain and keep your eyes open for unusual wet spots, or water draining down a low place in the hillside. This indicates the water table is above ground while it is rainy, and it means the water table will be nearer to the surface than other places in the field at other times, as well. In heavily traveled places it may be worth a drain.

Borrowed Money

(caution: some concentration needed)

“Borrowed money” is somewhat of a misnomer. It should be called “rented money.” You have to return the money, but you have to pay for the use of it. The “rent” or fee for the use of the “capital” is called the “interest,” or “rate.” The amount you borrow is the “principal.” The person who lends you the money has great advantages in law and in practice.

In practice, “they” loan to many people and talk to other lenders. Lenders (collectively) have the law written governing loans. You, on the other hand, have, at most, some limited ability to discuss borrowing with other borrowers, but few borrowers are familiar with customary terms and conditions of loaning. You, borrowing infrequently, have to deal from a position of ignorance. It is important to understand the terms of a loan: such things as repayment dates, how interest is figured, and what happens in case of default (if you can’t make a payment). Some terms of a loan are a matter of law, such things as disclosure of terms and conditions, maximum interest, recording loans with the County court (so you can’t get loans from several lenders and they can’t be repaid), what happens if you default, details requiring spouse’s signature, and so on.

In some cases you will keep the money p for a certain length of time, and pay it back with interest p + i. Sometimes the interest is taken out of the money you borrow, p dollars minus i, and then you pay back p dollars. This inflates the amount of income the lender makes for the same interest rate. Commonly, however, you make a series of payments. In some cases you make a payment of p/n dollars at the end of each of n periods of length t, and pay the interest on the total amount you still owe along with each payment, giving a declining payment. Also it is relatively simple algebra to calculate uniform payments, so you pay the same amount each time. Sometimes you make payments for several periods, then have a “balloon payment,” which can be paid off, or refinanced.

It is best to borrow from a reputable institution or a person you can trust. An institution familiar with production agriculture will cut you some slack on weather and the like. A bank will not, unless they know farming. Most industries do not have the variability of weather, unstable markets, etc., as farming does.

The only other feasible choice is to borrow from family, if it is available. If you borrow from an individual who makes this a practice, they may be looking for a sucker. Such an individual will be looking to take your security.

When you borrow money you are, in effect, doing business with a psychopath. (More accurately, has many of the characteristics of dissociative identity disorder. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissocial_personality_disorder )

The lender is a psychopath as a matter of law. You have to pay on time no matter what your needs are. If you have an accident, even an “Act of God” as the law puts it, a pure accident, with no fault of your own, you must pay on time. If a family member has a life and death need for cash (say an operation) you have to come up with your payment anyway. Don’t get over extended! Insurance is a must in case the borrower dies, too, if you want heirs to retain the property. The heirs will often get only a fraction of what it is worth if it is lost.

If you have property beyond indebtedness you can manage, you can think of it as a pillow against the financial uncertainties of life – you can give up some of it for certain other, greater needs, but you cannot “give up” what is in borrowed capital.

In farming you can frequently add enough value to cattle to be able to borrow for immature animals and then sell them at maturity, or sell their offspring. Prices may go down, but value increases considerably. Machines are a little more risky, because they take several years to pay for, but you can do custom work to fill in for payments. Substantial buildings take still longer to pay for, and usually there aren’t any other income possibilities for them beyond the intended use. Pole sheds made from timber cut on the farm is a good bet if you need something but don’t want to invest heavily and pay additional taxes on a good building. Land will take twenty years or more, and paying for it depends on the general economic times and the prospects for the industry. Good land that you can get over and is clear, and adjacent land (so you don’t have to transport machines and cattle, and waste time in travel, and have common fence between you tracts) is important. Proper pens, fences, chutes and tools can be worked into as you need them.

Finally, it is a good business technique to maintain a certain level of indebtedness, even if you can pay it all back. The borrowed money, if it is properly invested can help you grow. “Properly invested” means that the enterprise is capable of paying the interest, paying back the principle anytime you decide to, and justifies your work and management. “Too much” borrowed means that the risk of a declining economy, accidents to key people, and other risks make it impossible to repay.




Historical note: In the past there were “on demand” loans, between persons, mostly. You paid interest and principal on schedule, but the lender could call it all back any time he wanted to, a great evil. This was a business of some persons who acquired extensive lands by it, and made the “Great Depression” of the 1930’s worse.

Thinking about buying land and farming

The largest investment required for farming is land. The value of the land you farm has little relation to your income, however, since other factors, such as location and development prospects, may influence the price it would be appraised at. You can farm land you don’t own, and that may be your best bet. Rent may be less expensive than buying additional land. If you rent, obviously you must figure gain by calculating the income from farming, and subtract the rent or annual lease. The true gain from the rented land is what you make farming plus what the rent seeker gets from you in rent.

If you are buying land you have to figure gain by calculating the income, subtracting the payment and adding the annual change in value of the land (which may be plus or minus). The change in value of the land is quite difficult to determine. It will surely be a matter of expert opinion, since appreciation of the land (or depreciation) is highly subjective. The exact figure will change from year to year, too. It may be more or less for you than the average guy who comes along.

Land is a very large chunk of your capital and many farmers won’t be in a position to do this kind of calculation. If you want to buy land, you do so because the opportunity comes up, and you want to take a shot at it. You bet you can “make payments” until it is yours. It is done on faith (interest won’t get too high, no accident in the family, government policy won’t change too much, markets wont change too much, etc.) Truly, you see your shot and you take it. Definitely a judgment call for most folks. Better to have a chunk to put “down.”

If you really need this figure, your lending agency may be you best help since they sometimes need a figure based on the market value of the land.

Farming on someone else’s land is a good bet, if you have at least few acres of your own and can negotiate a long term deal. (See more details below.)

In a livestock operation the second largest investment is in cattle. There is a pretty direct relation between the worth of your cattle in a breeding operation and your income prospects. The number of animals you have to sell is related to the number of breeding stock, and the price received is related to their quality. Efficiency is getting as many calves out of the cows as possible and getting as much weight on them as possible. And it also includes good marketing, getting as much as possible for them.

Your third largest investment should be machinery. This should be as small as possible. Machinery ages and in time has to be replaced. It is taxed. You want what will be the least investment that will get the job done in the time and with the labor available. You need tools for all you might want to do, and these accumulate. Some are lost (fencing tools especially), but most are a lifetime investment, and don’t really depreciate. Do you need a large truck? A dump truck, a cattle trailer, a bulldozer, a back hoe? Don’t buy things that can be hired or leased more cheaply. (This is what your community connections are for, in part. They allow you to find out where these things can be obtained and what they cost.) Buying additional equipment implies you have to have more storage, too, a place to put them under cover. But you may justify the additional investment if you plan to do custom work – a stump grinder, for example. But if you justify a piece of machinery this way, you have to do the sales work to get this custom work.

The fourth investment is development. You must have fences and stock handling facilities as a minimum. These are a kicker if you have to build them on someone else’s land. You really need sheds for all equipment, which will be on your own land, of course. You don’t need much. Sheds made of poles cut on the farm are quite adequate, and inexpensive, but be sure of your materials and design. Get advice on what timber to use to avoid insect trouble. It is nice to have a tight building to work on equipment when it is bad weather and for storage of materials that need to be kept out of the rain, but not absolutely necessary. The new tent-like buildings are a good bet for equipment and hay storage. You may need wells and electrification as part of your development.

Out of all these investments, only more and better cattle (or for other enterprises the immediate antecedent of what you sell) will make you more money. But don’t try to overstock your property. You can’t afford to buy feed for less than exceptional animals, and too many animals leads to disease and environmental damage.

Buying (or renting) adjacent land is valuable because it eliminates travel time and transportation. If the land is adjacent the animals can be moved back and forth easily. Fences need not be as secure between the old acreage and the new. You might want to put them in a better location.

So if you are starting, or plan an expansion, renting is a good bet, gaining ownership of cattle and machinery, before buying land. The ideal is to find a farm that the owner is willing to rent to you now and sell to you later.

Today the economy is going backward. The average man in his 30’s today (2009) makes 12% less in real money than he did in the 1970’s. Jobs are hard to find anywhere. You read about hundreds of people applying for a dozen or two new jobs being offered. A significant part of the population lives on welfare. It isn’t uncommon for young adults to be living in their parent’s house beyond age 30. On the other hand, the wealthy are doing very well, and those that depend most closely on them are, too. The dollar is sinking like a rock. Land is sky high. Not a good time to buy! A farmer can’t afford to speculate on these terms. Let the speculators loose their money! Rent!

Buying land is always a risk, but the reward is great satisfaction when it is paid for. But you must do a hardboiled analysis. Intense desire to own helps, but alone it is not enough. You have to think, think, think. And be lucky. And carry insurance if you want your heirs to own what you start.