New Speaking Event in Manitoba
Monday, May 14th, 2012 at 4:54 pm by Tina
We will speak for 2 hours at a Pasture Tour June 4, 2012 in Dauphin, Manitoba. Contact Pamela Iwanchysko at 204-648-3965 or pamela.iwanchysko@gov.mb.ca for more information.
If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe.
—Abraham Lincoln
Below you will find timely messages on a variety of topics relating to ranching. They are intended to encourage thought, provide information, or maybe even bring a smile!
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In the future we hope this might become a virtual coffee shop where you can discuss issues with like-minded producers!
We will speak for 2 hours at a Pasture Tour June 4, 2012 in Dauphin, Manitoba. Contact Pamela Iwanchysko at 204-648-3965 or pamela.iwanchysko@gov.mb.ca for more information.

We will be putting on a two day stockmanship school in or near Bismarck, ND November 16-17, 2012. Watch this page for more details as they come available.
Since we have some old hay to use up, we decided to bring the cows up to eat some for the first time this winter. We’ve had an unusually mild winter, and this is the first real snow of the season. I videoed the move to share with you all!

This afternoon we decided to move our
small herd several pastures over.

First, Richard started them up correctly getting great movement.

He walked beside them to open the gate across into the next paddock.
Then he drove them straight across this field into the field we wanted them in. The walk took 14 minutes, the cattle were happy and totally stress-free when they (all) arrived, and we had an enjoyable walk.
Richard and I stopped by the Brown Ranch near Bismarck, ND to visit with Paul Brown on our way home from the Baker, MT school. We met Paul when he attended our school in Arcola, SK last August. He’s also setting us up with a two day stockmanship school in Bismarck November 16-17. I’ll post more information as we get it.

Paul and Richard discussing a new and better corral design.

Then we went out to see his cattle bale grazing.

They set up the bales in the fall so don’t need to fire up machinery during the (usually, just not this winter!) cold and snow of winter.

Richard stepped into the cows and got some good movement with just a couple of steps.

Here come more cows who had been at the water point.

Richard and Paul discussing the feeding system. Notice the mostly grazed bale spread over the ground feeding the soil microbes and building new and better soil.

Here’s a long view of the pasture filled with bales ready for the cows (you can see the cattle in the middle, the darker area).


L-R: Richard, Tina, Roddy Rost (supervisor), Dirk O’Connor (supervisor), Quentin Burdick (supervisor), Ann Fischer (NRCS), and Fred Houzvicka (supervisor).
The sponsors of the event were the Little Beaver Conservation District, Department of Natural Resources (supplied the 223 grant), and NRCS.
Click here for more photos.
February 7-8, 2012—Baker, Montana, we will put on a two day stockmanship school. For more information, call Kodie Olsen at 406-778-2217 ext 3 or e-mail her at kodie.olsen@mt.nacdnet.net