Can You Plant a Cover Crop OVER the Grass? Check Out Our Experiment! (Winter Pasture for Cows!) 

Howdy, folks. There is a persistent bot that shows up, imitating RU-vidrs. It will take my image and then leave weird comments like "You won!" and "connect with me on Telegram," etc. Watch out, and report them as you see them. I'm not even on Telegram, so don't fall for it. Looks like RU-vid is catching them faster, but it's been a persistent problem.

Former dairy farmer here, your overseeding should work excellently in your climate. A couple of tips and caveats; first, next year seed it early or mid-fall even in a drought--the sown seed will wait for rain, second, add in some hairy vetch[ and inoculate it with vetch inoculant], third, be sure to wait until the winter forage is 5-10 inches tall before you begin grazing it, even if you have to feed hay to do it--it will save you money and hay in the long run, fourth, the daikon and turnips are great forage but WILL give the milk an off-flavor. To overcome the off-flavor in the milk the easiest thing is to remove them from the pasture an hour or two before milking or milk so early that you are waking the cows up before they graze. If you discover off-flavor already in the milk, there are a couple of things you can do to remove it. The first is to let the milk sit at room temp in an open container[the milk bucket is perfect] occasional stirring may or may not help--this allows the milk to "off-gas" the turnip or radish flavor just as it does in the cow's stomach. Cooling the milk, covering it or worse sealing it in jars or other containers will trap the off-flavors in the milk. Another thing to try is to add drops of real vanilla extract, it doesn't take much, to the milk until it tastes right or slightly vanilla-y. These techniques also work on most other off-flavors from things like wild onions and garlic. Leaving the milk out at room temp does reduce its shelf life, so use it up first. Cereal rye sometimes gives grass a "grassy" flavor but a thirty minute wait before milking will remove it. Good luck.

You should consider breaking your pastures up into smaller parcels for rotational grazing. That way you can get the benefit of concentrated grazing and manure load for land regeneration, and give grass a chance to regrow from each browsing.

My mother and step-father have twenty acres in eastern Oregon. One of the first things he did was clear a walking path around the perimeter (it's all wooded, though not quite as brushy as your place). It's a nice way to start the mornings, hiking (or meandering) around the property, enjoying the fresh air, the morning sunshine, the birds singing.

This is hilarious! I went to my local feed stores and seen deer plot seeds and was like 😱. This could help if my animal feed is low. I bought a few different grasses and brassicas to sow. Thank you God ! Thank you David for this video🤗🤗🥰

Yes, I'm overwhelmed at how genius you are😂 Your brilliance is amazing❤

LOL, really David, a cow patty chia pet!? That was my favorite part, especially with the "cha cha cha chia". Seriously, this was an interesting video.

Always appreciate your sense of humor and the way you make videos! You were a huge inspiration to us when we got started and still one of my favorite places on RU-vid to watch and learn! - Dale

Loving where this channel is going

😀🌱🐢 Cow paddy ch ia pet. David you are a genius! I see the new trending kids toy for holiday season. I also see a song somewhere in there...somewhere in the poo. Kinda yucky...but brown is the new green. 🌱🌱🌱

I am one of the elite. Not proud of me but proud of my teacher --He kept my interest to the end. --Thank you, David --Ray Delbury Sussex County NJ IUSA

Thanks for this David trying to do a food orchard in the high plains in Colorado we only get 14 in a year so the soil is getting better I've got the swales in and we have about 400% more growth than any of the property around us on that patch and that's in the places we didn't plant anything

Rancher buddy of mine uses alfalfa as his nitrogen fixer. His cows love it and the steaks are amazing.

Makes me happy to see you coming into a property with so much potential! Excited to see what will be coming from another GOOD garden! Great looking soil.Thanks for bringing us along for this one!

Excellent content, as always, David. It is so nice to see you and your sweet family getting settled at your new homestead.

Thanks David. This helps me make a decision on putting in a cover crop now in Texas 8B. My purpose is grocery row garden prep, not animals yet, but I think that I still have time. 😊

Love y'all's property! A Garden of Eden. ❤️

I’m new to LA (lower Alabama) and I’m really glad I found your channel. I’m coming from zone 5 and starting a new homestead. I appreciate your work. It will be tremendously helpful as I navigate this new climate. Thanks for the killer content!

When my husband and I bought our first little starter home the yard was in terrible condition. It was on a pretty steep incline so all of the soil had begun to drift down the hill and the grass was very sparse. We threw ryegrass on it and after doing that several winters the summer grass flourished and filled in all the bare space.

I took your suggestion on the idea of just tossing old beans. I found lentils will grow on top of just about anything. I got about two hundred pounds since that video. I live near a food bank and no one wants the lentils so they leave them in the free pile which i grab and stockpile. So i've got cover crop for acres and a food stockpile too. And don't forget plantain. Plantain is the best. And good for mosquito bites.

Great to see how nice your land is working out for you and Rachel.

Just beautiful. I'm so happy for you all.

Dang David, this was on key for me at this point. I am in a very rough, arid area, but grasses between 2-3 seasons - steak and milk is just about what I want to be overwhelmed by. Except, I cannot irrigate and have to rely on rains only. The one I am happy to add so far is also rye, but perrenial rye. Good episode thank you.

Seeing the plant growth from the cow patties reminds me of something I read in Gary Nahban's book regarding the spread of mesquite trees up through the Sonoran desert. It seems that the giant sloths and mastodons that lived in America at the time would eat the pods and spread the seeds through their poop, which not only served as a fertilizer, but also protected the seeds from insect attacks. Wherever the pod eaters went, there the mesquite trees would flourish. So interesting to see that phenomenon in operation! Have a blessed day.

Always enjoy your story and your company. God bless you and your family.

Love your videos! Always learn something.

For the cow pastures, look into buckwheat, lentils, and fencing off areas to grow high-protein heirloom corn for the cattle (keep the stalks for them too). Then you'll need Metcalf Mill's corn crib designs (I thought I could save more corn by building shocks but I'll need better protection from the deer and friends, probably modify a couple of shipping totes). Greg Judy would want you to fence off that pond to better control cows from sauntering into the water.

That is amazing!! Awesome property thanks for sharing

Great idea David and very helpful and interesting .

Cheers to the Elite!!! Lol... and thank you for pursuing RU-vid and making the awesome content. My goal is as close to off grid as possible and you sir, are an Elite inspiration... keep it up brother!

Every golf course in Arizona says yeah, summer Bermuda and winter perennial rye. We've done this for decades. The other plants though, make this a truly interesting experiment. Although here, it has to be put down in September, as overnight temps below 50 usually suppress germination...

I was actually walking in my garden this afternoon and was wondering is this would work. Thanks for the info.

Wish I could watch. Our signal sucks rocks. 😆 I’ll catch the replay.

Love your thinking im lucky here I've got at least 4 or 5 different varieties of grass on my pasture with clover dandelions chickweed and some others and my pasture stays green all year round and i get frost here as well.

Back in the mid 70’s we used to hunt mushrooms in cow patties. I didn’t like them but I think my friends made some kind of tea with grape cool aid. I heard that they put something in cow feed that prevented them growing. I like your cow path. Reminds me of a video a guy made showing how to create hedge rows. If it was going to be permanent maybe an idea. I was a cattle rancher for a while. It became too much to maintain the miles of fencing, keep it all mowed, work the cows, and maintain a job that covered a 6 state area. Flying helped a lot but then I would come home and have to buzz the cows off the runway. Tricky business trying to land whilst dodging cows. Mostly just growing trees now. They mostly stay put and don’t require much attention. Just don’t mow and in a few years there is a forest that will at least pay the property taxes when thinned every 7 to 10 years. Oh gee. Looks like I am rambling again. Thank you David for all I have learned from you. My grocery rows are nothing like yours, but they are coming along. That making a living thing still gets in the way a lot. I should retire I guess but I figure I better keep getting while the getting is good. My customers keep piling it on so I just keep charging more and more. Well there I go again. Have a Blessed day.

David, that is such a GREAT PIECE OF LAND❤ I can imagine that euphoric energy you guys get just walking it! Congratulations on the find. You have a great opportunity for growth and family teaching ( and us❤) Elite, watching Elite

You'll be amazed at how many different grasses, legumes and weeds cows eat. You'll have to section out fenced areas to move cows so they don't demolish everything. Think old ways of farming in Australia. Let sections totally grow and seed so a seed bank builds up. We don't have cattle but do this on the lawn. Trying to get dandelion and clover growing. Hopefully you guys get rain to germinate all that seed.

Pleased to hear this. I have some clover packets I want to plant around my fruit trees.

I remember many hours spent on my old tractor while dragging hunks of cyclone fencing with bricks wired to it. A make-do solution to breaking up manure and helping keep the seeds from being poached by birds. I love how ruminants let some seeds pass through, even facilitating some seeds to sprout more vigorously.

oh my goodness, just what I never knew what I needed: cow-patty chia pet

Those small blower/vacs, like the makita... you can attach a plastic bottle of the right dimensions to the air intake, poke multiple pin holes in the upper section of the bottle to let air pass through. Then you can fill the bottle with seeds and blow the seeds out. Ones with a variable speed trigger and settings can be good as full speed will broadcast the seeds pretty quickly. Use this contraption to fire things like sawdust, havent done it with seeds but it will work. When I get the chance I will take a photo of what I am talking about. Maybe a large blower vac would work as well, I mean 100lt of seeds is a lot!

When I had rabbits, I'd rake up grass and clover I mowed after it dried. I'd stuff as much as I could into plastic totes and store in the shed to feed during the winter. Then I red about small scale silage and did that with the grass clippings and corn stalks. At first my cows balked, as did my rabbits. Chickens took to it immediately. After a while every time the cows saw the wheelbarrow with a tote bin or five gallon buckets, they would come running. I couldn't make enough for all the cows, especially it being only me doing it. But it was a good experiment. I could have certainly made the majority of rabbits feed and some chicken feed if I had to. I also was intrigued with tree hay. I never did do a lot with it... making silage took up my time 😂

Thanks💛 Vasco form Sardinia, Italy

Incredible to think that seeds could survive multiple stomachs and chewings.

Just sheer original thoughts in their most pure form. You’re the modern day Plato, Socrates, Pythagoras perhaps…? I feel smarter just watching this video. Bravo!!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼😋🤣😂

Thanks Mr. Good. I've watched a bunch of your videos and I think this one is the best one yet. Absolutely brilliant! In fact, I watched it all the way through with my high IQ and all... lol. You're the best - keep doing what you do. Thanks for being here. Hope to see you in Fort McCoy in October 2023.

That was awesome. The Omnivore's Dilemma has a cow farmer section. He says being a cow farmer is really about being a grass farmer 🤩

That property is most certainly an answer to prayer, many of them, and it shows! I fed my chickens a lot of Moringa--hope to again soon! I wonder if you could with cows? Hunted my best friend's uncle's prooerty in between Saladin's & Brian's last year.... He raises Angus calves on 1K hilly acres and calls himself a "Grass Farmer." Good people.

Nice videography! Thanks for helping me learn to garden outside the box. Love the way you simplify and challenge the "right way" to grow. Looking forward to seeing your pretty pasture in a few weeks. ~ Lisa P.S. I've got a cat named Trouble. He is aptly named. I imagine your calf is, too.

Yes! Love the innovation and experiments.

I’ll have to do this for my chickens, it’s my first winter as a suburban chicken rancher and while my grass doesn’t completely die it does struggle from the dry winters here in Cape Coral

Another great video! Thanks for sharing!!

love the chia pet pattie and the cow highway, what a brilliant mind you have.... ; ) thank you for saying all of this out loud!!!

Growing grass for milk and steak sounds like a good reason to me. Have you considered rotating your cropland with fallow land for cattle? That is the old way of doing things.

I knew I'd be an Elite at some point and today is the day! The walk to the other pasture was a riot - Had to watch that over again whilst NOT drinking MILK with cookies, lol. The video-ing itself was excellent - no strange angles and not even a giggle or 2 - I'd'a failed at it. I'd suggest suggesting to NOT feed seed that is treated in any way to anyone's animals (some might not think to not), using measuring cups to dole out the seed into mixing buckets, closing off the mower outlet to keep all that is mowed/mixed by the mower from selectively (differing seed weights?) blowing some of it from one area into another (may cause more 'rowing' in the end result, but 'Hey') and I dunno but the slowest engine/mower rate and the tires probably do well to compress the seeds into the soil better...or at least closer. NO expert am I and the video was excellent! 🎃🪴👍✌☘ PS1---I'm a huge Dutch White Clover Fan, lol (*_*) ! PS2---Use your genius to make the mower...a spreader, but in front of it!😃

Great video. I have been working on so many strategies to serve our many needs as well and your approaches have been so beneficial. No cows here, but we do have goats. So they love clearing browse as well as grasses. Improving grass & pasture is always in my mind. I have used rotational grazing & poultry to help diversity & seed out pasture lands. I don't get good return by feeding whole grains to our goats. They are susceptible to bloat that way too, so poultry do the dirty work here. When you use this approach, infustructure is always a challenge, especially if you don't have square, flat, cleared lands (which I do not have... at all). So many books to read, thanks for the plugs. And thanks again for another great video.

manure pile chia pet !!! I love it ! I love your humor, David....such a breath of fresh air in a sad world. Thank you😘

Those ducks on your cabbages are actually Canadian Geese. Which I believe were a protected species when I was a child in Wisconsin. So be careful there!!! One day that trio may become a collector's item... there is definitely power in numbers at resale value!! Unless they are plastic... just saying!!

It's just over seeding for winter stock. People have been doing it for literally hundreds of years. I put out winter rye in the fall.

Chia Patties!? Brilliant!

Howdy David!

I do the same thing in some of my food plots due to access. I have had some really good results too. Awesome video.

Glad to know I've reached elite status DTG. Thank you.

I am overwhelmed by how great you are!

Check out Colin seis' work in Australia. He's been doing exactly what you're doing with growing warm and cool season plants on the same pasture in alternate seasons. He has some great presentations on RU-vid discussing his methods he calls "pasture-cropping". It's a very productive system and could help lots of people looking for similar results.

Fun way to learn, watching & listening to you & Rachel; thanks for sharing! I’m in Alberta, Canada, so our climate is different but the concepts should work here. I’m an urban gardener, trying a food forest in my front yard…3 RD year of planting more perennials in. Last year I did a good little crop of potatoes in between fruit trees & perennials. Now trying to keep the deer out; they even trimmed my potato plants!

Great video. This is alot about soil building. Amazed at the cow poo and rye seed.

all right you got sweet DExters!!!

Good stuff, will try

I don't know who does the editing and picks the music but it is excellent. You can even see sadness in the cows eyes as the seed walks away.

You and your family have a beautiful place. I know you guys are very proud of your homestead. I’m a pretty close neighbor in Gulf Shores. Hope to meet you sometime.

lupinus angustifolius has edible cow fodder, cool flowers, and seeds that can be eaten by people.

Great video showing your ingenuity David!!! (It has been said "Necessity is the mother invention) I would love to buy some bamboo seeds from you David.

Going to be great for deer

Such a beautiful property. My neighbor put back keeps cows.

Pereinnal rye , is exspensiive but great for winter forage... I use oats for my goats, royal empress,kudzu for summer🎉

When you sow a mix of seeds, even if everything is evenly distributed, you will get uneven sprouting patterns. This is due to the differences in soil nutrition levels, it's moisture level, and slight variations in temperature.

I have learned new things here.

It's so nice to see you progressing with your farm it's looking great and your principles are sound.

You can feed some browse also, by cutting branches from forage trees during all your free time. Or use child labor.

yo! much love Dave! keep up the science!

Great thought!

Great video from one of your elite! 💚👍💚

I wanna cow pie chea pet!!!! It’s not fair!!!😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 I love it that’s some critical thinking, David has taken the “is.. is that corn??” To a whole other level

I enjoy your comedy but you are correct grass is fascinating if you understand it's life cycle

Good morning, in zone 8a. We also use icicle radish, it will get big. Good ferment. How about calling them Self tilling! Your home is lovely.

I do something very similar for my chickens I call it the chicken salad bar

I love this channel

Yayyyy.I am an "elite"... great idea!!love giant yellow bamboo!!

Elite! Cool! Enjoyed the visit and the information. Thank you.

I tried something like this last fall with just cereal rye and a mower. I had very limited success. A drag harrow would have helped, I'm sure. I tried again with several types of cover crop seeds this last spring with also very limited success. I'm getting a stick welder for Christmas which I intend to use to build a short-tined broadfork and a wheel hoe and give it another shot.

I do this in East Texas, zone 8b/9a, not on a pasture scale but on my 1/2 acre lot, I don't like how muddy things get during winter, also when I had rabbits I ran them in tractors.

Thanks for sharing!!!

Love it

I'm envious of your land. We've only got one acre, surrounded by my neighbor's property, with very few trees in sight.

What if you put some dried cow pats through the wood chipper, then mixed seeds with the powdered manure, and put THAT in the blower? Or just blow the manure over after in a second pass. As you can see, your investigations have got me a bit excited. Sorry for the multiple comments haha.

Ha ha...I am proud if myself. I love your wild thinking brain. Good stuff.

Thank u

Thanks, David, for a most interesting video..learned lots....elder Nana here and yes, I did watch.all the way to the end !! Does that really make me a genius??? 😀

I keep hearing the cha cha chia commercial 🎵in my head