rob macintosh

Smaller seeds work better. Red clover works really nice on fertile ground sweet xlover for dryer poorer areas. Legumes dont like acidic conditions. Annual rye is a nice cool season annual that froat seeds nice and millet works good for a warm season.

You can pull hay off a round bale and throw it over the fence it works fine.
Also the reason that square bales are expensive is because they are hard to handle and wont shed rain so they need to be covered. Buy them when they are freshly baled in the field, this will be much cheaper.
I'd still buy a round. Never leave them on end the rain will get into them.

Funny as it sounds loose the hay feeder.

Just throw that bale out in the pasture. I Get little to no waste doing this provided that the ground is frozen. Areas around feeders get heavily soiled then the cows wont eat what they drop on the ground and walk on.

By feeding in a new spot everytime you are giving them a clean plate and they will lick it clean.
This also spreads manure and seeds from the hay in your pasture.

I throw some straw down with the bale for microbe food. I want to tie up the nitrogen to prevent leeching. Wood chips would also work.

Those are highland cattle they don't need a barn.

Look up bale grazing.

The man who planted trees. I love this one.

Cutting will speed up growth in the spring but if you drive the tractor around while the soils wet you will compact it slowing it down. Also why dont you try to get some legumes in that field.

Legumes make little balls on their roots that are realeased as organic matter thats high in nitrogen. This is only released when the roots die back after being mowed by an animal or herbivore. What makes them special is that they pull this nitrogen out of the atmoshpere if they have the right bacteria assosiated with them.
You can buy legume inoculants to make sure they are getting them.

I think that sweet clover is the hardyest legume it grows on soils with absolutly no organic matter without problem and seems to love that compacted spot right at the edge of roads. But id plant a mix of all the legumes you can get your hands on with a few grasses.

Also look into nitrogen fixing trees they spread nitrogen with leaf drop.

I vote hugelkultur on contour in your garden area. Assuming its not dead flat, in which case build it any direction you like.
Try digging a hole about 2 or three feet deep where you want your garden and see if it fills with water.
That marshy area is basicly a swale already i wouldnt worry about more water catchment for your garden area.
If your water table gets higher than 2 feet for extended periods id be thinking raised beds aswell.

Now if you could make some more dams up that stream from you then we would be talking year round stream.

Another thing ive noticed is a little bit of whole grain fed to the cows really gets the chickens inserested in the cow pats. Also alot of seeds can be fed to the cows to seed the pastures.

How is your land shaped? Rectangle square? Where is the water? Im doing an ally down the middle of my pasture to give access to water. Then i can give them there daily grass from the ally. I put my chickens right beside the water since this is where the main and consistant parasite load is.
The rest of the grass get enough rest to not have to worrie about it. Try not to think of how many sqr foot the pastures should be but how much they need depending on how the grass is doing. They will need alot more room with low grass growth then with fresh green growth.
This is why you need electric in the middle so that its easy to move if you change your mind and depending on the weather.
If you can get set up to give the cows freah grass every day and provide them with water and mineral then you will be in a good spot to put your pastures in wayyy better shape. Then worry about moving chickens around and reseeding to better plants and whatever else.

Western ceder will only grow with good moisture, swaps ect. Although once established they will grow even after the land has been drained. So yoy may have a spot where some swales or a dam and you could keep some of those winter rains on the property.