T
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A26-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 27, 1996
At Papa Farm, Maze
(Continued from Page At)
assorted chickens and sheep.
For the past six years, Mohn has
maintained the Papa Farm. He
cares for about 60 acres of pasture
for the Angus commercial herd.
Two challenges that he met
head-on woe learning to maintain
a clean and dry watering area and
picking exactly the right kind of
grass for the lanes.
Mohn spoke about his recent
purchase of several concrete pre
fab swine floor slats from a Ideal
supplier to use as floor for pasture
watering tanks. Because of the
shaley, easily credible ground at
the crowded watering location, it
was difficult to manage what
amounted to a “mudhole.”
So Mohn purchased two
1,500-pound concrete slabs (the
material was classified as seconds
by the supplier) for $3O a piece.
“I think it’s going to do what I
want it to do,” said Mohn, in keep
ing the area clean and accessible to
cattle.
Mohn indicated the importance
of giving cattle a proper amount of
crowding areas in the watering
areas. “You may have to split the
herd if necessary,” he said.
Also. Mohn knew there was a
problem with wear on the cattle
16-foot wide laneways. So he
planted a Kentucky 31 tall fescue,
mostly unpalatable to cattle.
‘The grass is used in conserva
tion waterways. It is unpalatable to
the animals and is ‘raspy* to their
tongues, so they don’t accept it,”
said Mena Hautau, Berks County
agronomy agent who spoke at the
walk. "It’s used where areas get a
lot of traffic to hold the ground in
place.”
With all the farm work, Mohn
still tries to keep abreast of the
Angus herd lines to keep the farm
business viable. “Following a
registered line is a full-time job,”
he admitted. “I don’t have time to
follow the bloodlines as close as 1
should.”
Regardless, within the commer
cial herd are some purebred Angus
heifers, several calves, one regis
tered Angus bull, and sue regis
tered Angus cows.
In the past, Mohn, who has a
degree in agronomy, purchased a
“paddock mix” for the grazing
farm. The mix contained mostly
bluegrass/tirnothy seed and pro
duced a fairly good stand trou
ble is, it wouldn’t provide the vol
ume or tonnage to satisfy the
cattle’s fed requirements, accord-
Brian Mohn usm a flva-strand polywira for lha grazing
maza paddocks.
ing to Mohn.
“Stay away from paddock mix
es,” he told the producers. Instead,
choose a grazing mix of clover,
alfalfa, and fescue grasses. The
cattle will choose which grasses
they want to eat at a given time in
their diet Even orchardgtass “is
still a good bread and butter grass”
for pastures, he said.
This year, Mohn planted some
“grazing maze” com for graz
ing on four acres previously in
hay.
The variety from Baldridge
Hybrids in Nebraska was seeded in
one two-acre parcel at 40,000 per
acre, doubled back on 36-inch
rows to form 18-inch rows. The
other parcel was seeded at conven
tional 36-inch rows.
At the lour, producers watched
cattle eat away at once was S-foot
tall com, just before the tasseling
stage, in a half-acre paddock. The
cattle had taken most of the leaves
off about two-thirds of the plants in
the field in a two-hour grazing per
iod. Mohn expected to take the
cattle to the next paddock on a
36-hour rotation.
Mohn allows the cattle access to
grass at the same time as the maze.
The grazing maze paddock was
secure with a 5-strand polywire
hooked to a 110-volt charger that
was kicking out about 7,200 volts.
“The cows have respect for that,”
said Mohn, who was more
impressed with the polywire over
the tape.
Mohn said he expects to disc the
acres that are nowin grazing maze
with small grains in the fall
The perimeter of the farm, bor
dcringncighbor farms, irprotected
with a multiple wire high-tensile
fence. “It’s important for good
neighbor relations,” said Mohn.
To' help himself with gate clo
sure and opening. Mohn got rid of
the chains and now uses gate latch
es (which cost about $lB apiece).
He also finds time to raise about
40-50 hogs per year for a quite suc
cessful freezer market. Also, the
farm maintains some sheep and a
successful (though small) chicken
layer operation.
In addition, his wife, Karen,
manages a successful dried flower
and herb business, which is “doing
well for us.” said Brian.
“There are several things you
can do to subsidize your beef
income, if you want to stay in the
business,” said Mohn.
Provides Another Way To Graze
About 30 producers and at JStry representatives visited he Papa Farm In
Bethel Tuesday evening for a grazing tour, which Included a grazing maze.
Tour members walk up the 16-feet
About four acres of maze are used for grazing at the Papa Farm. The beef cattle
enjoy the leaves and will eat some of the stalk.
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