Crow’s Nest: No Bull

By Daniel Barringer, Preserve Manager.

We have been caring for a new pair of Jersey calves at Crow’s Nest, where they will be helping us with prescribed grazing for improving wildlife habitat. They’re not bulls any more—now they are steers, males which have been castrated. We’re still bottle feeding them and have raised them from when they were just a few days old. Above and below, they enjoy a romp around the pasture.

They’re still quite small (see below) and will begin grazing habitat areas when they are a bit older. I always say that grazing is one of the oldest—and one of the newest state of the art—methods of managing land. Without using fossil fuel, grazers can be strategically deployed to manage invasive plants in specific places including those into which we can’t get equipment. It’s a partnership where people and calves work together, mechanically brushcutting and grazing plants which interfere with our wildlife habitat goals.