Grazing Bites
November
2009
Victor
Shelton, NRCS Grazing Specialist
This will be another year to remember or perhaps to try and forget. Wet fields and wet corn are prevalent. Game plans of what we planned to do or graze have changed frequently mainly because of weather. My wife’s ducks are about the only ones really enjoying all the rain we have received lately and I think they mock me as I pass them by.
Corn stock residue that is commonly grazed this time of year should be avoided until after soil conditions improve…by either drying up or most likely freezing. Quality of that fodder will decrease and only maintenance animals should really graze them if anything. It might be best to just skip this year if enough pasture and hay is available. Many areas still have an abundance of forage available for grazing. Once we have a good killing freeze, which has already happened in the northern part of the state, we can feel comfortable to start grazing stockpiled forages without worrying too much about stressing the plant too much.
We need to first look at what we have stockpiled. Forages that don’t hold value very well and for very long need to be grazed first – orchardgrass, timothy hay aftermath, perennial ryegrass, and even smoothbrome once it has for sure gone dormant should be first on the agenda. I would then move to any annual small grains as long as soil conditions permit.
If you have any fall seeded brassicas, now is a good time to start grazing them if you have not already done so. Most brassicas are very high in water and nutrients and most likely are going to need a little dry matter such as hay or dry stockpiled forage to graze/eat with it to keep them in balance.
If you are thinking about grazing any alfalfa hay aftermath, it is important to allow the plants to go completely dormant before grazing; which is usually in the same timeline as the first hard freeze. Graze then before leaf drop. Do not graze under wet conditions to prevent crown damage and ideally leaving a minimum of 3 to 4 inches of stubble for winter protection.
The mainstay dominating stockpiled forage for the rest of the winter here in the Midwest is most certainly tall fescue. Whether old Kentucky 31 or a endophyte friendly tall fescue like Max-Q, if it is dominantly new fall regrowth with adequate nitrogen from either applied nitrogen or from associated legumes, it will hold its nutritional value better than anything as long as it lasts. I believe the worst stockpiled tall fescue that I ever tested was just before new growth in early March one year and it was still about 11% crude protein with a digestibility of almost 60%...still better than lots of hay that is fed. This is of course best utilized in strips…starting on the watering tank end of the field and working across, moving the fence forward as you go, ideally providing only 1-3 days of grazing at a time. You have to consider it standing “hay”, and the more they have access to at one time, the more they will waste; the smaller the allocation, the higher the efficiency. Accumulation in the early fall should have started 60 to 90 days before the end of the growing season – usually August-September in most parts of Indiana. Grazing stockpiled forages on some soils can be challenging. If you are on poorly drained soils or soils with fragipans, you may need to wait until the soil is frozen before grazing. Better to feed some hay now and save the pasture, then to have to replant pastures later because they got tore up.
I would recommend feeding lower quality hay first…they will always eat the better stuff. Easier to move towards the better stuff, with fewer complaints from the cows, but for spring calving cows, that is really the way you should feed it anyway because of higher nutritional needs during that period of gestation.
Pastures that could use more legumes can be grazed down a little tighter at this point opening up the canopy for frost seeding later on and also reducing competition for the new legume seedlings in the spring. Extra thick monocultures of grass probably need to be grazed a little harder prior to going dormant in the fall to really set them back in the spring if that is your intent. Just remember that this heavier grazing can also open up the sward for a few more weeds too. A longer rest period in the spring may be needed to overcome this.
Keep
on grazing!
4th NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GRAZING LANDS
December 13-16, 2009. John Ascuaga’s Nugget Hotel & Casino, Sparks, NV
http://www.glci.org/4NCGLindex.htm
Heart of America Grazing Conference, Roberts Conference Centre, Wilmington, OH - January 20-21, 2010. Details coming soon!
Northern Indiana Grazing Conference, Antique Auction Barn, Shipshewana, IN, February 5th, 2010 – More details coming soon!
Southern Indiana Grazing Conference, Simon Graber Community Building, Odon, IN, February 11, 2010 – More details coming soon!