Grazing Bites

December 2011
Victor Shelton, NRCS Grazing Specialist

This calendar year sure flew by fast to me, wasn’t it just spring just a month or so back?  If not, it will be here again before we know it.  I hope that some are still grazing corn stalks, planted annuals, or stockpiled forages still but if you are not, you are not alone. 

The droughty late summer and early fall months certainly reduced regrowth in many areas which reduced what could be harvested by grazing livestock or cut for hay.  Hay can be found, but is not as readily available as it has been in the past.  Reduced acres of hay acres due to more acres planted to corn and soybeans the past two years and the increasing demand for hay by the severely drought stricken south-west has had an impact. 

Most producers do feed hay for at least part of the winter.  How long they do so is certainly influenced by the amount of grazing acres, available forage or other grazable residues or forages available, and the number of animals that are present.  More animals, means more dry matter, i.e. feed, is required.  Ruminants, those creatures naturally consuming forages, will consume roughly about three percent of their body weight in dry matter per day.  This is somewhat directly influenced by environmental conditions that might increase their requirements.  Walking in extremely muddy conditions, cold wind with no protection and just being wet all increase required energy levels which will influence intake…makes me hungry just thinking about it. 

It might be wise to do a little pencil pushing and make sure that you have enough hay on hand for the winter ahead and it is good enough quality.  Figure your average per animal need, then total daily need from the total animals kept overwinter, and then estimate how many days you will need to be feeding hay.  Let’s say 40 cows, 1200 pound average at 3% intake; that is 1440 pounds of dry matter per day, roughly a good large bale depending on the baler.  The average producer feeds hay 90 to 120 days, some more some less.  Using the 90 days; that is 129,600 pounds of dry matter needed…or about 87 good large bales (actually slightly more if you figure in that most hay is about 85% dry matter).  Now that though is with no loss…they don’t always clean their plate very well.  Hay loss in storage and feeding will average 20% to 50% depending on how it is stored, fed and certainly quality.  If it won’t beat snowballs…then don’t expect them to clean it all up…just won’t happen. 

Creating a little bit of competition between the animals never hurts.  If a huge banquet is put out in front of you, you are more likely to leave something you don’t like as well on your plate. Putting out several days’ worth of hay at a time is the same thing.  If we figure on the low end of wastage, 20%, then that 87 bales has now increased to 104…we won’t even touch that higher percentage.   

It is advisable to test fed feeds to make sure they will meet the nutritional requirements of the animals consuming it.  With a battery powered drill, a forage probe and then testing, you will know what you have to work with and how to supplement; worth the time and money.  Test different cuttings so that the nutritional plane is known for each group.  Spring calving cows for example will have an increasing quality requirement and ideally should be fed lower quality first and the best last.  Even the cow temperament will be better if she is moving toward better quality rather than the opposite.  Feed me the broccoli first and then I get the ice cream for dessert.   

Now, in an ideal situation, that hay would be best fed back on the field from which it was removed returning nutrients and organic matter to from where it came.  That is not always possible but at least should be considered.  Feeding areas that are used year after year would certainly benefit from having a rocked pad present.  The leftover hay, waste, and manure piled up once spring or early summer conditions allowed, compost it some, and then spread back from whence it came or needed. 

With all of that said, I really do hope that you are still grazing.  I say that but with warning, if there is nothing left to harvest, don’t sacrifice body condition or next years’ pasture – start feeding hay.  One thing that I cannot ever stress too much is, “keep the ground covered” and keep it covered well.  You really don’t want to see any soil at all.  Bare soil over winter means potential soil loss, colder soil temperatures, deeper freezing, more runoff, a huge potential for increased weed pressure the following year and slower new growth come spring. 

As always, keep on grazing, but only if you really can.

2012 AFGC Annual Conference, January 9-11 in Louisville, KY - For more information www.afgc.org  

Indiana Forage Council Annual Meeting, January 31, 2012, Gasthof Amish Village, Montgomery, IN – Presentation by Gary Zimmer of Midwestern Bio-Ag – for more information contact Keith Johnson at 765-494-4800.

Heart of America Grazing Conference (HOAGC), January 25-26^th, 2012, Mt. Vernon, IL – For more information contact Teresa Steckler, Dixon Springs Ag Center, (618) 695-4917 or tsteckle@illinois.edu or go to http://web.extension.illinois.edu/ajmpu/hoa/

 Northern Indiana Grazing Conference (NIGC), February 3-4, 2012 – Speakers include Kerry Estes, Dave Heidel, Keith Johnson, Jerry Perkins & Family, Greg Gunthorp, Jack Lazar and more.  More details coming.  Contact Dona Hunter for more information at 260-463-3166.