As Fall Approaches…
As fall approaches on the farm focuses begin to shift. An example of this is with our pasture management. You see during the spring and summer months when sunshine and rain are abundant, we rotate our cattle from paddock to paddock every few days. This is important for both the health of the pasture but also the health the cattle. This is also when you need to do the math on whether or not you can acquire enough hay to support your herd through the winter and into the spring flush. Many who are just starting out don’t put enough thought into their hay supply until it’s too late. But running out of hay too soon, is usually a lesson learned the first time. During the winter months though as pastures go dormant and we begin to bale graze we have to rethink our rotational strategy. There are many approaches to this and none of them are wrong, pre say. You just need to weigh the pros and cons of each to figure out the strategy that works best for your operation. I have listed some of the different strategies below.
Some farmers utilize what is referred to as a winter paddock. A winter paddock is a piece of your pasture large enough to house your herd comfortably that has been set aside to house them through the winter and into spring. In this method, hay is usually fed from a stationary ring feeder or trough. Sometimes these paddocks are located close to the barn or stable, providing protection for the livestock during inclement weather. This also makes it easier on the farmer as they are located close by.
This is a great plan however, it does have some drawbacks. One of them is that paddock if not sized correctly is going to take a lot of abuse. As it rains or snows, as the ground freezes and thaws, and is repeatedly trampled by 1200 lb. hooves the ground eventually becomes a muddy mess. This isn’t good for the pasture because it will take it the next 6 months for it to recover and it’s not good for the cattle because all that mud on their coats restricts their ability to retain heat and thus the cattle can become sick and stressed.
Another method is to keep them out on a large pasture and just feed hay from a portable hay ring. Nothing wrong with this either but consider a few things before making this your strategy. First even though you are feeding hay, your cattle will continue to look for vegetation that they find to be tastier. You may ask yourself, Well what’s the problem with that? Glad you asked, because this is important to remember. Your cattle remember what forages taste good to them, kind of like us and our favorite food and they will continue to go back to those spots repeatedly throughout the season until they have grazed it to the ground. This can be devastating to your pastures. In the spring the pasture will struggle to recover, and it might not recover at all leaving you with bare dirt patches. Another thing to consider is the impact that thick uneaten piles of hay will cause too. As that thick pile of uneaten leftover hay sits there over winter it will smother out and kill the vegetation below it.
Some farmers even stockpile graze and this where they set aside a large section of pasture several months in advance and let the forage grow tall and uneaten until winter and then they graze that. Some draw backs are you have to have either a really small heard or a really large acreage of land to make this work. Also, as the grass is growing tall so will undesired vegetation, and if allowed to go to seed could be spreading these undesirables all over the pasture and next year, you’ll be weedier than before.
The approach that works best for us is what is referred to as rotational bale grazing. We rotate paddocks as we normally would, however we roll out a bale of hay flat across that paddock. This accomplishes several things. First, they will stay in that paddock a little longer than usual, because they will remain until they finish the bale. But they aren’t there long enough to destroy the paddock or overgraze anything. Second instead of a big round pile of hay killing the grasses we are spreading it out across the area. They will graze it much more efficiently this way and little is left behind to kill the grass below. This also causes the manure to be spread over a distance instead of one concentrated area.
These are just a few ways to graze in the winter and there are many more things to consider when grazing like access to water and mineral, so take the time to put together a plan that works best for you and your animals and above all don’t be too proud to change something if it’s not working out!
Until next time hold tight to your faith, family and keep farmin’!
Kevin
