The Rural Voice, 2003-05, Page 28Profits from your
pasture
Speakers give tips on getting the most from
,dour pasture lands
By Ji
er and Keith R • on
11R
f
Returns from grazing can match the returns
from other crops, speakers say.
X .r":' a i
pasturing falls in and out of
favour with farmers. On one
hand some producers argue that
the precision of confining cattle or
sheep and taking all the forages to
them brings best results. Other
farmers wonder why you'd do all that
work and invest in forage harvesting
machinery when the animals can
efficiently harvest the crop
themselves.
Those who choose the latter
course got some expert advice when
24 THE RURAL VOICE
a series of "Profitable Pastures"
seminars were held across Ontario,
including a stop in Elmwood.
With returns from agricultural
endeavours often threatened by low
market prices, decreased demand,
weather or inefficiencies, an
opportunity to optimize acreage
output has seen resurgent interest in
the past 10 years.
Jack Kyle, Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture and Food Grazier
Specialist from Lindsay, provided
information on a study of 92 grazing
dairy farms in 10 states in the Great
Lakes basin which showed that those
grazing their animals were
economically competitive with
confinement herds in states where
comparable data was available. Herds
with more than 100 cows had a
higher net income per cow than herds
of under 100.
In another presentation, Kyle
pointed out that getting practical
information for use in a grazing
operation can be challenging.
Because there are few inputs and
little equipment needed, there aren't
lots of fieldmen and sales personnel
bombarding you with information, he
said.
As a result some farmers have
turned to pasture walk groups where
groups of farmers who graze cattle or
sheep get together to share
information and give advice.
Such a group should meet several
times a year, or even monthly, and
tour a pasture operation and discuss
the many aspects of pasturing, Kyle
advised. Topics to discuss might
include performance of species,
annual forages, water systems,
fencing systems, fertility programs,
rotation systems, weed control, frost
seeding or reseeding, and fly and
parasite control.
While in the area Fraser Stewart of
the Manitoba Forage council, spoke
both at Elmwood and to a gathering
in Brussels, saying there are
opportunities for a greater return
from the land base with the use of
forage/livestock systems than
through cropping systems.
There is lower capital investment,
because of less equipment required
and options for increased returns, he
said.
The benefits of improving pasture
management are realized by using a
rest/recovery grazing system. This
allows extended grazing on the
acreage and reduced cow wintering
costs.
Cattle are selective grazers, said
Stewart. They will over or under -
graze different plants so a balance of
those is needed.
The animals use a sense of taste as
well as habit to know how and what
to graze.
Stewart said cows moved from
other herds will graze differently