The Rural Voice, 2006-04, Page 19SHEEP FARMERS
The profit in stockpiling pasture
ince winter feeding costs are
the single biggest cost in a
livestock operation, the more
you can extend your pasture season,
the more money you can make,
Gerrish said. By stockpiling forage,
you can cut the number of days you
have to provide that expensive feed.
Extending the grazing season can
be as simple as turning cattle into
corn stalks after the corn harvest or
can involve specially -planted crops.
In the highlands of Idaho,
Gerrish plants a mixture of barley,
oats and winter peas which he then
grazes under controlled conditions,
moving a portable fence to ensure
cattle make the most of what is in
each paddock. In this way he gets
292 cow -days per acre of grazing, at
a cost of about 29 cents per cow per
day (all figures in U.S. currency).
If it costs $1.33 a day to provide
hay, then extending the grazing
season saves one dollar per cow per
day. It adds up. If you have 400
cows and you can graze them for an
additional 60 days, it's an additional
$24,000 in your pocket.
For this saving, Gerrish has
about 40 minutes of work every
third day, taking down a 1,000 -foot
temporary fence (a $400-$500
investment), moving it and putting
it back up. Compare that to his
neighbour who spends a half-hour
just to get his $60,000 tractor going
in the cold so he can move hay for
five yours a day, Gerrish says.
Extended grazing is driven by
need. If he has a lot of hay on hand,
Gerrish said, he uses bigger plots
and moves the fence as often, less
worried about getting the best
utilization of the stockpiled pasture.
Gerrish says when he brings up
the subject, farmers always tell him
extended grazing won't work under
their conditions but "Somebody can
make it work here if they have the
right attitude."
To make extended season
grazing work, "You need to have
cows that know how to work for a
living," he said. You should develop
a job description of what you expect
from your livestock, he advised.
Jack Kyle, OMAFRA grazier
specialist, outlined pasture
stockpiling options for Ontario
farmers.
For the midsummer slump of
cool -season grasses, you might want
to plant corn for grazing or sorghum
sudan grasses.
For fall feeding, spring cereals
can be planted after wheat harvest if
there is enough moisture, and can
produce a fair amount of feed by
late fall. Oats is ideal, Kyle said,
because it is a cheap seed, is very
palatable and won't overwinter. If
you plant barley, about five per cent
may overwinter causing problems
the next spring. This late crop can
be baled and wrapped or can be
used for late season grazing.
You can get early grazing in late
April and early May by planting
winter rye the year before. Kyle
warned that you have to graze it
before the crop heads out.
Rye and winter wheat are a
relatively cheap crop that farmers
already know how to grow, he said.
You can graze it off in time to plant
a late soybean crop.
For late October -November
grazing, some farmers have been
planting turnips. Though turnips
need higher fertility, they have a
low seeding rate and have lots of
protein in the tops and roots. They
need to be planted in late July and
need phosphorous and nitrogen but
they yield a fair amount of feed:
3,000-6,000 pounds of dry matter
per acre.
In controlled, intensive feeding,
the cattle tend to pull out the plant,
eat the tops and then eat the root.
Corn offers a huge window of
opportunity for grazing, Kyle said.
It can be eaten green or pastured
after dry -down. If cattle are grazed
intensively they'll eat everything
but the base of the stalk.
The costs of production for
annual grazing is much higher than
for permanent pasture, Kyle said.
Usually farmers take advantage of a
field that has already grown an
annual crop for the year or, if a
pasture is played out, they may kill
it off and no -till plant an extended
season crop into the residue with a
new crop planned for the next
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APRIL 2006 15