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Extending the Grazing Season – Is 365 Days Grazing Possible?

Extending the Grazing Season – Is 365 Days Grazing Possible?. Mark Kennedy Kennedy Grassland Services, LLC. Tips for Grazing 365 days. Utilize Proper Stocking Rates. Carrying capacity of pasture is determined by four factors. Forage Production. Seasonal Utilization Rate. X.

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Extending the Grazing Season – Is 365 Days Grazing Possible?

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  1. Extending the Grazing Season – Is 365 Days Grazing Possible? Mark Kennedy Kennedy Grassland Services, LLC

  2. Tips for Grazing 365 days • Utilize Proper Stocking Rates

  3. Carrying capacity of pasture is determined by four factors Forage Production Seasonal Utilization Rate X Carrying Capacity = Length of the Grazing Season Daily Intake X

  4. Carrying capacity of pasture is determined by four factors X .50 8000 x 160 Carrying Capacity = X 365 1200 x .03 Carrying Capacity = 48.7 cows for 365 days 55 cows = 320 days 59 cows = 300 days

  5. Tips for Grazing 365 days • Proper Stocking Rate • Efficient Utilization of Forage Produced

  6. Grazing Period Length Affects Utilization

  7. Tips for Grazing 365 days • Proper Stocking Rate • Efficient Utilization of Forage Produced • Use legumes

  8. Cool Season Grasses Smooth Bromegrass Tall Fescue Orchardgrass Forage Yield Feb Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec

  9. Legumes Arrowleaf Clover Hairy Vetch Red Clover Crimson Clover Alfalfa Winter peas White Clover Annual lespedeza

  10. Cool-season Grass with Legumes Cool season grass Red Clover White Clover Alfalfa Forage Yield Lespedeza Feb Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec

  11. Tips for Grazing 365 days • Proper Stocking Rate • Efficient Utilization of Forage Produced • Use legumes • Add Warm Season Grasses

  12. Native WSG Big Bluestem Indiangrass Switchgrass Eastern Gamagrass Others little bluestem sideoats grama dropseeds Introduced WSG Bermudagrass common types Guymon, Wrangler,Cheyenne hybrids Hardie, Tifton 44, Midland, Midland 99, Ozark, others Old World Bluestems Caucasian Plains WW Spar King Ranch Predominant Warm Season Grasses in the Midwest

  13. Annual Warm Season Grasses • Sorghum/Sudan • Corn • Millet • Crabgrass

  14. Native Warm Season Grasses Indiangrass Big Bluestem Switchgrass Eastern Gamagrass

  15. Caucasian Bluestem Bermudagrass

  16. Benefits of Warm Season Grasses? • Good summer production • Helps manage fescue endophyte problem • Helps manage spring growth of cool seasons • Favorable haying weather • Adapted/persistent • More efficient users of H2O & N than cool season grasses • Wildlife benefits (NWSG) • Good quality and animal performance • 38 % higher season long ADG when WSG included in summer grazing as compared to tall fescue full season

  17. Warm Season Grass QualitySouthern MO Data (1994-2000)

  18. Introduced WarmSeason Grasses Bermudagrass Caucasian Bluestem Tall Fescue Forage Yield Feb Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec

  19. Native WarmSeason Grasses Indiangrass Switchgrass Big Bluestem Tall Fescue Forage Yield Feb Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec

  20. How much warm season grass is needed? • Generally 20 – 40% of the total pasture production should be in warm season grass to balance out forage supplies

  21. Tips for Grazing 365 days • Proper Stocking Rate • Efficient Utilization of Forage Produced • Use legumes • Add Warm Season Grasses • Stockpile Tall Fescue

  22. Stockpiled Fescue - competitive advantage • Fall regrowth accumulates a high concentration of carbohydrates (high quality) • Waxy layer on leaf makes it resistant to weathering • Fall regrowth has lower levels of toxins from endophyte • Ergovaline concentrations drop more rapidly than forage quality through the winter

  23. Stockpiling Recipe • Start with fescue pastures that have 3 to 6 inches of leaf in mid to late August or 60 to 90 days prior to the end of the growing season. • Apply 40 - 60 lbs. N • Defer grazing until growth stops (late Nov to early Dec.) or until needed • Utilize all other pastures in rotation for fall grazing until fully utilized and grass growth stops

  24. Move polywire to expose 2 to 3 days worth of grazing at a time ... greatly increases utilization and preserves quality.. Calculate forage available per acre, figure daily herd intake requirement, factor in 70% utilization if moving every 2 days, calculate size strip required

  25. Temp Fence Strip Grazing Perimeter Fence Winter Water

  26. Utilization Rates ofStockpiled Tall Fescue

  27. Tips for Grazing 365 days • Proper Stocking Rate • Efficient Utilization of Forage Produced • Use legumes • Add Warm Season Grasses • Stockpile Tall Fescue • Use Winter Annual Forages

  28. Brassicas • Turnips, rape, kale, swedes • Excellent quality late fall – early winter • Can produce up to 3 tons by Dec. 1 if planted in late August • Don’t hold up well past January 1

  29. Brassicas’ Growth Curve

  30. Kale Rape Grazing Rape Turnip

  31. Cereal Rye/Wheat • Will produce 1500 – 3000 lbs. of forage by Dec. 1 if planted by Sept. 1 • Annual yields of 6000-8000 lbs • High Quality • 20% CP • 25 – 30% ADF • Stays vegetative until mid to late March • Rye is more winter hardy – actively growing down to 39°

  32. Small Grains Growth Curve

  33. Annual Ryegrass • High quality • 20 – 22% CP • <22% ADF • Capable of producing 3000 – 5000 lbs. of forage within 90 days of planting • Produces more spring growth than in fall growth • Total seasonal yields of 10,000 lbs. in south MO

  34. Annual Ryegrass Growth Curve

  35. Tips for Grazing 365 days • Proper Stocking Rate • Efficient Utilization of Forage Produced • Use legumes • Add Perennial Warm Season Grasses • Stockpile Tall Fescue • Use Winter Annual Forages • Graze Dormant Alfalfa and other Hayfields

  36. Graze Dormant Alfalfa and other Hayfields • recommended to allow growth to accumulate in alfalfa pastures or hayfields for about 6 weeks before the first killing frost • once cold weather has ensured dormancy, the accumulated growth can be grazed by livestock • tends to reduce alfalfa weevil populations the following spring • Summer or fall regrowth of other hayfields should be grazed utilizing strip-grazing

  37. Tips for Grazing 365 days • Proper Stocking Rate • Efficient Utilization of Forage Produced • Use legumes • Add Perennial Warm Season Grasses • Stockpile Tall Fescue • Use Winter Annual Forages • Graze Dormant Alfalfa and other Hayfields • Graze Dormant Warm Season Grasses and Other Forage Crops

  38. Graze Dormant WSG • Studies in OK & AR show stockpiled bermudagrass protein levels above 10% if grazed by the end of December • Missouri data has shown crude protein of dormant NWSG of 7 – 9% with TDN levels of 55 – 60% • Some type of supplementation may be needed for some classes of livestock

  39. Utilizing stockpiled fescue as a supplement to Dormant NWSG

  40. Tips for Grazing 365 days • Proper Stocking Rate • Efficient Utilization of Forage Produced • Use legumes • Add Perennial Warm Season Grasses • Stockpile Tall Fescue • Use Winter Annual Forages • Graze Dormant Alfalfa and other Hayfields • Graze Dormant Warm Season Grasses and Other Forage Crops • Graze Crop Residues

  41. Grazing Crop Residues • Crop residues usually represent about half of the pre-harvest plant dry matter • a field producing 120 bushel corn grain will contain 3 to 4 tons of roughage dry matter per acre. • beef cattle will normally consume between 30 and 40% of the crop residue (1800 – 3200 lbs./ac.) • average number of grazing days for crop residue is 65-111 • Livestock select the portions of crop residues with the highest digestibility and protein concentration first

  42. Relative amounts and values of corn residue plant parts a Includes leaf sheath Wilson, C.B., G.E. Erickson, T.J. Klopfenstein, R.J. Rasby, D.C. Adams, and I.G. Rush. 2004. A Review of Corn Stalks Grazing on Animal Performance and Crop Yield, University of Nebraska 2004 Beef Research Report.

  43. Grazing Crop Residues • strip grazing of crop residues enhances efficiency of utilization (resulting in more potential grazing days) and helps ensure maintenance of a high quality diet for the animals over a longer period of time by reducing selective

  44. Stockpile milo (don’t harvest) • 120 bu/ac milo = 6,720 lb. grain • 120 bu/ac milo = 7,200 lb. fodder/residue 13,920 total feed available X 0.65 % utilization 9,048 harvestable by livestock/30 lb/hd/day = 302 Animal unit days/acre

  45. Possible Forage System for a 365 Day Grazing Season Warm Season Grass/legume Winter Annual

  46. Daily and seasonal forage costs for alternative wintering strategies at typical yields, costs, and period of useWinter feeding period - Dec 1 to April 10 SOURCE: Jim Gerrish, University of Missouri.

  47. The Economics of Grazing Beef Cows During WinterG.J. Bishop-Hurley & R.L. Kallenbach

  48. So…Is 365 Days ofGrazing Possible? • Yes, but it takes substantial management • Variations in weather make it more difficult some years

  49. So…What forages should I plant? • For the first 3 years plant fence posts and water lines • Manage grazing and see what happens naturally • Find gaps in forage supply and pastures that didn’t respond to management (weak links) • Then… plant forages to fill the gaps

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