We have had an easier winter than some in the past, but I feel
like I am with the majority of people when I say. When is Spring going to come?
Here in New York State we have had an eventful spring for
sure. Freezing cold temps one day,
t-shirt weather the next and then the day after that a foot or more of
snow. I for one am done! I am
ready to have tractors in fields, and cattle on pasture. But when do we know if it’s the right time to
put cattle out to spring and summer pastures? Here are some ways that we here at our farm
decide when it is the right time.
Many years we have extra forage and trust me there have been
years we are more than happy we put in those extra bales or tons of silage. We are a small farm acre wise and we do
everything we can to preserve our soils and grasses. Without good land, we don’t have a good crop
or harvest and without these then we don’t have good quality cattle. It’s all about stewardship.
This being said we are strong believers in cover crops, fall
planting, crop rotation and rotational grazing.
All these techniques help us to produce as much as possible but also maintains
the integrity and quality of our soils and crops.
So that’s where it starts.
Just because the grass has turned green does not mean that it might be
the best time to turn out your cattle.
Having those extra feed reserves will allow the cattle to stay in their
winter lots a little bit longer in the spring and allow those newly green
grasses to mature properly. That being
said, obviously the cost of forage and feed play a part into this decision. Every producer needs to weigh when the time
to turn out cattle is best for them based on their own operation. Some producers have to purchase their forages
and others like us are able to grow it ourselves and others have an abundance
of pasture land but not a lot of feed reserves.
There are many different situations to consider.
Now which pasture to graze first? The rule of thumb that we follow is never to
graze the same pasture two years in a row.
Now once again this depends on each individual operation. Some producers may have a certain pasture
located near their calving lot or barn and it might work best for them to graze
that lot first if they calve later in the spring. With our operation we calve mostly between
January and April so by the time our spring pastures are ready in May our
calves are all on the ground and we have the ability to choose which pasture
will work best to graze first that year.
Grazing pastures with grasses like broom for example first will provide
producers with the flexibility needed with spring grazing and will allow native
grasses the time to grow and mature after the broom grass and other tame
grasses are grazed down. Having a
pasture rotation schedule for the grazing season is very important and will
play a major role in this. Typically we
rotate pastures every week to two weeks depending on the acreage and when the
grasses are grazed down to about 4 inches high.
This allows for grasses to grow back and eliminates over grazing which
is important especially on small acre farms like ours to ensure forage quality,
pasture management and cattle production and growth.
At the end of the day every operation is different and we
all have what works best for us, our pastures and our cattle. I hope some of my thoughts help you as we go
into spring and grazing season!
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