First time grazing stockpiled pasture.

[Bovine breeder]

47 grazing days if you are good with polywire

Would you mind to share with me your formula to find that? Asking because I don't know, not doubting you.

Ever been to a grazing school or do you have a grazing stick?

Only very basic ones put on by local extension. "Rotate your cows. Diversify your pastures. Soil test. Yada yada." I've been reading into Greg Judy and some of those guys to learn how they do it. I find it's better to directly ask the people who practice it regularly. I don't have a grazing stick

 

[Bovine breeder]

1. Estimate total standing dry matter i.e. 2000lbs/ac
2. Estimate how much of that the cows will eat i.e. 40% or 800lbs/ac x 28 ac = 22,400lbs

3. Estimate daily intake i.e. 2-3% body weight (1400lbs [email protected]% x 12 head= 420lbs daily)

total available forage/daily intake of the herd=grazing days

Most acurate method for standing dry matter is to clip and dry. A grazing stick gets you in the ballpark. It has a formula on it of inches x forage type fudge factor = lbs/acre. A bale of free choice filler helps stretch out the higher quality stuff when strip grazing.

Cattle intake varies greatly depending on how fast they can digest it, lactation, age, and how good it tastes. A range of 2 to 3% of body weight covers most cases.

*** You have to adjust somewhere for waste. Many assume 50%, but it can range from about 20 to 80%. ****
This is where the moving poly wire comes in.

Thanks Steve. Very good info

 

[Ebenezer]

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/agr/agr191/agr191.pdf

The comparative that most of us have is how many bales would it take to carry X cows for Y days. If you know the real weight of your bales and can get close to the utilization rate of the hay waste/eaten then you can begin to get a handle on the forage in a pasture and cow days. We have strip grazed fescue of 30+ years. You have to dedicate the time that you want to spend. I have used 2 day, one day and 2X day rotation. My preference in a close year is 2X day. But also you have to cull the cows that refuse to participate and stay in the wire. It is a good deal and we enjoy it. But the tight patterns will also set you up for plugged areas during wet seasons. So, trade offs.

The other difference is that it is easier and gives you more grazing to stall rotations in the late fall if the season has been dry and stockpiling is still occurring. You can feed moderate quality hay for 30 days, say in October/November in a sacrifice area, generally the ground is dry and the cows are not as needy and when you do start strip grazing you can avoid late winter hay feeding that become a mud bog. Of if you have adequate summer forages you can skip the fall hay. Our summer slump can be pretty severe here so that is when hay is more of a tool than a feed.

 

[Bovine breeder]

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/agr/agr191/agr191.pdf

The comparative that most of us have is how many bales would it take to carry X cows for Y days. If you know the real weight of your bales and can get close to the utilization rate of the hay waste/eaten then you can begin to get a handle on the forage in a pasture and cow days. We have strip grazed fescue of 30+ years. You have to dedicate the time that you want to spend. I have used 2 day, one day and 2X day rotation. My preference in a close year is 2X day. But also you have to cull the cows that refuse to participate and stay in the wire. It is a good deal and we enjoy it. But the tight patterns will also set you up for plugged areas during wet seasons. So, trade offs.

The other difference is that it is easier and gives you more grazing to stall rotations in the late fall if the season has been dry and stockpiling is still occurring. You can feed moderate quality hay for 30 days, say in October/November in a sacrifice area, generally the ground is dry and the cows are not as needy and when you do start strip grazing you can avoid late winter hay feeding that become a mud bog. Of if you have adequate summer forages you can skip the fall hay. Our summer slump can be pretty severe here so that is when hay is more of a tool than a feed.

Thanks. Appreciate all the info!!

 

[BlondeD]

Ebenezer hit the nail on the head with that reply. Also check out the web site..OnPasture......lots of resource stuff there.
(Too much for me at my stage of rebuilding almost) But will give you several approaches

 

[Bovine breeder]

Ebenezer hit the nail on the head with that reply. Also check out the web site..OnPasture......lots of resource stuff there.
(Too much for me at my stage of rebuilding almost) But will give you several approaches

Yeah, I've been reading on there some. Great site. Like you said, almost too information to take in. Don't know where where to start or stop when I get on there

 

[jdg]

What kind of bermudagrass do you have? Some of the hybrid's stockpile better than others, but you will lose TDN and protein after frost. We need some type of supplementation here with our bermuda stockpiles (no fescue down this far) or their poops stack up like horse dung. My registered dry cows are currently working their way through 40 acres of T85.

This is a basic article covering stockpiles.

https://www.beefmagazine.com/mag/beef_stockpiled_forages_longevity