grazing cattle in woods

[luke03cr]

I have about 15 to 20ac of mostly fescue pasture. But I have about 100ac of good mature forest that I would like to look into grazing them on. It's mostly hilly terrain with a few bottoms. I would like advice on how Yal would stock it, how the cattle would do on it and ect. It will be used in my rotational grazing to give my fields a break from the summer slump and hopefully I can use that to run more head. Thanks.

 

[skyhightree1]

But I have about 100ac of good mature forest that I would like to look into grazing them on.

I think you will have some skinny cattle.. Mine have ate many things but a good mature forest I don't think their teeth can handle... :lol:

 

[Banjo]

I have about 15 to 20ac of mostly fescue pasture. But I have about 100ac of good mature forest that I would like to look into grazing them on. It's mostly hilly terrain with a few bottoms. I would like advice on how Yal would stock it, how the cattle would do on it and ect. It will be used in my rotational grazing to give my fields a break from the summer slump and hopefully I can use that to run more head. Thanks.

I have about 20 ac. of woods on one particular place. My challenge is getting decent grass to grow, there seems to be some type of Bermuda grass that grows very well there. I've not spent the time or money trying to get fescue or orchardgrass on it, it is very rocky in places. I have to bushhog it about 2 times a year because it seems to want to grow little trees. It was logged about 10 to 15 years ago and my Dad had a bulldozer push the tops up in piles. it looks like a park when bushhogged off, the trees are spaced enough for there to be some sunlight in most places. If your canopy is very thick, getting grass to grow or established will be the hardest thing.

 

[Limomike]

I have about 15 to 20ac of mostly fescue pasture. But I have about 100ac of good mature forest that I would like to look into grazing them on. It's mostly hilly terrain with a few bottoms. I would like advice on how Yal would stock it, how the cattle would do on it and ect. It will be used in my rotational grazing to give my fields a break from the summer slump and hopefully I can use that to run more head. Thanks.

If your planning on using it for many years, may as well go ahead and bulldoze most of the trees down, so u can get some grass to grow.

 

[greybeard]

Depends on the breed--and the forest. Around here, people run eared cows in the woods all the time. The don't get fat, but they don't lose much either. It's surprising what a hustling cow can find to eat in woods--if there's any brush to it. Just trees tho, might be slim pickings.
I do have some woods left, and try to save it for late fall early winter. The grass that's in there doesn't die off with the 1st couple of frosts, as the brush and trees holds the heat in and the frost settles on the taller stuff till a hard freeze comes along.

There used to be thousands of cattle running this National Forest here till they did away with open range. Everybody's cows and bulls all mixed up together, and before long, they all started looking alike--just long rangy horned xbred cows.

 

[Dega Moo]

You might want to inventory the trees and underbrush for any species poisonous to cattle and eliminate any found before turning cattle in.
http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/php/plants.php?action=display&ispecies=cattle

 

[danl]

If you have many mature oak trees that drop a lot of acorns, cows will eat them before anything else. Will not be good for their health.

 

[skyhightree1]

.[/quote]
If your planning on using it for many years, may as well go ahead and bulldoze most of the trees down, so u can get some grass to grow.[/quote]

I agree. How many head do you have and whats your stocking rate? Do you have the machinery to clear the trees?

 

[luke03cr]

Thanks for all the replies. I have 30 head of angus rite now but i want to work my way to 40 then maybe 50 sum day. I don't have the machinary to clear land with rite now. What I'm mainly looking at is using those woods for a week or two at a time to give my pastures a rest before I rotate them in again. But I want them to be able to do decent in the woods when there back there.

 

[M.Magis]

If you sell some timber, it would open up the canopy enough to allow some undergrowth. That would provide a lot more forage than mature woods, and will make you some money in the process.

 

[skyhightree1]

Thanks for all the replies. I have 30 head of angus rite now but i want to work my way to 40 then maybe 50 sum day. I don't have the machinary to clear land with rite now. What I'm mainly looking at is using those woods for a week or two at a time to give my pastures a rest before I rotate them in again. But I want them to be able to do decent in the woods when there back there.

How many acres of grass do you estimate available to the cattle in the woods?

 

[luke03cr]

There's not whole lot of grass besides sum short fine leaf grass. But there's lots of shrubs and foliage on saplings that they seem to like. I do plan in the near future to clear out the bottom section of the woods and I estimate that would be enough space for 5ac or so for grass.

 

[skyhightree1]

Call me weird but I don't want my cattle foraging like goats on anything they can find to eat because they may get ahold of something that they shouldn't and may not have enough nutrients to keep the weight on them.

 

[Deepsouth]

If you sell some timber, it would open up the canopy enough to allow some undergrowth. That would provide a lot more forage than mature woods, and will make you some money in the process.

I agree with this. The mature woods with a real close thick canopy can be almost like a dessert on the forest floor, only instead of a lack of water it's a lack of light. I've also seen a study done by Auburn University on this in pine stands and it's very hard to make it work but for what you are taking about doing, just putting them in for a couple of weeks to give your pasture a break you might could make it work. I would have a forester look at your timber and see what he recommended.

 

[Jogeephus]

You want your basal area to be less than 60 square feet for the best grazing. There are a lot of nutritious foods found in the woods and you will have to do your homework on them to find out when they are best grazed. Some of the forages have nutritional value nearly as nutritious as alfalfa but you need to know what you are doing. As long as you don't push them to hard in the woods you shouldn't have any trouble with them eating something bad. I graze in the woods a good bit. You can watch the cows and learn how, when and what they are eating. After a while if you are observant you might find that cattle don't have to be coddled and have a good bit of sense about what they can and can't eat.

One of the best things I ever did was fence in some woods and I used it as a relief grazing area in the early spring to give the pastures a little break to get ahead of the cattle.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I have about 100ac of good mature forest that I would like to look into grazing them on. It's mostly hilly terrain with a few bottoms. .

Depends on the soil and the quality of the timber.
I would clear the bottoms for a start.
How much of the timber is salable?

 

[SRBeef]

I have 3 pastures in my rotation with access to different areas of dense Wisconsin mixed pine and hardwood forest. My Herefords do a good job of cleaning up the edges of the woods but always have access to grass pastures in addition to the woods.

When they are done it looks like you ran a mower about 6 ft above the ground as the trees on the edge of the woods are all trimmed up that high and brush cleared down low. I wait until summer before letting them into the woods.

The trees provide shade and it's a lot cooler there then out in the pasture in July. They often come out of the woods en masse in the early evening to graze the open pasture.

I would not rely on dense woods to provide full nutrition for the cattle. I am gradually going to thin the woods to more of a Savanah (sp?) with a few large trees left for shade but grass in between the trees. I need more pasture. The thinned trees will be harvested for lumber.

One problem with wooded hillsides is that cows and bulls can be injured trying to breed on hillsides at night. I just had a cow that looks like she sprained one front foot, probably from being bred by the bull on a rocky wooded hillside at night. She's getting better but I wish my bull would breed them during the day out in a nice flat pasture...

Good luck.

Jim

 

[Dave]

There is probably a lot of good to eat in 100 acres of woods. One of the problem can be getting them all out of the woods when you want to move them. A cow who wants to hide can get lost pretty well in a 100 acres of woods.

 

[luke03cr]

Thank yal for the advice. I believe I will go threw with grazing them in the woods next summer only to give pastures a rest for a short time.

 

[Redhides]

You get enough animal density and rest, maybe supplement with mulch hay, etc, I think you might be pleasantly surprised.

You can turn most any ground that get moisture and some sunlight into a viable grazing environment. It may not carry the same as as bottomland but you still get value out of it.