Grazing Mature Forage during a Drought

[Stocker Steve]

I have access to renting some old hay ground which contains a full bloom alfalfa and headed out grass mixture. I have tried putting 30 head per acre on a temporary paddock - - they pounded it flat in a couple days with at least half of it wasted. I also tried cutting it high and letting them eat out of the windrow - - they cleaned up about 70% of it.

Any other ideas on how to graze it effectively?

 

[Angus Guy]

Why not bale and then feed ?

 

[dun]

If your getting a lot of trampled forage you might want to try strip grazing.

dun

 

[Stocker Steve]

If your getting a lot of trampled forage you might want to try strip grazing.

dun

I can afford some waste of relatively cheap feed due to the cost of baling and feeding. It just seems like the stemmy older forage gets trampled a lot more than the 10" to 12" high stuff.

Dun - Are you referring to daily moves vs. a couple days per paddock?

 

[dun]

Dun - Are you referring to daily moves vs. a couple days per paddock?

That's pretty much it. It's not called MIG for nothing. Make the paddocks smaller so that there is ony enough feed for one day. You won;t need a back wire, just move the forward wire each day. What that will do is make them eat the less desireable stuff and will stretch the feed over a longer period of time. During drought you have to manage every bit of forage more closely.
Cows can harvest forage (hay) much cheaper then you can cut and bale it. They're supposed to be the employees that work for you, not the boss that you work for.

dun

 

[Angus Guy]

You're right Dun cow will do it cheaper. The thing is in a drought I would like every # of feed I can get. There is just to much waste from grazing (even strip grazing).

 

[mnmtranching]

We did the same thing, turned the cows out on hayfields. Put 100 pairs on 160 acres. they tramped it down fast looking for someting green and palitable. But without much else to eat they seem to work away at it. Its one of those Summers to just try to make it through. Still waiting for the rains up here.

mnmt

 

[Texas PaPaw]

I agree with Dun. Strip grazing is the way to best utilize dry mature grass or scarce grass. A 1 day strip graze will have the least waste, however a 3 day or twice weekly strip will harvest most of the forage. I winter cows on dry bermudagrass by giving them a fresh strip 2 times a week. You have to learn how to estimate how much new grass to give them & make them clean it up before moving. When starting out, I would suggest under estimating the size of the strip and be prepared to move them early if necessary. BTW-I have never seen a rule that says a cow has to have her belly full all the time, just the cows think so. Strip grazing is a way to ration out scarce forage just like unrolling round bales as opposed to using ring feeders. Just takes a little work and forward thinking. 'nuff said

 

[Herefordcross]

WASTE?? What waste is there from strip grazing?

 

[Herefordcross]

I can't figure any waste in strip grazing, they have no choice but to eat what's on their plate, they usually wont hop the fence and eat what's ahead!