How far north can you graze year round?

[cjk]

How far north is it realistic to graze year round, with rotational grazing? We sit about 4,200ft, I think growing zone 6 (is that colder than 5?)

I know the prudent thing to do is have a supply of hay on hand for the extremes, both wet/cold and drought, but by chance if we wind up with a string of "normal" years, should it be reasonable?

Nobody around here does it, so maybe that is saying something (or maybe nobody has matched resources correctly). I hope to. This putting up hay is for the birds! I don't have any of the equipment, so not only do I have the cost of raising it, but I also have the cost and liability of relying on someone else to get it done correctly.

Secondly, the hay that is produced is too much for my use. So then it is off to market with it. There are certain challenges there, along with shipping nutrients down the road at a loss with every load.

My thoughts are that if I can match the resources with the right number of cows, I can eliminate the hay production (saves $$$), and just purchase hay when needed (bring in nutrients).

I sure wish I had a scanner to get my "design" uploaded for comment. Maybe I'll get something figured out before we start writing checks. Like I said, nobody does the rotational grazing, to the extent of daily or every two day moves. They might move once a week, or ten days, but most people are just continuous grazers.

 

[novaman]

just purchase hay when needed (bring in nutrients).

I know nothing about your climate so I can make no comments about how well it would work. My only problem is the above statement. If you need to purchase hay chances are so will others and you will pay dearly for it.

 

[cjk]

Perhaps that should have read, purchase a lesser amount of hay.

Part of the goal in this is to get to year round grazing, but I realistically think that 300 days will be all I can get (unless I want to have only a handful of cows, which does not justify the means). I think in the first year I may only get 240-270 days. But even 30 to 60 days less feeding is a ton less per animal (say 70 head @ $120/ton) so give or take $8,400 in feed costs alone!

The fencing would pay for itself in the first year at that rate.

 

[ArmyDoc]

Might shoot Agmantoo an e-mail. He's in zone 7 and grazes year round. Here's a link that might help too: http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showth ... p?t=286704

It's a very long thread, but in it he explains his approach to MIG in about as understandable way as I have found anywhere.

 

[Oldtimer]

Some in our area do- down in the Missouri breaks where usually a few days after a snowstorm a Chinook comes in and clears away the snow...But they usually have some hay on hand for those times the Chinooks don't come right away..

Some winters when I had plenty of grass, I've been able to graze to mid February before having to start feeding- then usually have to feed some thru calving til about the first part of May...

 

[cjk]

ArmyDoc - I have read that thread, the entire thing, and indeed it is lengthy. It has actually been a couple of months since I have checked back on that site, I imagine it has gained some since.

OldTimer - your grazing to around mid feb is most likely what my end result is going to be. Usually in Feb, we get a couple weeks of a "heat wave". Enough to make a whole lot of mud, and the grass starts thinking about growing. But then again, I have seen some Lat March and Early April that puts a January blizzard to shame.

Very unpredictable.

On your grazing to mid-feb, is this all non-irrigated native?

 

[traderaaron]

Here in eastern Colorado we grazed year-round last year and fed no hay over the winter. I know of ranchers in the more temperate areas of Alberta that graze year round on stockpiled forage. I also know of ranchers in the mountain valleys of Colorado that cut hay but leave it out to dry for the Cows to eat during the winter using an electric fence, they know it's there and bust through the snow.

We have hay on hand if needed for a blizzard but otherwise have no real reason to feed it.

Stockpile some forage and try it, chances are it will work well.

 

[IluvABbeef]

There's a fella near where I live, near Busby, Alberta that does 365 day grazing. There's a fair few others that graze 365 days in Alberta, one even does year-round grazing up in Fairview.

Check out the first 15 or so pages of this Year-Round Grazing article to see which Alberta cattlefolk do their 365-day grazing and where. These are just a few people who have started the 365-day grazing scheme in this province, actually.