SPJ
Well-known member
We have been blessed with some pretty good rain this year. The grass and weeds in my pasture is coming up faster than my cows can eat it. Would it be better to just let it grow or should I just brush hog it? Thanks, Phil
Pasture Question
- Thread starter SPJ
- Start date
Help Support CattleToday:
TheFutureFarmer
Active member
I've always heard to just clip the seed head so that the plant energy goes back into the leaf instead of the seed.
If you clip it doe it about 3-4 weeks before the cows will be turned in. Clip it so that you take off just th tips of the grass leaves. That will sort of duplicate grazing and will stimulate the grass. If thew weeds are real bad and haven;t started to seed out yet you might want to clip them . They'll probably reflower and if they do, clip them again.
Yeah, what Dun said.
Another option that we're doing is to make hay off some of our paddocks. We have paddocks we rotate our cows through. Some can be hayed, some can't. We've got a couple paddocks we had grazed twice, came back through 4 weeks after that last grazing and made 3,000 - 4,000 lbs of hay/acre. Those acres will go back into grazing rotation in 4 weeks if the rains continue. If the rains stop, we'll put the cows on a sacrifice lot and feed them that high quality hay harvested weeks ago. And those paddocks that had hay taken off will grow like crazy after being rested, a whole lot better than grazing overgrowth during a drought.
Another option that we're doing is to make hay off some of our paddocks. We have paddocks we rotate our cows through. Some can be hayed, some can't. We've got a couple paddocks we had grazed twice, came back through 4 weeks after that last grazing and made 3,000 - 4,000 lbs of hay/acre. Those acres will go back into grazing rotation in 4 weeks if the rains continue. If the rains stop, we'll put the cows on a sacrifice lot and feed them that high quality hay harvested weeks ago. And those paddocks that had hay taken off will grow like crazy after being rested, a whole lot better than grazing overgrowth during a drought.
