Rotational grazing

[Central Fl Cracker]

Okay keep in my mind I am new in the cattle biz..
I recently moved 50 cows and 3 bulls to a 135 ac. pasture I own. Before I moved them I crossed fence the pasture into + or - 30 ac. paddocks. They have been on one of these paddocks for a week and I will be Damned if they have not come close to grazing the whole 30 ac. they seem to graze one third of the pasture but do not graze the other 2 thirds. Keep in mind the grass is bahia and consistant with plenty of grass.

 

[Bez+]

Okay keep in my mind I am new in the cattle biz..
I recently moved 50 cows and 3 bulls to a 135 ac. pasture I own. Before I moved them I crossed fence the pasture into + or - 30 ac. paddocks. They have been on one of these paddocks for a week and I will be Damned if they have not come close to grazing the whole 30 ac. they seem to graze one third of the pasture but do not graze the other 2 thirds. Keep in mind the grass is bahia and consistant with plenty of grass.

Yup. And I live in a better grass growing area than you - and I would not consider running that many animals on that small a pasture set up.

You need to be careful - not everyone can count on grass growing good every year.

You are a grass farmer who raises cattle - if you take a bit of hay off this pasture and stack it - you will do better in the long run.

Just my two cents.

Bez+

 

[farmwife]

We've got 21 cows on about 25 acres right now and the grass is outgrowing them by far -- of course this year is not typical for NE Texas at all. June was the wettest since 1923!! July hasn't been much different -- we did have one week without rain to get the hay in, otherwise it's been raining.

As for rotational, we have the 25 acre paddock, a 12 acre paddock, and two others that are 15 and 30. I know they're odd sizes, but it was less fencing to do it this way. Typically, we run the cows on a paddock for around 3-5 days regardless of how much they eat. In mid summer, we will cut it down to only the 25 and 12 acre paddocks and cut hay from the others. This has really worked for us.

 

[Brute 23]

That sounds like alot of work and you have to be there every three days.

 

[dun]

Damned if they have not come close to grazing the whole 30 ac. they seem to graze one third of the pasture but do not graze the other 2 thirds. Keep in mind the grass is bahia and consistant with plenty of grass.

How far do the have totravle for water from the area that isn;t grazed? Water availability is the trick to getting an entire paddock used. If the water is in one spot you could put the minerals in the area that isn;t used and that will even out the useage

 

[Central Fl Cracker]

I have water for each paddock. So far it sounds like I need to move them even though they have plenty of summer grass they have not eaten and will leave behind. So that was my question I have time to move them every 7 days and that was not the issue but the issue is they have plenty of grass on the first paddock.

 

[dun]

You could polywire temporary divisions to make them eat a paddock down more thoroghly before moving them. The faster the grass is growing the faster they should be rotated.

 

[Bez+]

I will expand on my thoughts here.

If there is any dry spell, especially just after calving - that is the reason you might want to take some of that extra grass and turn it into hay.

With a 4% dead loss - there will be 50 cows and 48 calves eating grass next year. Plus any bulls you have left over. After 6 months with all those animals out there you might have a tough time bringing that grass along.

There is a good chance there will be some heavy grazing going on as the cows milk - and calves can eat a lot of grass as they grow - and I do not see a lot of recovery time for the pastures.

Best to cut some grass when the cutting is good, stack a little hay in the corner for pasture feed - just in case, harrow the schitzen piles down and throw a little top dressing fert and seed on that ground every now and then - otherwise the numbers game might catch up with you.

You can keep that hay for years and still feed it out - and you might be very glad you have it.

Regards

Bez+

 

[Brute 23]

I agree 50 head is too much...

Just cutting down 10 head or 5 head can make a big difference and you are not going to loose that much profit.

In fact... you will come out on top if you count up the feed you will feed during a drought from being over stocked.

 

[Brandonm2]

I agree 50 head is too much...

Just cutting down 10 head or 5 head can make a big difference and you are not going to loose that much profit.

In fact... you will come out on top if you count up the feed you will feed during a drought from being over stocked.

50 cows on 135 acres of good Bahia grass (in Florida) isn't overgrazing at all.

 

[oakcreekfarms]

Make your paddocks smaller, if you move them before they finish eating off the grass then it will be to mature next time around. Make the pastures smaller, and if you don't end up needing them all you can hay them.

 

[Beefy]

for real. i'll admit i'm a little confused by the original post, but down here we can nearabout run 1 pair per acre and at least 1 pair per 2 acres, easily. so i dont really see how he is overstocked.
i'm wondering if some of the bahia has gotten to the stage they dont like it (too tough)?

 

[Brute 23]

I agree 50 head is too much...

Just cutting down 10 head or 5 head can make a big difference and you are not going to loose that much profit.

In fact... you will come out on top if you count up the feed you will feed during a drought from being over stocked.

50 cows on 135 acres of good Bahia grass (in Florida) isn't overgrazing at all.

What about when the Bahia isn't good?

 

[Central Fl Cracker]

Okay I checked the pasture today which will make it 2 weeks they have been 30 + or - ac. and quess what there is still plenty of grass but they seem to eat around some spots. I think some of the pasture must have coastal bermuda and for some reason my cows do not like it. So now move them Sunday even though there is plenty of grass.

 

[TheBullLady]

Okay.. I"m going to state the obvious, but possibly you didn't take into consideration that the cows won't eat grass where they've "defecated". :cboy:

 

[C HOLLAND]

I agree 50 head is too much...

Just cutting down 10 head or 5 head can make a big difference and you are not going to loose that much profit.

In fact... you will come out on top if you count up the feed you will feed during a drought from being over stocked.

50 cows on 135 acres of good Bahia grass (in Florida) isn't overgrazing at all.

Not overgrazing in lower alabama either, I just pulled 12 off of 6 acres for 2 weeks and they didnt eat it all. I mowed it down to about 6-7 inches tall and will spread 10 ton of liter soon and it will be ready to cut hay in 5-6 weeks if we keep getting rain.

 

[C HOLLAND]

I agree 50 head is too much...

Just cutting down 10 head or 5 head can make a big difference and you are not going to loose that much profit.

In fact... you will come out on top if you count up the feed you will feed during a drought from being over stocked.

50 cows on 135 acres of good Bahia grass (in Florida) isn't overgrazing at all.

What about when the Bahia isn't good?

You do the same thing when there is a drought,,,,CULL deep

 

[C HOLLAND]

Okay I checked the pasture today which will make it 2 weeks they have been 30 + or - ac. and quess what there is still plenty of grass but they seem to eat around some spots. I think some of the pasture must have coastal bermuda and for some reason my cows do not like it. So now move them Sunday even though there is plenty of grass.

CFC, take your bushog and mow the heads off the grass and drag it with some ole tractor tires to spread the manure around, it will help spread the manure around and the pasture will get a kick start and come back thicker.

 

[Central Fl Cracker]

I read an article Sunday and got the impression my water trough are to far away from my grazing area's. They are about 1,000 feet away from the shaded area that they seem to stay at when I get by the pasture during the weekends.

 

[dun]

I read an article Sunday and got the impression my water trough are to far away from my grazing area's. They are about 1,000 feet away from the shaded area that they seem to stay at when I get by the pasture during the weekends.

To use the grass efficiently, so the theory goes, that they should not have to travke more then 500 feet to reach water from the farthest part of the pasture/paddock. I can see in one of our pastures that's kind of peculiarly situated that they don't use a lot of the grass and theonly reason I can surmise is the proximity to water. I have put the mineral feeder in that area and that helped some, but the mineral consumption also went down.