Turned out today.

[chevytaHOE5674]

This looks to be the easiest winter I've ever seen. Grazed cows until Jan 7th which is 1.5-2 months later than typical. We had 1 week of below zero weather the rest has been above average. We've had less than 80 inches of snowfall which is crazy low.

I wish I had more fenced pasture as I could still be grazing some.

 

[GoWyo]

Around here we need to have 2/3 of the hay stock pile remaining on March 1 to get to the first week of May when grass finally starts to come on. Last year grass was late and had to feed til nearly mid-May.

 

[farmerjan]

It was a cold spring here and we fed more hay, longer, than we normally do also. We are emptying the bunker of corn silage, so it can be refilled this year... and if prices stay the way they are, we will be selling all the feeder calves this spring... so will have pastures that will lie dormant for part of the summer it looks like... I'd like to keep some more heifers this year... sell some nut cases/high headed ones, but keep more than the 5 we kept last year...
It is so windy and cold today, chilly right down to your bones ... 18 to start... hit 46 and felt like 30 in the wind... another cold night again... cows eat alot in this weather...

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Earliest I've ever turned cows out in the spring is around May 15th latest was a couple years back at June 18th I think it was. So in all my years spring turn out hasn't varied much over a month.

On the other hand I've started feeding hay as early at October 10th and now as late as Janurary 7th. That's nearly 3 months difference, which is a lot of hay.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Around here we need to have 2/3 of the hay stock pile remaining on March 1 to get to the first week of May when grass finally starts to come on. Last year grass was late and had to feed til nearly mid-May.

You feed 2/3 of your hay between March 1st and say May 10th? So 2/3 of your hay in ~10 weeks?

So the other 1/3 of your hay would last ~3.3 weeks? Meaning you don't start feeding much hay until into February typically?

 

[wbvs58]

Earliest I've ever turned cows out in the spring is around May 15th latest was a couple years back at June 18th I think it was. So in all my years spring turn out hasn't varied much over a month.

On the other hand I've started feeding hay as early at October 10th and now as late as Janurary 7th. That's nearly 3 months difference, which is a lot of hay.

Are you expecting much of a moisture deficit with not having as much snow to melt?

Ken

 

[kenny thomas]

Earliest I've ever turned cows out in the spring is around May 15th latest was a couple years back at June 18th I think it was. So in all my years spring turn out hasn't varied much over a month.

On the other hand I've started feeding hay as early at October 10th and now as late as Janurary 7th. That's nearly 3 months difference, which is a lot of hay.

It seems like your profit per calf needs to be lots higher than mine to make up for so much feeding. I will still graze for 2 more weeks at least. Will turn out no later than April 5th. Could always turn out before April 1st but try to give the grass a head start.
I haven't found the sweet spot where the most profit is, whether its grazing or feeding hay a little longer. But im a lazy old cattleman and sure liked seeing them graze this morning instead of starting up the tractor at 18°F. I dont use a tank of fuel all winter and almost no hours put on machinery so thats a profit, or not an expense at least.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I'm expecting a large drop in ground moisture unless something changes. Melting snow is a slow continuous process (snow melts from below even at -10), so it really does wonders to replenishing the ground water stores.

Going to be interesting so see what the rest of winter brings.

 

[kenny thomas]

I'm expecting a large drop in ground moisture unless something changes. Melting snow is a slow continuous process (snow melts from below even at -10), so it really does wonders to replenishing the ground water stores.

Going to be interesting so see what the rest of winter brings.

Does a lot of your yearly moisture total come from the snowmelt?

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

A good chunk of our yearly precip comes from our 180" of average snowfall. Being right on the largest body of freshwater we also get our fair share of rain and humidity to get us thru the growing season. But our ground water comes from the slow melting snow.

 

[GoWyo]

You feed 2/3 of your hay between March 1st and say May 10th? So 2/3 of your hay in ~10 weeks?

So the other 1/3 of your hay would last ~3.3 weeks? Meaning you don't start feeding much hay until into February typically?

We try to graze as much as possible prior to calving. We feed hay during bad weather spells and feed cake the rest of the time. On 63 head, I think we have fed 12 round bales (1250# bales) so far with only 2 and a half weeks of >6" snow cover. This year went to feeding 3# cake every other day if ground is bare enough. They have eaten a good part of the winter pasture and will move to the calving pastures on March 1. We feed daily once we start calving. Start with 10# alfalfa per day and ramp up to 30# by April as calving pastures run out of grass. Alternate days between alfalfa and grass hay. Too much alfalfa we seem to get more scours.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Interesting. Being in Wyoming I just assumed you got enough snow cover to make grazing this time of year impossible.

 

[GoWyo]

Interesting. Being in Wyoming I just assumed you got enough snow cover to make grazing this time of year impossible.

Just depends on the type of place. A lot of ranches are in irrigated valleys like Dave in Oregon. Cows come off the federal ranges in the fall and find somewhere to graze them as long as possible, then bring them into the hay meadows, alfalfa pivots, crop stubble, whatever is available.

We are 12 miles from the Nebraska border. Most winters are "open" here meaning we get snow, but it usually doesn't stick around for more than a couple weeks per storm. Except last year when we had a foot and a half in mid January and non stop cold and wind til May. Even then, the snow was about gone by March. Hard thing to deal with are the blizzards. They don't happen bad every year, but they do happen mostly in March and April during calving season. Wind breaks and lots of hay are key to getting through them.

We will be back in the 50s today with a 30 mph wind. If we have a good growing season and manage pastures well, we can graze all winter and only feed when grass is covered up or ate up.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Learn something everyday. Wouldn't have guessed that you could graze all year in Wyoming. Now I know.

This is such an anomaly of a year we could have grazed all but a couple of weeks so far. But in all my other years I've never grazed past Christmas time, so I've never had a thought of having enough pasture stockpiled to go any longer. If this turns out to be a "new normal" then I may rethink some things.

 

[GoWyo]

Learn something everyday. Wouldn't have guessed that you could graze all year in Wyoming. Now I know.

This is such an anomaly of a year we could have grazed all but a couple of weeks so far. But in all my other years I've never grazed past Christmas time, so I've never had a thought of having enough pasture stockpiled to go any longer. If this turns out to be a "new normal" then I may rethink some things.

Some places, especially mountain valley areas, get snowed up and do feed from November to May. Others winter on the desert and seldom feed anything and calve in May-June.

I try to graze 10 months and feed 1 ton of hay per head. Many years I can get by at .75 tons and others take 1.5 tons per head. We raise maybe 8-10 tons of irrigated hay on our small meadow and last year and raised about 24 tons on a dryland improved seeding. The rest we purchased. If we can keep hay costs down, that is key.

 

[CowboyRam]

Learn something everyday. Wouldn't have guessed that you could graze all year in Wyoming. Now I know.

This is such an anomaly of a year we could have grazed all but a couple of weeks so far. But in all my other years I've never grazed past Christmas time, so I've never had a thought of having enough pasture stockpiled to go any longer. If this turns out to be a "new normal" then I may rethink some things.

Also we get a lot of wind, and that keeps some places clear of snow. It get blown to Nebraska. A lot of cows come off the high desert, and mountain here to Riverton for the winter. They usually start rolling in October and then start move back out around May or June. I put my cows on our hay fields, and have to start feeding in December, sometimes as early as November. Depending upon either the amount of feed I have or if it snows up. A buddy of mine can get by without feeding until January, but he has more grass that keeps clear longer, and more ground to work with.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

We get a lot of wind here too comes across 80+ miles of open water or ice and practically the first thing it hits is my front door. The wind blows our snow around too but when it's typically 4-6' deep it typically never blows it to bare ground. Just blows some spots to 1' and others to 12'.