Wintering Cattle on Stockpiled Forage in Central Texas

[rocfarm]

Hey All,

My place is in the Hill Country of Texas. I have been running my cattle on stockpiled forage—a mix of native grasses and a nice stand of Klein with occasional winter grass/burr medic when we get decent rains in September and October. I supplement with the occasional cubes and Purina Rangeland 30% cooked protein tubs as soon as I get first frost. I’ve fed maybe 12 bales of hay over these past three years and don’t plan to feed any this year, as conditions have been quite favorable. I’ve been doing this for about 3 years now with decent results running a fall calving herd that has had good breedback and consistently weans 550+ calves by July the next year.

Was wondering if any other central Texas folks have been doing this and whether you’d like to share a bit of your experience with it over the longer term.

 

[bird dog]

If you are running at the recommended stocking rate, a lot of years you will not have enough forage for the cattle to hold their condition. This year is different. January/ February can be tough on them if they have calves by their side.
Some people think its some great deal to not feed hay. I have found that feeding hay keeps the animals in better shape and and you make up the difference in hay cost with heavier calves. But this is on my place where the grass is marginal at best. Each place is difference. I unroll 90% of my hay and feed 2 to 2 1/2 rolls per mama cow along with some 30% tubs. They don't get any cubes. A 50lb heavier calf easily pays for the cows hay consumption.

I winter calve a lot of my cows which works well as the calves have some size on them for the spring flush. By late summer they wean off at about 50% of their mothers weight.

Sure anyone can not feed hay. It all depends on your stocking rate. I run what I feel is fully stocked for the forage I have and feed hay. I also background my calves on the same acreage but will admit, the weaned calves don't gain much on pasture after October.

 

[Rafter S]

I haven't done it, but I know some folks do. Here three acres of decent pasture will take care of a cow if she's fed hay through the winter, but it's my understanding that it takes seven if not.

 

[RDFF]

All kinds of schools of thought on feeding vs. just feeding winter stockpile. Up here, we obviously don't have any opportunity for anything to be "growing" from about Sept. 15-May 1. If you manage well, you can start growing "winter stockpile" here with a last graze across around end of July-first 2 weeks of August... If you can carry them on other areas then till Nov. 1... that would get you 90 days of rest, and pretty much to frost/frozen ground... at which time you would put them on the stockpile, and graze as long as possible. I've typically gotten to about Jan.1-15... and then have to be feeding hay till middle of May.

The other way you "could do it"... and it also may not be the worst strategy, would be to graze off whatever will grow during the growing season... (leaving nothing left for winter stockpile)... which would mean you'd be done grazing around September 15... because nothing really grows much up here after that point, although it hasn't yet "gone dormant" either... it'll still be alive and still growing, just so slowly that it won't amount to much at all past that point. AND, you'll have "hammered" it pretty hard, if you've taking it all off by that point, so it didn't get a chance to build deep root reserves... which means a slower start next spring, and less growth through the summer.

IMO, you're better off to go INTO winter with alot of grass on the ground... and then graze it off after it has "gone dormant"... BECAUSE you have allowed it to build really strong root reserves to get going the next spring. After dormancy, it WILL hurt the regrowth to take off that above ground biomass, but not as much as taking it BEFORE dormancy, when it's still trying to grow and build root reserves for the next season.

I'd rather feed some hay in that fall period, SO THAT I can graze it during the dormant period, than graze it while it's still growing and trying to build roots, and then feeding hay from Sept.15 or Oct. 1 all the way to the middle of May... and that's MOSTLY so that I've done all I can to ensure a great grazing season the next year.

CONTEXT is everything though... Central TX is a whole different world than Minnesota!

 

[Texas G@l]

We winter March calving cows on native/adapted pasture and supplement with 38% (cottonseed cubes). Here's the link to the info we use as a starting point, https://www.noble.org/regenerative-...our-winter-feeding-program-for-profitability/ . The only time we hay is in snowy, icy conditions... just a couple of times over the winter here in North Central Texas.

 

[rocfarm]

If you are running at the recommended stocking rate, a lot of years you will not have enough forage for the cattle to hold their condition. This year is different. January/ February can be tough on them if they have calves by their side.
Some people think its some great deal to not feed hay. I have found that feeding hay keeps the animals in better shape and and you make up the difference in hay cost with heavier calves. But this is on my place where the grass is marginal at best. Each place is difference. I unroll 90% of my hay and feed 2 to 2 1/2 rolls per mama cow along with some 30% tubs. They don't get any cubes. A 50lb heavier calf easily pays for the cows hay consumption.

I winter calve a lot of my cows which works well as the calves have some size on them for the spring flush. By late summer they wean off at about 50% of their mothers weight.

Sure anyone can not feed hay. It all depends on your stocking rate. I run what I feel is fully stocked for the forage I have and feed hay. I also background my calves on the same acreage but will admit, the weaned calves don't gain much on pasture after October.

I think we’ve talked about this before, but I don’t run the stocking rate I could. But so far I’m super happy with it. We care about the number of wildlife, and so far the cows seem to help more than hurt on that front.

I’m thinking about making some hay feeders this coming summer to supplement hay in the winter. But supplementing the right amount without wasting is going to be key IMO. Also, I think most people don’t actually calculate labor and equipment into their hay cost. I feel like I save a lot of money on that front.

I get what you are saying about drought. Last year they were all a bit thin (4.5 to 5 BCS) coming out of winter, but the breed back was good. I think the key here is to have them at about BCS 5.5 to 6 when they calve and be generous with supplemental stuff through the breeding season. We give them a lot of cubes during this time and a new gate gets opened about once every 3 weeks starting in November so that they get to be a bit picky through the middle of January. If our hunters’ food plots did anything by then, they also get some green oats then.

My soil profile is pretty good. I’ve got a few crop fields I’ve integrated into this system and my clay loam is better than average for the county. I think this is a big reason, besides stocking rate, that I can get by.

 

[rocfarm]

All kinds of schools of thought on feeding vs. just feeding winter stockpile. Up here, we obviously don't have any opportunity for anything to be "growing" from about Sept. 15-May 1. If you manage well, you can start growing "winter stockpile" here with a last graze across around end of July-first 2 weeks of August... If you can carry them on other areas then till Nov. 1... that would get you 90 days of rest, and pretty much to frost/frozen ground... at which time you would put them on the stockpile, and graze as long as possible. I've typically gotten to about Jan.1-15... and then have to be feeding hay till middle of May.

The other way you "could do it"... and it also may not be the worst strategy, would be to graze off whatever will grow during the growing season... (leaving nothing left for winter stockpile)... which would mean you'd be done grazing around September 15... because nothing really grows much up here after that point, although it hasn't yet "gone dormant" either... it'll still be alive and still growing, just so slowly that it won't amount to much at all past that point. AND, you'll have "hammered" it pretty hard, if you've taking it all off by that point, so it didn't get a chance to build deep root reserves... which means a slower start next spring, and less growth through the summer.

IMO, you're better off to go INTO winter with alot of grass on the ground... and then graze it off after it has "gone dormant"... BECAUSE you have allowed it to build really strong root reserves to get going the next spring. After dormancy, it WILL hurt the regrowth to take off that above ground biomass, but not as much as taking it BEFORE dormancy, when it's still trying to grow and build root reserves for the next season.

I'd rather feed some hay in that fall period, SO THAT I can graze it during the dormant period, than graze it while it's still growing and trying to build roots, and then feeding hay from Sept.15 or Oct. 1 all the way to the middle of May... and that's MOSTLY so that I've done all I can to ensure a great grazing season the next year.

CONTEXT is everything though... Central TX is a whole different world than Minnesota!

I have never heard that grazing dormant grass hurts the spring green up. My NRCS agent down here told me the opposite about my Klein field—after first frost it doesn’t matter. The winter grazing on my place seems to have this dynamic:

Best grazing: Texas winter grass and clover. If we get rains in the fall, these always come up. The cows can pretty much get enough off this stuff if one waits until January 1 or so to turn them in on it after good September/October rains. But it has rarely rained enough in September to get them going well on my place these past few years.

Average grazing: Dormant native grasses. The cows eat it ok and seem to be full enough and do ok until about January. Then they’ll start losing condition on this stuff.

Poor grazing: Klein grass/other improved grasses like Bermuda. The cows always hit this last and with little enthusiasm.

 

[rocfarm]

We winter March calving cows on native/adapted pasture and supplement with 38% (cottonseed cubes). Here's the link to the info we use as a starting point, https://www.noble.org/regenerative-...our-winter-feeding-program-for-profitability/ . The only time we hay is in snowy, icy conditions... just a couple of times over the winter here in North Central Texas.

I’ve fed some 38% cottonseed cubes. They do seem to be the best amount of protein for the cost. I actually prefer the cubes, though, as they have minerals and fat as well. That’s better for a cow with a calf by its side, I think. Also, I can’t feed every week, hence the tubs.

 

[rocfarm]

question, if I was going it stockpile hay outside in rolls, is coastal Bermuda better than Sudan sorghum? I’ve been looking at some of these at neighbors and it seems the coastal stores better for longer than the Sudan. Would that be accurate?

 

[rocfarm]

I haven't done it, but I know some folks do. Here three acres of decent pasture will take care of a cow if she's fed hay through the winter, but it's my understanding that it takes seven if not.

That’s about right on my place, I think, now that I look at the numbers.

 

[RDFF]

I have never heard that grazing dormant grass hurts the spring green up. My NRCS agent down here told me the opposite about my Klein field—after first frost it doesn’t matter. The winter grazing on my place seems to have this dynamic:

Best grazing: Texas winter grass and clover. If we get rains in the fall, these always come up. The cows can pretty much get enough off this stuff if one waits until January 1 or so to turn them in on it after good September/October rains. But it has rarely rained enough in September to get them going well on my place these past few years.

Average grazing: Dormant native grasses. The cows eat it ok and seem to be full enough and do ok until about January. Then they’ll start losing condition on this stuff.

Poor grazing: Klein grass/other improved grasses like Bermuda. The cows always hit this last and with little enthusiasm.

Gets back to that "context" question... I know that y'all have lots of Coastal Bermuda down there... we don't up here. Most of what I have as winter stockpile is pretty good quality stuff... orchard grass, brome, timothy, red clover, alfalfa, fescue, etc. Plenty of other "natural grasses and forbes" mixed in as well... but it's pretty good quality is my point. We have to plan to have that there though... or it won't be.

When I say that grazing it down after dormancy will set it back come spring, I'm saying that from experience. I have some pastures that DON'T get grazed off like that, and they will always be the furthest ahead in early spring. That said, I also unroll hay and by osmosis, spread manure (via the unrolled hay grazing) across most of what I'm grazing after dormancy... which is a huge plus for the fertility on those fields... so it eventually becomes pretty much a wash. The added biomass and fertility will spur increased growth the next season... albeit, it won't be able to "take off as fast" as those fields that didn't get grazed off down to the dirt by grazing the winter stockpile... but it WILL generally catch up a bit later in the season. It's all about "balance".

Texas is a different animal than up here though... you'll "break dormancy" there when we've still got 2-3 months to go (I'm always surprised when I see your winter wheat pastures in February!!!). And you won't go into dormancy till a month or two AFTER we have. I'm sure when you hear me talking about starting to grow winter stockpile in late July, you're thinking I'm crazy!

 

[StrojanHerefords]

I haven't done it, but I know some folks do. Here three acres of decent pasture will take care of a cow if she's fed hay through the winter, but it's my understanding that it takes seven if not.

So a hundred acre field run 14 cows year around would provide 170 animal unit months (AUM)s of grazing. That same field if cows cows are fed through the winter would support 33 cows over around 8 months or 264 AUMs of grazing.
It sounds like there is a lot of underutilized feed that is left to go rank in the pastures that are grazed year around. I have a similar situation out here in California, except that our dormant season is caused by a lack of rainfall from May to October. I took some soil and feed samples a few years ago; to my surprise the rank feed that the cows would touch wasn't that much worse than the good feed. The difference is that the cows couldn't eat enough the rank feed to keep them going. This next summer, I plan of grazing out the rank feed first. I figure that if by feeding a ton of alfalfa hay a week I can utilize two tons of poor quality feed, I will be ahead.

 

[rocfarm]

Gets back to that "context" question... I know that y'all have lots of Coastal Bermuda down there... we don't up here. Most of what I have as winter stockpile is pretty good quality stuff... orchard grass, brome, timothy, red clover, alfalfa, fescue, etc. Plenty of other "natural grasses and forbes" mixed in as well... but it's pretty good quality is my point. We have to plan to have that there though... or it won't be.

When I say that grazing it down after dormancy will set it back come spring, I'm saying that from experience. I have some pastures that DON'T get grazed off like that, and they will always be the furthest ahead in early spring. That said, I also unroll hay and by osmosis, spread manure (via the unrolled hay grazing) across most of what I'm grazing after dormancy... which is a huge plus for the fertility on those fields... so it eventually becomes pretty much a wash. The added biomass and fertility will spur increased growth the next season... albeit, it won't be able to "take off as fast" as those fields that didn't get grazed off down to the dirt by grazing the winter stockpile... but it WILL generally catch up a bit later in the season. It's all about "balance".

Texas is a different animal than up here though... you'll "break dormancy" there when we've still got 2-3 months to go (I'm always surprised when I see your winter wheat pastures in February!!!). And you won't go into dormancy till a month or two AFTER we have. I'm sure when you hear me talking about starting to grow winter stockpile in late July, you're thinking I'm crazy!

Nature’s give back, I guess, your lbs of forage production per acre are high, but we can graze over longer periods. I almost never graze my stuff down to the ground anyway—not canon for a rotational grazing mindset. I like my fields to look undergrazed. But after 5-6 years of it, I’m considering raising my stocking rate for the coming year. It seems the place can handle it.

Just wondering if I’m about to try to push it too hard.

 

[rocfarm]

So a hundred acre field run 14 cows year around would provide 170 animal unit months (AUM)s of grazing. That same field if cows cows are fed through the winter would support 33 cows over around 8 months or 264 AUMs of grazing.
It sounds like there is a lot of underutilized feed that is left to go rank in the pastures that are grazed year around. I have a similar situation out here in California, except that our dormant season is caused by a lack of rainfall from May to October. I took some soil and feed samples a few years ago; to my surprise the rank feed that the cows would touch wasn't that much worse than the good feed. The difference is that the cows couldn't eat enough the rank feed to keep them going. This next summer, I plan of grazing out the rank feed first. I figure that if by feeding a ton of alfalfa hay a week I can utilize two tons of poor quality feed, I will be ahead.

Yeah, maybe, but you’d have to live onsite. My place has to be low-maintenance by default. And, there’s the wildlife question and the drought question. 33 cows is a whole lot harder to feed through a drought than 14 cows.

Also, California is just different. Do you have irrigated fields? We’re dryland over here.

I’ve seen lessees try to run it the way you described in my county. Within 5 years something seems to always go so wrong that the place gets beat down so bad one is looking at at least 2 years of total rest under average or above rainfall conditions to get back to average stocking. Actually had that conversation with a guy in the county last month. His place was the same soil as mine with same stocking rate, but night and day differs because of careful rotations and proper rest 5 years ago.

I think the classic mistake many ranchers—especially those who lease continue to make is to push things hard for the hopes of a quick profit and lucky rainfall. This often sets the land back for years.

With the price appreciation of cattle over these past years, I think a lot of people are going to be tempted to greatly increase stocking rate.

I appreciate the comment of about 7 acres of stockpile for wintering Texas cattle. That actually helps with the planning. Hadn’t heard that one before.

As for eating the rank stuff, the right protein supplement will get your cows to consume more. I’m not sure vitalix works because I haven’t tried it. But rangeland tubs seem to.

Also, I have begun to notice that cattle in the same herd have different looking cow pats—some flat and looking like sufficient protein being gotten, others clumpy and looking like insufficient protein, all under the same conditions. Wondering if I should start using winter cow pat comparisons in cow culling decisions…

 

[RDFF]

Nature’s give back, I guess, your lbs of forage production per acre are high, but we can graze over longer periods. I almost never graze my stuff down to the ground anyway—not canon for a rotational grazing mindset. I like my fields to look undergrazed. But after 5-6 years of it, I’m considering raising my stocking rate for the coming year. It seems the place can handle it.

Just wondering if I’m about to try to push it too hard.

At least up here... if feeding on the pasture through the winter, the cattle will still graze anything that's out there as "winter stockpile", along with eating whatever you put out as "hay" for them... in general, anything that I've got left under the snow has got a fair amount of "green" in it yet after freeze-up, and they're gonna go and find it. As you get toward spring, whatever's left out there becomes exposed as the snow melts, and unless you pull them off, they're gonna be eating it. I do HAVE some areas that the cattle don't or can't have access too... and because of that, the "old grass" remains there into spring green-up time, and those pastures will grow taller sooner... but those areas where I don't pull them off of it, and feed them on by unrolling, will eventually "catch up", and often will outyield the other as I'm getting into summer, because of the added fertility and biological stimulation they've gained from the bale unrolling. Likely captures and hangs onto more water there because of that too.

If there's green out there though through the winter, with the numbers that I'm running, they're gonna take it, unless I keep 'em off of it. I'm working on options for more acres... but I don't know that that will necessarily change much about how I'm operating on them during the winter... I probably will just end up with more animals. What those acres WILL more likely do is to potentially allow me more R&R TIME at crucial times of the year... maybe will be able to keep the cows off more and later during May green-up, and maybe will be able to pull them off more in that "late July-September" winter stockpile building time..., so that I DO have more substantial opportunity for grazing of winter stockpiled forages, without having to lock them down onto a sacrifice area and feeding hay during that late summer spell like I have to do now, so that I CAN build it while I've still got some "growing season". I've even been considering renting more cropland, specifically to grow covers that I could graze at these times of year... to be able to do that (end up with more winter stockpiled forages). But I've got some row croppers near me who grow cover crops who might eventually get me some of those options, particularly in early spring... and then there's some other options that I may be able to take advantage of as well, on other ground, to improve my late summer options.

We all have to do what works for us though... so no judgement for what's working for you. Just sharing of ideas, that may or may not be helpful to you there.

 

[rocfarm]

Are you a farmer/feeder or just a cattleman? I thought a lot of people up north ran cattle on corn stalks during the winter…

 

[1982vett]

question, if I was going it stockpile hay outside in rolls, is coastal Bermuda better than Sudan sorghum? I’ve been looking at some of these at neighbors and it seems the coastal stores better for longer than the Sudan. Would that be accurate?

A lot of pieces to this puzzle. Which is better depends on maturity at harvest. A lot of hay producers bale for volume meaning they will have more bales to sell but the feed value of the bale is greatly reduced. Their is a lot of stem in haygrazer that is 6-8 ft tall and heading out. It won't be eaten. Cut at 4-5 ft their is a lot less stem but some it it won't get eaten either but their is a lot less stem volume in the bale so it is about the price of the bale. Coastal cut at 4-5 week intervals produces a lot less that coastal cut at 6-8 week intervals. Protein and digestible levels drop fast after it starts maturing so again, which is better depends on how the hay was made. As to which will weather better setting outside after it's made is pretty much a toss up also and greatly depends on your storing method.

 

[rocfarm]

A lot of pieces to this puzzle. Which is better depends on maturity at harvest. A lot of hay producers bale for volume meaning they will have more bales to sell but the feed value of the bale is greatly reduced. Their is a lot of stem in haygrazer that is 6-8 ft tall and heading out. It won't be eaten. Cut at 4-5 ft their is a lot less stem but some it it won't get eaten either but their is a lot less stem volume in the bale so it is about the price of the bale. Coastal cut at 4-5 week intervals produces a lot less that coastal cut at 6-8 week intervals. Protein and digestible levels drop fast after it starts maturing so again, which is better depends on how the hay was made. As to which will weather better setting outside after it's made is pretty much a toss up also and greatly depends on your storing method.

So Sudan doesn’t break down faster? Seems like it’s not as durable as coastal stored outside in rows.

 

[RDFF]

Are you a farmer/feeder or just a cattleman? I thought a lot of people up north ran cattle on corn stalks during the winter…

I'm "JUST a farmer-cattleman"...

I run my own herd of C/c and direct market my steers at finish (a little over 100 head total), and then I also operate a custom grazing operation, which this year operated with two separate herds (approximately 300 head of custom per year total). Yes, alot of the relatively few C/c operators that remain up here (most of the land here has been converted into corn/bean rowcropping) do run their C/c herds on their cornstalks during the winter... or at least for the first part of the winter after corn harvest, and then usually are feeding them alongside as well, usually some rounds, or stacks, plus a little grain.

I have gone "all grass fed", and have converted all of my farmland, which I was operating as 100% row-crop (corn and beans) into MIG grazing, or as hay for winter feeding. And I'm pretty much maxing out/optimizing my production for the grazing during the growing season, for the most part. That leaves me without any "cornstalk crop residues" to run the cattle on, though I would LOVE to have that option. I have "non-livestock neighbors" who do row crops, including cornstalks, but for the most part they've not even begun the mental migration into regenerative farming, they have no fences, and they're not too receptive to putting livestock (back) on their land.... YET! (ALL of the land in this area, 75 years ago, would have had cattle running on the fields in the fall... I am hopeful however... and am working on that). They generally wouldn't want to have to deal with the livestock... some would object to fences, none have water access on THEIR land, etc. I have installed watering stations on MY land in such a way that it would be very easy to use them when grazing on THEIR land too though... gotta have a plan as this movement evolves!

The custom grazing operation allows me the flexibility to manage for optimal grass benefit, and to "kick them off of my land", when I still have alot of grass remaining behind them. If I were running that many of my own cattle, I'd have to "keep them" through periods that I DON'T have to now... and with that many animals, I'd be "overstocked", because I couldn't get them removed from the land when I still had several months of grass left as "winter stockpile" remaining behind them... which is what I am able to put my own herd on right now, after the ground has frozen, and the snows have come, and the grass had gone into winter dormancy. THAT STRATEGY helps me to grow more grass during the growing season.

On the last graze across with the approximately 300 head of custom cattle, I had beautiful quality grass that was literally hip high on alot of my pastures... and I was leaving behind them grass that was still knee deep. The first of them left in early October, the last of them left on Oct. 22. The grass didn't grow much in tonnage at all after that graze (too late in the year, already freezing at night, sunlight not strong enough anymore, etc.), though the ground wasn't frozen yet, it WAS still alive, was NOT dormant, and it did continue to "recover" after their last pass across (say Sept. 1-late October, we expect hard "killing frost" here normally anytime after Sept. 15, but the pasture grasses don't "frost kill" really) and after they left (plant continues to push energy into it's top growth to recover from the grazing "injury"... improving its "quality", but not necessarily its "quantity" much). I turned my own herd of about 100 into those pastures (where it had been carrying those 300 head) on Dec. 1, after the ground was frozen, and after we had received about a foot of snow cover... and THAT is the winter stockpile that they're grazing right now.

If I didn't have those custom cattle as a part of my operation, I wouldn't have that winter stockpile right now.

 

[rocfarm]

I'm "JUST a farmer-cattleman"...

I run my own herd of C/c and direct market my steers at finish (a little over 100 head total), and then I also operate a custom grazing operation, which this year operated with two separate herds (approximately 300 head of custom per year total). Yes, alot of the relatively few C/c operators that remain up here (most of the land here has been converted into corn/bean rowcropping) do run their C/c herds on their cornstalks during the winter... or at least for the first part of the winter after corn harvest, and then usually are feeding them alongside as well, usually some rounds, or stacks, plus a little grain.

I have gone "all grass fed", and have converted all of my farmland, which I was operating as 100% row-crop (corn and beans) into MIG grazing, or as hay for winter feeding. And I'm pretty much maxing out/optimizing my production for the grazing during the growing season, for the most part. That leaves me without any "cornstalk crop residues" to run the cattle on, though I would LOVE to have that option. I have "non-livestock neighbors" who do row crops, including cornstalks, but for the most part they've not even begun the mental migration into regenerative farming, they have no fences, and they're not too receptive to putting livestock (back) on their land.... YET! (ALL of the land in this area, 75 years ago, would have had cattle running on the fields in the fall... I am hopeful however... and am working on that). They generally wouldn't want to have to deal with the livestock... some would object to fences, none have water access on THEIR land, etc. I have installed watering stations on MY land in such a way that it would be very easy to use them when grazing on THEIR land too though... gotta have a plan as this movement evolves!

The custom grazing operation allows me the flexibility to manage for optimal grass benefit, and to "kick them off of my land", when I still have alot of grass remaining behind them. If I were running that many of my own cattle, I'd have to "keep them" through periods that I DON'T have to now... and with that many animals, I'd be "overstocked", because I couldn't get them removed from the land when I still had several months of grass left as "winter stockpile" remaining behind them... which is what I am able to put my own herd on right now, after the ground has frozen, and the snows have come, and the grass had gone into winter dormancy. THAT STRATEGY helps me to grow more grass during the growing season.

On the last graze across with the approximately 300 head of custom cattle, I had beautiful quality grass that was literally hip high on alot of my pastures... and I was leaving behind them grass that was still knee deep. The first of them left in early October, the last of them left on Oct. 22. The grass didn't grow much in tonnage at all after that graze (too late in the year, already freezing at night, sunlight not strong enough anymore, etc.), though the ground wasn't frozen yet, it WAS still alive, was NOT dormant, and it did continue to "recover" after their last pass across (say Sept. 1-late October, we expect hard "killing frost" here normally anytime after Sept. 15, but the pasture grasses don't "frost kill" really) and after they left (plant continues to push energy into it's top growth to recover from the grazing "injury"... improving its "quality", but not necessarily its "quantity" much). I turned my own herd of about 100 into those pastures (where it had been carrying those 300 head) on Dec. 1, after the ground was frozen, and after we had received about a foot of snow cover... and THAT is the winter stockpile that they're grazing right now.

If I didn't have those custom cattle as a part of my operation, I wouldn't have that winter stockpile right now.

Sounds like you’ve got it figured out. I’ll be looking at adding stockers to my cow/calf operation if the weather cooperates next year. That is a great way to match the stocking rate to the forage production in any given year.

In your opinion which part of your operation operation tends to be more profitable in any given year up there—the stocker operation or cow/calf?