Better Forage Equals Happy Cows
Published: Friday, February 16, 2024
Adding value to cattle products by using forages was the focus at the Indiana Forage Council's annual meeting on Feb. 5 in Jamestown, Ind.
Zack Ireland, operating manager of Freshly Dairy just outside of Jamestown, hosted a tour of the farm and its on-farm processing facility and store. The operation produces dairy beverages with various flavors, including vanilla and chocolate protein milk, a recovery protein milk geared toward athletes.
Ireland said that forages form the foundation of cows' nutrition.
"Better forages, you have lower feed costs, more efficient contribution to quantity and quality of milk, better product, better price," he said. "So, it all ties together."
Freshly Dairy's forages include grass, grass mixes with alfalfa and/or clover, sorghum silage and bailage.
Ireland said that forages are key to the sustainability of his operation.
"Forages are more resilient long-term, cut down on erosion, form a better sod," he said. "The pasture is a good place for the cows to be. They're very comfortable there. Definitely appealing to customers who buy our product. They like to see that, cows living a good life."
He said that sustaining the land is important, as well, as forages cut down on erosion, build organic matter and contribute to the long-term resiliency of farmland.
Ireland added that food supply chain resiliency is important, as well.
"We need food producers, suppliers, processors of all types and sizes to build a competitive dynamic marketplace where people have a variety of food choices. And not only that, but they have a variety of price points. They have good food choice availabilities. And that's important, especially as we go forward. We have different avenues of food supplies."
Ronnie Boehm also provides a way to add value to forages. He uses a diverse mix of grasses and legumes for cattle on his Spencer County, Ind. farm. He presented the story of his business model during the Indiana Forage Council annual meeting.
Boehm partners with a beef producer who direct markets to restaurants in major cities such as Indianapolis, Chicago and Nashville. At the beginning of each grazing season, the producer brings cow-calf pairs to Boehm's pastures. Boehm then manages the cattle in a rotational grazing system. At the end of the season, the cattle return to the beef producer.
Boehm does not keep any livestock over the winter. He said this enables him to focus on forage management throughout the growing season.
"With me being able to focus 100% on that live green plant out there, I can make that plant the best plant for nutrition for that animal and the best opportunity for that plant to last a very long time for me out there economically. And for the animal welfare to get that animal some really good feed, the best I can offer on some very challenging soils, very steep hills in southern Indiana."
Boehm grows Kentucky 31, red clover, alfalfa and birdsfoot trefoil on steep hills just a few miles north of the Ohio River.
"So having that diversity out there gives me the best of all worlds. Yeah, it's kind of a kitchen sink mix, but it's a thought-out mix. Each one of those forages serves a role for me, and all of those legumes are providing nitrogen production, which feeds my grass during the summer so I don't have to buy hardly any nitrogen fertilizer."
Boehm uses a lengthy rest period for the forages, waiting 65 days before cattle return to a paddock they've already grazed.
"That gives that plant a long time to use up some of its reserves to put up new vegetative growth, shade the soil surface. It gives that plant a chance to rest and wait for the next rain to regenerate itself."
Boehm said this system helped with the drought last year.
"By moving the cattle and keeping them moving and give that plant a chance to rest, we were able to retain as much moisture as possible. If we continuously grazed and had a low stubble height of vegetation, we would have had more direct sunlight on the soil surface which would have exacerbated the drought conditions."
Boehm said that if other farmers would like to grow forages and use a similar business model, they can partner with producers who are looking for someone to manage their animals in a quality way.
"We're sending back animals where the calves are tame enough that when they get moved back to the home farm where they came from, they're not going on an immediate loss of appetite because 'hey, we haven't been around humans. We're all worked up, we're not going to eat for a few days.' So that transition is well appreciated by the owner of the cattle when they come back to him."
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