Grazing in Michiana
It seems like this has been one of the longest periods of cold winter weather we've had for the last few years. There was very little snow cover this winter, so here in the first week of March the grass and fields are all brown. When out-wintering cattle, it is better to have the fields froze up for a long period of time during the winter than to have one week warm and muddy and the next week frozen.
It was interesting that a year ago on March 11 the pastures were green and starting to grow. It'll be interesting to see how much later it is this year, when it warms up enough and things really get growing. It seems like the people tapping their trees for maple syrup started quite a bit later this year, so the spring season may be coming quite a bit later—unless all of a sudden we have some really warm weather.
We are part of a group of dairy farmers who all graze their cows. Every February we get together and have a financial meeting with an Extension agent from New York, who is associated with Cornell University. It's very helpful to do a financial analysis like that to see and compare financial results from all our dairy operations and learn from each other. There's one thing that's very clear, and that is the cost to run dairy farms, whether it's conventional or grazing, continues to increase every year.
One of the helpful things in being able to come together and examine financial records from different farms is to ask questions about our own respective operations. Why is our cost per cow higher or lower than the other farms? It is very helpful to be able to ask questions and then look for why that is. The answers are very helpful.
It is a very detailed financial analysis and takes a lot of time, but it is very helpful over the long-term. We are able to look back and see how things are changing over the years and the direction we're moving so we can learn and make adjustments in our farming operation.
Since we run a very seasonal dairy operation, we have routine tasks that we need to do every year around this time. We vaccinate all the different age groups of cattle in February. We will soon start training the heifers that will be having calves this spring to go through the milking parlor. Training the heifers ahead of time sure makes it easier when they start milking for the first time. By the end of March we will start to have new calves being born.
With spring just around the corner, the grass will soon be growing. I thought it would be good to again share some information about how to think about spring pasture management. A lot of the information that I share about spring pasture management has to do with dairy cows since that's what we have. We are trying to manage the pastures so the cows have a very high-quality feed the whole grazing season.
Spring Pasture Management
Hopefully in 30 to 40 days we will have fresh, spring grass. There are several very important things to do as we begin grazing to set up the pasture rotation for the rest of the season.
1. It is important to start grazing early. By early I mean as soon as the grass begins to green up. This gives the cows a bit of fresh grass while still eating winter forage at the bunk and allows the cows' digestive system to adjust slowly. This is better for the cows because they don't handle abrupt changes in their diet.
2. We need to realize that the grass has been resting all winter; once it begins to grow, it grows very rapidly. Its drive is to produce a seed head, and once it does that, it slows its growth. By starting to graze early, we have a better chance of keeping the plant in a vegetative stage of growth (mostly leaves and very few stems—no seed heads). By keeping it in a vegetative stage, the plant grows more aggressively.
3. By starting early (when the grass is just starting to grow) it begins to set up the staggered growth of all the paddocks. Each paddock is at a different stage of growth. If you wait till the grass is 8 inches tall, then when you get to the last paddocks the grass will be too tall and mature. In the spring it takes about 20 different paddocks. Then you will be back to graze again in the first one in about 20 days. One thing I have learned is to use larger areas to begin with, and as the grass gets taller, I can use smaller areas because there is more grass available.
4. Another benefit of starting early is that it encourages the grass to tiller, thicken the stand, and be more productive for the grazing season. You need to keep the grass from getting too tall because the sun needs to be able to get to the base of the plant where the new leaves form. This is what causes the grass to thicken and fill in the bare places.
5. When the grass is growing fast, we need to be prepared to harvest some or clip it if the animals can't keep up. We don't want it to produce a seed head and slow its growth. If you need to clip or harvest, have the animals go back to the first patch and start the rotation again.
If we can accomplish keeping the plant in a vegetative state of growth, we will have a higher yield of higher quality feed and have higher animal performance. It is important to always observe and adjust to changing conditions because no two years are ever the same.
Editor's note: Mike Martin invites readers to send in grazing-related questions for him to answer in future columns. Readers should send their questions to: mikesue.martin@gmail.com.