This is the time of year we look forward to all winter. For those of us with grazing animals, it means the end of feeding hay.
While our short growing season makes tilling the soil and planting our annual crops quite urgent, there is another important crop that sometimes receives less attention than it really deserves. Often taken for granted, pasture is an important agricultural resource that many livestock farmers depend on for summer feed.
Roger Staff, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NCRS) grass land specialist, said a well-managed pasture can in fact provide excellent feed to growing livestock with little supplementation. But what is well-managed pasture? A modern view that has developed is that pasture should be seen as a perennial crop that deserves the same care and management as other crops on the farm. Pasture management can be complicated. Few other farming activities involve growing a crop, growing livestock and harvesting the crop all at the same time. Maintaining balance requires close observation and dedicated management. As with all crops, many factors must be planned for to grow and maintain a consistent, high-quality pasture.
Choosing the right grass
Good management starts with choosing a well-adapted grass for your area. Staff said there are no “silver bullets” when selecting forages, but producers should have an idea of what forage varieties were originally established in the pasture and implement varieties that complement those present forages.
“The key is to keep the forage in a vegetative state for continued growth and producers should also take grazing heights into account,” Staff said.
He recommends grazing cool season grasses at eight to 10 inches with a minimum of three to four inches. For native warm season grasses, such as big bluestem, indiangrass, and switchgrass, graze at 18 to 20 inches with a minimum of eight to 10 inches.
“If a producer wants to re-seed a pasture, I recommend a mixture of 70 to 75 percent cool season grasses with a 25 to 30 percent warm season component,” he said. “Divide between perennial and warm season grasses and then rotate annuals into the system.”
Strengthen the roots
Doing a soil test and adjusting fertilizers for ideal soil fertility are equally important steps in good management. Managing the grass so you have a good root system is also an important strategy.
“How long has it been since you’ve had a soil test? That’s the first question I ask producers,” Staff said. “We don’t often think about it, but what we do on top of the ground is going to affect what is underneath the ground. If we have a continuous grazing system and graze that grass really close to the soil surface, we’re going to make the plant’s root system smaller – with a smaller root system the plant is going to be more susceptible to drought stress.”
Controlling weeds is major challenge in any situation, but especially when forages start to get thin. Strengthening the roots for the forage can go hand in hand with controlling weeds, since they compete for moisture in nutrients. Staff said adding phosphorus to the pasture in the fall will help strengthen plants roots going into winter.
Establish a sacrifice pasture
According to Staff, pastures need rest and care and using a sacrifice pasture can help with that.
“If you already have a sacrifice pasture I applaud you. If not, you might want to consider setting one aside,” Staff said. “Instead of grazing every pasture, set aside a sacrifice pasture where hay is fed to minimize severe drought damage.”
He encourages producers to have a 30-day rest cycle with managed grazing and said if you grazed the grass short last year you probably need an even longer rest period.
While our short growing season makes tilling the soil and planting our annual crops quite urgent, there is another important crop that sometimes receives less attention than it really deserves. Often taken for granted, pasture is an important agricultural resource that many livestock farmers depend on for summer feed.
Roger Staff, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NCRS) grass land specialist, said a well-managed pasture can in fact provide excellent feed to growing livestock with little supplementation. But what is well-managed pasture? A modern view that has developed is that pasture should be seen as a perennial crop that deserves the same care and management as other crops on the farm. Pasture management can be complicated. Few other farming activities involve growing a crop, growing livestock and harvesting the crop all at the same time. Maintaining balance requires close observation and dedicated management. As with all crops, many factors must be planned for to grow and maintain a consistent, high-quality pasture.
Choosing the right grass
Good management starts with choosing a well-adapted grass for your area. Staff said there are no “silver bullets” when selecting forages, but producers should have an idea of what forage varieties were originally established in the pasture and implement varieties that complement those present forages.
“The key is to keep the forage in a vegetative state for continued growth and producers should also take grazing heights into account,” Staff said.
He recommends grazing cool season grasses at eight to 10 inches with a minimum of three to four inches. For native warm season grasses, such as big bluestem, indiangrass, and switchgrass, graze at 18 to 20 inches with a minimum of eight to 10 inches.
“If a producer wants to re-seed a pasture, I recommend a mixture of 70 to 75 percent cool season grasses with a 25 to 30 percent warm season component,” he said. “Divide between perennial and warm season grasses and then rotate annuals into the system.”
Strengthen the roots
Doing a soil test and adjusting fertilizers for ideal soil fertility are equally important steps in good management. Managing the grass so you have a good root system is also an important strategy.
“How long has it been since you’ve had a soil test? That’s the first question I ask producers,” Staff said. “We don’t often think about it, but what we do on top of the ground is going to affect what is underneath the ground. If we have a continuous grazing system and graze that grass really close to the soil surface, we’re going to make the plant’s root system smaller – with a smaller root system the plant is going to be more susceptible to drought stress.”
Controlling weeds is major challenge in any situation, but especially when forages start to get thin. Strengthening the roots for the forage can go hand in hand with controlling weeds, since they compete for moisture in nutrients. Staff said adding phosphorus to the pasture in the fall will help strengthen plants roots going into winter.
Establish a sacrifice pasture
According to Staff, pastures need rest and care and using a sacrifice pasture can help with that.
“If you already have a sacrifice pasture I applaud you. If not, you might want to consider setting one aside,” Staff said. “Instead of grazing every pasture, set aside a sacrifice pasture where hay is fed to minimize severe drought damage.”
He encourages producers to have a 30-day rest cycle with managed grazing and said if you grazed the grass short last year you probably need an even longer rest period.
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