NANTON, Alta. – Intensive summer grazing is one way to save winter feed costs.
Well managed summer pastures allow producers to stockpile forage for winter rather than making hay, which is labour intensive and expensive, says grazing consultant Jim Gerrish.
Grazing managers attempt to control pasture and grazing efficiency as well as forage quality and quantity as a way to stretch out the feed supply.
“In the cow-calf business, controlled grazing pays more in the winter than the summer because the alternative to being able to graze something in the winter is usually higher priced harvested feed,” the former grazing researcher from the University of Missouri told a recent grazing seminar in Nanton.
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“As we try to extend the grazing season to try and cut down on harvested feed and other purchased inputs, the more control that you need.”
On rangeland and tame pasture, it is important to think about what is across the landscape rather than how much feed is available from every sq. metre.
Gerrish said the fixed and flexible systems are two basic strategies for managing intensive grazing.
The permanent, fixed system is not necessarily four strand barbed wire on wooden posts. It can be done with an electric tensile wire system on fibreglass posts, he said. A well built system can last a long time and should be secure enough to prevent wildlife and livestock from knocking off the wires.
“If you build that fence with the appropriate materials with good construction, it is going to be there 20 or 30 years with minimum maintenance,” he said.
Wildlife can jump the fences but they will learn to avoid the electric wires if the power is left on all the time. Both systems involve subdividing a pasture into grazing cells. Paddocks do not have to be the same size but should have the same grazing capacity.
A fixed grazing system requires less daily labour. The larger the operation, the cheaper it is on a per acre basis..
The biggest cost is permanent fencing and water development.
A permanent system has less management flexibility. Fenced paddocks are a problem if the producer wants to reseed or mow the hay.
A flexible system has a lower investment per acre, but more labour is required to move the fences and water systems as livestock are transferred daily between paddocks.
However, it is also easier to re-move these facilities for reseeding or haying.
Water access is paramount in both systems.
Producers should set up every paddock with access to water using pumps and troughs. Control access with gates so cattle do not linger around the trough and leave manure at the site. The set-up should be designed for what cattle need in summer. Cattle drink less in winter and stockers drink more than cows.
Tanks need to be set on a pad to prevent erosion.
