LACOMBE, Alta. – Vern Baron knows most beef producers don’t like risk but the grazing expert says they should still be prepared to try new ideas.
As a member of the Western Forage/Beef Group, he promotes intensive grazing and thoughtful pasture care as a way to make more money in the cattle business. That means spending money to make money.
“As you move up the ladder, it will cost more,” he told a June pasture school in Lacombe. “That is probably why producers are somewhat reluctant to make that extra investment.”
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Fences, water and animal care cost more in a complex grazing program than they do if a producer turns cattle out on a continuous system for the summer.
However, producers can increase their chances of making a profit by carefully selecting the right kind of animal, paddock system and forages.
Animal type is important. Producers should decide whether the objectives are to feed cattle for pasture finished beef, maintain cow-calf pairs or start calves for the feedlot.
“Your animal type has to match your production system,” Baron said.
The stocker’s main goal is to increase weight gains per acre with more animals in smaller paddocks. Forage intake per animal drops as stocking rates increase but pounds of beef per acre are greater because there are more cattle on the space.
Each grazing plan varies.
“You will apply stocking rates primarily to obtain a carrying capacity of pasture days that will be economical for you,” he said.
How the animal performs on pasture is often more important to the producer than pasture management, yet highly productive pastures produce more beef.
Pasture productivity starts with selecting the right plants for the environment.
Producers often turn old hay fields into pasture, but the plants don’t grow as well as before and fields probably need to be renovated.Ê
This may not work well for an intensive program where the plants need to stay alive and withstand the pressures of grazing and weather changes.
A profitable grazing period needs to last at least 100 days.
One way to extend the grazing season is to be more flexible with swath grazing, which if done in the middle of summer can increase carrying capacity up to 200 percent.
“Rather than using swath grazing in the fall and early winter, use it in the late summer,” he said.
Select the right plants to improve a grazing program.
Baron suggested a type that is easy to establish with good regrowth potential after the first graze. A species such as meadow brome that starts well in the spring and recovers for later season grazing works well.
The grass should also have a good animal carrying capacity, lower cost per head and higher rate of gain over 100 to 120 days.Ê
Forage productivity is closely connected to the nutritional status of the soil so some fertilizer may be needed. Adding legumes improves soil quality because they fix their own nitrogen. These plants provide good animal nutrition and extendÊ the grazing period.
The catch is getting legumes to grow and survive.
“To be economical, we are going to have to figure out how to keep legumes and alfalfa in pastures longer,” Baron said.
“When we are trying to grow alfalfa, it is kind of like trying to squeeze a big foot into a small shoe.”
