SASKATOON (Staff) – Preliminary results of a recent grazing study showed calves grazing Italian ryegrass, fall rye or fed in a pen with high-quality barley silage all gained the same, said an Agriculture Canada research scientist at Melfort.
All calves in the research project gained just under one kilogram per day.
“That’s quite a respectable background gain on straight forage,” said research scientist Al Vaage.
Vaage is optimistic about the possibility of getting good gains on late fall pasture, but is reluctant to place too much value on the results with only one year’s data.
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The scientists’ goal is to extend the grazing season with high-quality forages. If the calves can stay out of the corral longer, it may save money on higher costing feed.
On a site near the northeastern Saskatchewan research station, the 600-lb. (272 kg) calves were placed on pasture in the last week of October for three weeks. Calves in the pasture had no extra bedding or shelter. They were forced to forage through about eight inches of snow after the first week of the project.
“Given the temperature and how late they went on, I’m quite surprised they gained as much as they did.”
