WINNIPEG – When Bob McNabb drilled a grass-legume mixture into a 20 acre plot of problem land in the early 1980s, he didn’t realize he had planted the seed of an idea that could help his crop rotation two decades later.
The Minnedosa, Man., farmer calls his idea hire a grazier.
McNabb wants forages in his long-term crop rotation, but he hasn’t owned a beef animal for more than 15 years. So, rather than get back into beef while BSE threatens the Canadian cattle industry, McNabb came up with an alternate plan.
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Last spring, he seeded a 120 acre field to forage, with the intention of renting high quality pasture to a cattle producer.
If things work out, McNabb will put this initial 120 acres back into his crop rotation after five years. He will then put another field into a five-year forage stand.
Will BSE throw a monkey wrench into his hire-a-grazier plan?
“Maybe,” said McNabb, who also runs a livestock feed business in Minnedosa.
“The whole idea is contingent upon a healthy, thriving beef industry. Who knows where the Canadian beef industry will be a year from now or five years from now? Of course it’s a gamble.”
However, from a risk management point of view, it’s a way for a cattle producer to reduce the investment of owning and managing pastureland. The producer focuses his efforts on the animals. From McNabb’s point of view, it gives him the chance to improve his soil and crop rotations with forages without owning cattle.
McNabb said if negative thinking prevails and prairie cattle producers start planning for a shutdown, then a shutdown will happen. He would rather keep a positive attitude.
“I seeded that 200 acres three days after the BSE news broke. I figured that if we’re going to do this, then let’s just go ahead and do it. I’d been thinking about this idea for about 10 years. Even in light of BSE, I think it’s worth a try.
“My seed cost was $3,500, plus the cost of fertilizer. We fertilized like it was a wheat crop. We took off somewhere between 450 and 500 bales in 2003. So now we should get three or four years of good grazing before I put that field back into my crop rotation.”
As evidence that McNabb is serious about his plan, he has already put up a three-strand perimeter fence at a cost of about $750 per kilometre. Cross fencing into seven paddocks this coming spring will cost another $400-$500 per km.
The budget for the watering system is $4,000, including the cost of watering troughs. Last fall, he plowed in 1.5 km of plastic pipe running from the well in his yard to three watering stations, which serve the seven paddocks. This is the same well that serves his house.
“There are plenty of natural potholes, but I want to do this thing right, and that means quality water for the cattle – the same water we drink in the house.
“Frothy bloat is a concern for some people when they put cattle out on pasture,” said McNabb, who has a degree in animal nutrition. “The beauty of a controlled watering system is that the technology is now readily available to medicate the water with something like AlfaSure so you can stop frothy bloat.”
Supplying good water is just part of the hire-a-grazier business plan. McNabb said the role of the landowner is to provide the land, quality forage and water, perimeter and cross fencing. The cattle producer pays a cash rent.
“A yearling guy will pay for pounds of gain. That’s my incentive to provide the best possible grazing. A cow-calf guy will pay something that’s close to the going daily rate for a cow and calf for 120 days. I still have to figure out that rate, but it will be somewhat higher than a community pasture because I expect to provide higher quality pasture.”
McNabb said he wants to work with a producer interested in pushing this pasture project to the limit.
“We’re going to do everything we can to get the most out of that pasture. It will be intensive management and intensive learning for both of us. I concentrate on managing the infrastructure. The cattleman concentrates on managing his cattle.
“My long-term gain is the benefit of having forages in my rotation. That helps break up herbicide resistance and weed problems, and it makes my soil healthier and more productive.
“If a cereal grower wants to get into any form of organic farming or pesticide free production, this is probably the best way to do it. This gives you the necessary three or four years without chemicals. At the very least, you should be able to get one pesticide free crop year from that field.”
The spark for the hire-a-grazier idea came from an aerial infrared photo of that 20 acre problem spot McNabb seeded to forage in the early 1980s. The aerial photo, taken 10 years after that plot had been put into forage, depicted these 20 acres as a high productivity area.
“This is quite the opposite of what that patch had always been. My father used to say this spot was alkali. It was always a wet area and it never produced good crops for us.
“Looking at it now, I’d say it was likely more of a salinity problem.
“When I seeded it to grass-legume, I was trying to get some of the moisture used up, just to see if I could stabilize it. I had no aspirations of turning it into a high producing area, but that’s exactly what ended up happening.”
After the plot had been in forage for five years, McNabb put it back into his regular grain rotation.
“We didn’t even bother to break it up. We went right into the sod with the Atom Jet openers. We simply blended it into the larger 120 acre field.”
Five years later, Prairie Agri Photo took aerial infrareds of McNabb’s farm. He was amazed when he saw the home section, which included the 20 acre problem area.
“It was a nice, deep, even red color throughout that 20 acre area. That tells you it has a high vegetative index and it’s a healthy crop. When you look at the rest of that 120 acre field, you see undulations and variations in color. This little patch is the healthiest part of the entire field.
