It is quite amazing the things we take for granted on a daily basis. Take water, for example. In this book (Quality Pasture by Alan Nation), the question is posed to the reader, how would you like to drink unflushed toilet water? Sounds a bit extreme, doesn't it. Mr. Nation goes on to explain, though. An unsanitary water supply for your animals is not only unappetizing but unhealthy. Unhealthy to the point of being life threatening. Many of our livestock have to get their water from the "toilet bowl". Dirty stock water is considered to be the primary point of transmission in the spread of animal disease and parasitism. This is a no brainer for some. For me, I clean out the stock tanks, but not often enough. Sometimes algae begins to grow and even float. It is suggested that if you are currently supplying your stock via a pond or a tank that your cattle can get into, to put your money into a system that provides fresh water. It is important to tackle this before instituting a MiG system as Mig can make the bad water related health issues worse. If you won't drink it, why should you make your stock drink it? Tanks and troughs should be cleaned regularly as the algae that grows in it is toxic and produces scours in cattle. (Ouch.) I vow to stay on top of this.
On another note, the starting point for all management intensive grazing programs is with winter stockpiling. This is a revelation for me. I was thinking backwards as I'll explain shortly. It is estimated that winter stock is 70% of the direct cash cost of livestock production. In other words, a large part of your out-flow cash is in winter feed. So any small amount gained in productivity (growing cool season grass) can have great results on the bottom line. In the lower half of the USA it is suggested to use cold tolerant cereal rye in combination with perennial long season grass. I had already decided to sow some cereal rye along with tall fescue.
Early spring forage analysis shows that all of the cool-season grasses can maintain enough quality through the winter dormant season to provide all the protein needed for a dry cow. The emphasis is on dry cow. Lactating cows need more protein. This is why many grass farmers milk seasonally, resting in the winter. The grass can't do it alone, there will have to be some input to make up the difference, such as protein supplements or grain. Then we get back to the 70% of your costs again. If you plan for this, you would calve in the spring, just in time for the lush, spring explosion. Growth slows again in the hot summer months, so the calves would get the benefit of good, protein rich, new growth and more in the form of mommas milk. Many of the cool season grass will still test a t12-14 percent protein.
Now comes the management intensive part. It is our job to ration out the cool season grass, once it has been stockpiled, so that the stock doesn't feast heartily for a little while then starve in late winter. Now you can use all those tred-in posts and poly wire you have laying around. You give them the candy (the green stuff) then fore them to eat everything else. This is accomplished by strip grazing. Positioning the poly wire across your paddock to create smaller strips. Thus you are effectively controlling what is being eaten. The length of time in each strip is going to have to be decided by you. Keep an eye on the grass, you'll know when to move them.
Animals should be turned out to pasture at the first sign of spring green-up. Look at the brush and trees on your farm, when they start to bud, we better get thinking about our plan. If we wait for the first paddock to get to the "recommended height" of 6-8 inches, the majority of the paddocks further down the line will get away from us. Remember, spring is an explosion of growth. We don't want the grass producing stems and seeds. The grass can become unpalatable and lose it's nutritional value.
Moving fast is the key in the spring. A fast rotation must be maintained to keep up with the spring growth, keeping the grass short, and thereby, young and tender. Walking the pastures daily will help you stay informed to wheather or not your animals are keeping up with it. Dairy farmers should try to graze the top of every paddock every ten days. This means paddock shifts might have occur several times a day. The fast rotation will pay off in very high milk production and pasture that is easier to control.
We just have a family milk cow, a bull, and 2 heifers. But there is wisdom in grass farming and calving seasonally. We want to do things on a least cost basis. This involves learning how to grow quality pasture, even on a small scale like ours. If done right, I am confident that we can develop quality milk production to feed our family on grass. Done right, we can provide quality beef for ourselves and our community on grass. Finally, we can accomplish our goal of providing the best tastin' chicken in Ozark county, on grass. Grass is the key.
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