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Pasture forage for grazing can offer several benefits. If managed properly, it is the most cost-effective source of feed for cow-calf producers and other livestock operators.
Before you are able to implement new management practices on your dairy, or before your nutritionist or vet can recommend a new practice, you and they must – or at least should – consult what has been proven through research.
Let’s talk about water – irrigation water – specifically, the things affected by irrigation water: summer forage, business risks and the possibilities for change.
Pasture improvement would be simplified if we just had a silver bullet to increase forage growth, improve nutritive value, control pasture weeds and graze longer throughout the year.
Being able to measure forage mass available for grazing is needed for pasture budgeting. Forage height is one way to estimate forage mass when calibrated for the stand being grazed.
Employing a planning process is a good step for beginning and established farms. If you are just starting your business, performing a strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis on your operation is a great place to start.
Looking across a pasture, we should expect to see grazing animals, a diversity of forage species, fences with gates and drinking water sources. Not so obvious is the dynamic flow of energy, nutrients and water above and below ground. But rest assured, this is occurring constantly, just at different rates depending on the seasonal growth cycle.
For the majority of us, June is the most productive month of the year for forage production. Generally speaking, we should expect 60 to 70 percent of our annual forage to be produced by the end of the month, which makes June so critical for timely forage management.
