Hay producers are often focused exclusively on cash costs or variable costs of production such as fuel, repairs, fertilizer, hired labor and rent. Whereas, the fixed costs of depreciation and interest on equipment are often ignored.

Each bale of hay contains mineral nutrients that come from soil reserves or from applied fertilizer. When fed to livestock, most of these nutrients will pass through the animals and can by recycled for future forage growth.

Imagine a hay feeding system where you did not have to use a tractor all winter and, at the same time, it allowed you to build up pasture nutrient levels without applying commercial fertilizer. Would you be interested?

Can beef cattle be finished efficiently on pasture? That was a question another extension specialist at the University of Kentucky and I had seven years ago when corn prices were soaring to unprecedented levels, and feedlot finishing costs were high.

I’m an agricultural economist at a land-grant university. One advantage I have in my work is I also farm; I grass-finish cattle and have partnerships on cow-calf and sheep operations in other locations.

In the first article of this series (Picking apples off the grazing tree: When grazing isn't profitable), we went over extended-season grazing at a conceptual level to help understand that as we push extended-season grazing further into the winter,

How far can we extend the grazing season profitably? Last month (September issue of Progressive Forage,  Part I

Will grazing more and feeding less hay always increase profitability? There are many cases where cattle farmers could graze more days profitably.

It seems that in the last decade many cattle farmers have steadily increased the intensity of cattle moves, some moving multiple times each day. While moving cattle more frequently is generally beneficial to pasture growth as well as increased utilization, it also comes with a cost.