It is June and the grass is growing faster than you can get animals out on the paddocks to use it.
Pasture management decisions made today will enhance pay off later this fall, but it’s time to get on it.
Planning for the grazing season ahead includes feed budgeting, seeding, stockpiling, fly control, mineral placement, rotation scheduling, weed control, and making hay.
•Prepare a feed budget
Preparing a feed budget for the remainder of the grazing season will assist you in determining whether you need to find extra sources of pasture.
A feed budget simply is adding up the quantity of forage you will need for your livestock and comparing that total to the estimated quantity of forage that will be available for the rest of the season.
To determine the quantity of dry matter required for livestock needs, use three percent of the total body weight (for high-producing animals you could use four percent).
Approximate the quantity of forage based on the density of the stands and estimated yield.
If you find you do not have enough available forage for your livestock’s dry matter requirements in the above comparison, then consider one or more of the following suggestions:
•Seed annuals
Annuals seeded in early- to mid-summer will provide supplemental grazing forage for late-summer and into the fall.
Sorghum-sudan seeded in June will provide a large quantity of high-quality grazing in August. Forage or stubble turnips, fodder rape, or kale offer grazing from late-summer to late-fall.
The brassicas have good frost tolerance, which allows them to be utilized long after other annuals and perennials have stopped growing for the season.
Cereals planted in late-July or early-August provide September and October grazing.
Corn is another crop that can be grazed effectively during its wide window of opportunity, from August-December.
•Stockpile forage
Extend the grazing season with stockpiled forage. Pasture fields allowed to re-grow from mid-July can accumulate a significant quantity of forage for grazing after the growing season has ended.
It is during the early summer that you need to take the first steps to have a successful late-fall grazing opportunity. These fields should be allowed to grow from mid- to late July to accumulate forage for later use.
Apply a high nitrogen fertilizer to achieve optimum growth. Fields with trefoil and clovers will provide better late-season grazing than alfalfa fields.
Of the grass species, tall fescue is an excellent stockpile grass as it holds its quality well into the winter.
Orchard grass, meanwhile, breaks down with frost and won’t provide the quantity or quality of grazing as tall fescue or the brome grasses.
