Grazing in Michiana
Last Friday I was at the Wakarusa Hay Sale and had several conversations with other farmers about the weather. We all seem to be in agreement that it's good to have January weather in January. It's good to have the ground frozen and be free of mud for a little while. It looks like the 10-day forecast is that it will be cold, so it should not return to mud right away.
Now that the whole farm is in concrete or frozen ground, it makes it a lot easier to do daily tasks, like putting out bedding for the cattle back by the woods so they're out of the wind, hauling manure when needed, feeding and doing everything that needs to be done outside.
Once we started putting bedding out for the young cattle this winter, while they are at the barnyard eating, they watch us go with the bedding and when we open the gate, they take off running to get back to the field to see what we put out there since they know it's there and now they're expecting it. It's interesting what they learn and what they're thinking about and observing. Sometimes we don't think they're paying attention to what we're doing, but they sure do.
Today, when I went to open the gate to let the cows go back by the woods, I couldn't hardly get the chain undone because they kept pushing their heads into the gate to get it open. I had to persuade them to back up so I could get the chain open. Once I got it open, they headed out.
We finally got finished grazing the oats and turnips we planted on Arthur's field in September. With the cold weather and the wind we had earlier in December, it pretty well flattened what was left, so the cows got what they could and that was all. It was amazing how tall it got. I pulled up the leaves and it went past my knee, so it was over knee-high.
Hindsight's always 20-20 and it would've been good to start grazing a week or two earlier, but I didn't know what was coming. It didn't quite get all grazed the way I would like to, but we got across everything.
One interesting thing I noted was that I forgot to spray the ends with the gibberellic acid, and they fared better than the stuff that got so tall in the cold weather because it didn't blow over and it stayed green right to the end of the time we grazed it. I don't think I'd give up using the gibberellic acid because of the amount of growth that it produces, but it might be good to start grazing it a little earlier.
One of the tasks we will soon be doing is drying off cows, which we're looking forward to. It's always nice to close down one of the parlors and have a lot fewer cows to milk and have a little bit of time off. One of the challenges of milking cows in the cold weather is maintaining the condition of the teats, but we have enough experience that we can get it done with a lot of glycerin and other products that help the skin stay soft. Once we stop milking them, their teats heal up right away and they're in good shape when they start calving in late March and April.
The veterinarian came to pregnancy check the 78 heifers we had grazing at Abby's farm this spring and summer, and they were all pregnant. Usually there are two or three that do not get pregnant, but not this year. We took the heifers over to Abby's around April 28 and we brought them home Dec. 13. That's the longest we ever had them there, and they look really good. Our nutritionist said, "Wow, these heifers really look good." All summer they had pasture and later this fall, we supplemented with a little bit of hay.
Years ago, a man was assessing some cattle for AI breeding, and we were looking at the breeding age heifers on the pasture. He said that pasture is a perfect feed for heifers to grow on because they grow just right. They don't get too fat, their frame grows well, and they do really well if they have adequate amounts of pasture.
Our goal is to provide them with 2.5-3% of their body weight in dry matter from the pasture. For our size animal, I aim for 18-22 pounds of dry matter per head per day. So, if you're considering pasturing some animals, heifers do really really good.
We have several different seeding mixtures that we use. In our out-wintering paddocks, I select grasses that will produce a lot of forage in the year they are seeded. I use Italian ryegrass and oats and other plants that are annuals because they produce so much in that first year. In the paddocks that I do not use for out-wintering, I'll use a mixture with more perennial grasses and clovers such as perennial ryegrass, newer varieties of fescues, and white clovers along with Italian ryegrass.
I want to get the seed on hand because as soon as the ground is fit, I want to get that seed planted. I will plant in February or March if the ground is ready.
One thing we will need to work on improving is the corners of each paddock. This year, I'm going to try broadcasting a fair amount of Italian ryegrass in each corner and see how it does as far as producing throughout the grazing season. The problem with the corners is that it's where the cattle congregate right before they come to the barnyard, so there's always considerable hoof damage there. This is an ongoing challenge.
Editor's note: Mike Martin invites readers to send in grazing-related questions for him to answer in future columns. Readers should send their questions to: mikesue.martin@gmail.com.