Short duration, high intensity grazing maximizes the effects of natural fertilizer, as the animals are concentrated on various areas of the pasture for a short time and leave manure there ...


an adequate crop of hay may not have enough irrigation water (after the hay is harvested) to green up the field to grow more grass for fall pasture, especially after they have dried up the fields enough to get haying equipment in to harvest the hay. Some years, a person might grow more feed by never turning the water off for haying, just pasturing the field in a rotational manner, keeping water on it as long as possible. The success of this tactic will depend on the year, and how dry it gets, and how long each segment is allowed to grow before grazing it.


There are always outside factors that contribute to forage yield, and it is more complex than any formula. Trying to determine the maximum number of animals allowed on a pasture on any specific unit of land can be difficult because of the many variables involved, which may not be the same from one year to the next. Flexibility is always needed, along with continual monitoring.


“To get optimum production, it takes intensive management,” says Shewmaker. It takes commitment to move cattle frequently, and in some systems it works best - for optimum animal production as well as health of vegetation - to move them every day. Moving cattle is easy, however, since they are always eager to go to new forage, and putting up and taking down temporary fence does not take long if paddocks are designed correctly. But this involves time and labor. Some ranchers are unable to commit to this type of labor involvement, to make it work - especially if they need to be moving the cattle every day or every few days. There are advantages and disadvantages to every system; each producer must figure out what works best for their own situation and abilities.


“It often depends on what kind of livestock you have, and what your production goals are,” says


Shewmaker. If certain breeders are trying to maximize animal production with lactating cows or yearlings and need to have forage at optimum vegetative state, they can move the cattle daily in a short duration/high density rotation system. Or, breeders can have them top the pasture segments in a different type of rotation, following them with animals that do not need such high levels of protein and other nutrients. Some ranchers who fall-calve do this by letting weaned calves graze summer pastures ahead of the dry pregnant cows whose nutrient needs are lower.


The key thing is to match the forage with the animals’ needs, and this may depend on whether the ranch can utilize irrigated pastures or just native plants in a range setting. “Improved (tame) species are a little more resistant to the effects of close grazing. They have been selected to tolerate more intense grazing,” explains Shewmaker.


“One area in which many producers are lacking is management, and another is having enough legumes in the forage mix to reduce fertilizer requirements, especially nitrogen.


From a


profitability standpoint and animal production standpoint, you really need some legumes in a pasture mix,” he says.


“Some producers are concerned about bloat, but there are some non-bloating legumes available. We often do not make enough use of birdsfoot- trefoil, for instance. Sanfoin could also be used. Alfalfa or white clover can also work, if restricted to less than 25 percent of the plant mix, with a non-bloating legume such as birdsfoot-trefoil. The latter is well adapted to northern climates. It can be difficult to establish, but once established it does well,” he explains. All legumes will suffer from poor management, but can do very well as


28 TEXAS LONGHORN JOURNAL i JUNE 2017


part of the pasture mix if properly cared for. “We’re doing some studies with birdsfoot- trefoil, and one study is looking at the feasibility of inter-seeding it into existing pastures. We tried three different suppression treatments (to retard grass to give the birdsfoot-trefoil a better chance of becoming established). One is use of herbicide to retard the grass a little, and that works best. Another suppression treatment is clipping the grass really short, to simulate close grazing, to retard the grass. This is next best, for success of inter-seeding.”


“Legumes in the pasture help keep animal production levels high, especially in late summer when grass plants do not have as much recovery during hot weather. The legumes grow back better after being grazed. This requires a rotational system, however, and more intensive management than season-long grazing,” he says.


Short duration, high intensity grazing maximizes the effects of natural fertilizer, as the animals are concentrated on various areas of the pasture for a short time and leave manure there - distributed more evenly than with low stock density. This eventually fertilizes the whole pasture, as the animals leave behind the nutrients that go through them. Cattle manure/ urine is an excellent source of nitrogen, for instance.


“Nutrient distribution for the pasture is a definite benefit of rotational grazing. These are relatively simple concepts that are relatively easy to apply,” he says. This is the lowest cost method to improve soil and pasture health, but producers have to make a commitment to do it.


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