stockpiling versus hay

[Dean.Collins]

thoughts?

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIHDmlUQ-1o

 

[goodolboy]

I think it's a great idea. We feed 250 round bales in the winter. We buy all our hay because it's cheaper than having all the equipment and land it takes. But this strip grazing takes the equipment out of that. All we need is the land.

I'm going to have to rethink this now.

 

[Royd Wood]

You keep finding these good bits of info Dean
With current hay prices staying high next year and hay feilds being plowed for cash crops, we need to look at alternatives

 

[Southern by choice]

That was good. It was also from my neck of the woods... which is good because of crazy in NC weather, and our grasses here are of so many varieties. Not on enough land and don't have cattle... but still trying to plan ahead. I want all my animals to live off the land, so to speak.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

It's a good idea for areas that don't see much snow or as long winters as I see up here. I can see stockpiling a good thing--up here--best for the fall until the snows get too deep for cows to be scrounging around for feed and early spring when the snows are starting to melt away or have melted away enough to expose the dead grasses for them to chew on, but not the dead of winter or winters that see a lot of snow. It certainly will get the animals out of the drylot longer, and keeps them on pasture longer.

 

[Dean.Collins]

It's a good idea for areas that don't see much snow or as long winters as I see up here......but not the dead of winter or winters that see a lot of snow.

Why? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PzQmr-ueiVs

 

[goodhors]

I am also in the snow belt, though the last few (10+) years have not been really
"harsh" in the amounts we get. I would not consider going into winter without
having enough hay to get them thru winter. So MANY variables in winter weather
I have seen since my childhood when it was more reliable, with snow cover.

Locally, we have gotten a mixed bag the last 5 years, with some deep snow
that I had to take the tractor out along side the fences and break drifts to prevent
animals walking over! Last year we got almost no snow, and what we had was
iced over the top, no grazing thru that. You never know what to count on for
being prepared!! So we always just go for "worst case" and put up hay that way.
Might have some extra in spring, but never much. Last year we needed it, with
such late cold, we fed way into May.

I am not "out west" don't have those kind of acres. What I do have is pretty much
grazed intensively, but I work to have very good pasture with regular mowing
and fertilizing regularly. I rotate the fields often, so they don't get overgrazed.
That won't work in places without the rain we get, or the attention I put into
my "crop" of grass. However, by fall, there just IS NOT much length of grass left
for more than nibbling over winter. Even with not mowing into Sept, the grass is
shutting down from lack of sun, colder temps, so it doesn't get any length. I have
enough animals on the grass that they keep it grazed pretty short, nothing left by
Oct.

The video looks nice, but you have to wonder about the details not mentioned. How
many cattle on how many acres? Ages of the cattle. What is the TOTAL of any years
average snowfall in that area? Looks to be down on the flatter lands, so maybe more
protected than other grazing areas would be, snow total is not so deep. Lots of variables.

I can appreciate the idea of trying new stuff. However in past cattle managing, in those
western states, they lost a LOT of animals when they didn't keep them up closer to
the ranch home spots, fed them hay in winter. Cattle have ALWAYS grazed the land
in winter if they could, but conditions get harsh and then they NEED feeding to prevent
losing them. No one can afford to lose cattle! You just don't know what year they will
be able to graze or need feeding, maybe just now and again during storms. Cattle need
some help when snow gets deep, deeper than what I saw in the video. They waste more
energy trying to get thru the snow in depths like that, then they get back in grazing the small
areas they can uncover. So they need the extra food in hay or other forages to maintain
body condition in deep snow.

I can see the grazing being a help in hay saving, but the cattle owner needs to be prepared
with hay on hand for when things don't follow the PLAN. Always SOMETHING to cause
problems if not totally prepared.

 

[Dean.Collins]

I had to take the tractor out along side the fences and break drifts to prevent
animals walking over!

lol thats some serious snow

i still thought was interesting to see the financial break down for diesel etc and what that then costs as far as per ton of hay.I also liked how they explained you cant control the backend sale price but you can control the input costs.

Was very surprised to hear the percentage of US cattle farmers with less than 25 cows though.....

 

[WildRoseBeef]

It's a good idea for areas that don't see much snow or as long winters as I see up here......but not the dead of winter or winters that see a lot of snow.

Why? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PzQmr-ueiVs

North Carolina doesn't get even close to the amount of snow that we ("we" as in folks where I live in is, which is the "Northern" part of Alberta) can get. Some winters we've gotten as much as 3 to 4 feet (NOT inches, FEET) of snow that lasts for 4 to 5 months at a time. This does not make it ideal for stockpiling nor swath grazing. Bale grazing, yes, because the bales will often (if they're tall enough) be poking over the top of the snow. Right now, we have just enough snow to make it impossible for stockpile grazing to be done. However, swath grazing and bale grazing can still be accomplished, provided the swaths are nice and tall for the cows to dig through.

Stock piling is ideal for my area from September to November or December if we don't get much snow or as much snow that doesn't go over the length of the cows' snouts so that they can scavenge through the snow layer. Also important is if the snow get crusty....that makes it more difficult for them, because it's harder for them to dig or push aside the snow.

Dean, I live in Alberta, Canada not Utah were you won't get as much snow as we do this far north. We get SNOW up here (not to mention COLD), sometimes less than Wisconsin or Ontario usually gets, but it's not uncommon for us to get a big dump either. We Canadian producers must plan our winter grazing accordingly, and never take for granted that we won't get much snow in a particular winter. If we're going to be swath-grazing, it's got to be during periods where we know snow isn't going to be the deepest. Same with stockpile-grazing, or crop-residue grazing.

No, when we were feeding in the winter we too, like goodhors, had to use the tractor to break through drifts and real deep schidzten to get the cattle to be able to travel back and forth for water and mineral and to feed and bedding areas. It wouldn't be much different if I were trying to stockpile/swath graze in deep snow either.

This PDF file is comprised by, written and from Alberta Agriculture on 365-day grazing. You would be best to check it out to see how winter grazing is done north of the border: http://areca.ab.ca/userfiles/files/YearRoundGrazingFinal5[1].pdf

This one is also done by Alberta Ag through Foragebeef.ca:
http://www1.foragebeef.ca/$foragebeef/frgebeef.nsf/all/frg25/$FILE/extendedgrazingmakingitwork.pdf

 

[WildRoseBeef]

The costs of feeding out hay versus letting cows out on pasture is quite significant. Compare the fuel and labour costs with having to spend a couple of hours each day feeding hay to cattle compared to the few minutes out there switching paddocks is quite something. It's not so much the costs associated with the making of the hay, but the actual winter feeding costs. If I remember correctly, conventional feeding hay to cows will cost a producer around $1.50/cow/day, compared to the costs of around $0.85 or $0.70 per cow per day having to swath, bale, or stockpile graze them in the winter. As quoted from this article : "...research indicates that swath grazing can reduce total daily feeding cost per cow by 41 to 48%. This is based on a 78% reduction in yardage costs and a 25% reduction in feed costs." That's a HUGE amount of savings!!

So essentially what I was saying in my last post was that though it's a good idea, stockpiling pastures versus having to feed them hay, it's only viable during certain times of the winter, not throughout the winter, especially where I live. But that's not to say that winter grazing is not possible to accomplish in my area. Producers from my area (as I mentioned on a ranch tour here) and north and south have proven that winter grazing and getting the cows out of the drylot is possible. So I'm not being a naysayer. BTW, when I gets me some cattle sometime I aim to experiment and try out these winter grazing practices on the cows I get.


Here's some more reading material for you to check out: http://www.saskforage.ca/Coy Folder...w-calf_Feed_Cost_Analysis-Final_Sept_2011.pdf It also has some costs with traditional feeding versus winter grazing.