THE GRASS IS GREEN 'AND GROWING Larry Muller Penn State University The interest in and movement “back to grazing” continues to increase. As has often been said, grazing is not going back to the “good old days,” but is upgrading an old technology that may be Hght for economical and environmental reasons. Beef and sheep producers have had grazing systems for years, whereas the movement back to grazing with dairy has occurred primarily during the past 6-7 years. Management intensive grazing is not for everyone, and not everyone who adopts a pasture-based system will be successful. However, with good animal and grazing man agement, grazing provides an alterna tive that may improve profitability and lifestyle. Grazing Meetings Attendance and enthuisasm has been high at most local, state, and reg ional meetings. About 200 attended the recent two-day Pennsylvania Grazing Conference in Carlisle. There were many timely presentations on paddock layout, fencing systems, managing heat stress, reproductive management, feed budgeting, nutri tion, production beef from forage, and many others. Several different produc ers participated in the program. If you are interested in obtaining copies of the Proceedings of the 1997 Grazing Conference, send $lO made payable to Penn State University and send to the address at the end of this column. Grazing meetings and pasture walks are being held on a regular basis in several regions of Pennsylvania. The “walks” and discussion groups are excellent places to exchange ideas and learn more about pasture-based systems. We encourage all groups to send us dates and locations of these LEHIGH AG EQUIPMENT, INC. sjsss 6670 Ruppsville Road, Allentown, PA 18106 We Ship Parts Same Day To 6lO-398-2553 or 1-800-779-3616 $ *%Wr' * 4 ■* ’ ZETTE ❖ * *> -'vJv , ,-V meetings so we can publish a regular grazing calendar with this column. We plan to continue publishing a column every few weeks ih this Graz ing Gazette column. We want the arti cles to be timely and informative. Please let us know by calling any top ics of interest to you (814) 865-6541, or by e-mail, sedl@psu.edu. Our fax number is (814) 863-7043. Our goal is it provide for your individual needs for you to be even more successful in your business. The Grass Is Getting Greener Grazing Tips One of the most critical and chal lenging times in the grazing season is the spring. An often used quote from New Zealand is that “the difference between an above average farmer and an average farmer is about two weeks.” This is two weeks in the spring. Proper management of pas tures in the spring “sets the stage” for pasture growth and proper rotation through paddocks. Spring pasture management requires a lot of forward thinking and quick action. Pasture growth has been relatively slow this spring with the cool temper atures. However, the rapid spring grass growth will occur at one time and then all grass will have similar maturity. By the time you read this article in press, most patures should have been grazed except perhaps for the northern areas. Here are some suc cessful tips for successful spring pas ture management. •Start early. Cows should be turned onto pasture after green up or when there is two to three inches of growth. Do not wait until the first paddock is seven to eight inches tall because all of the paddock are seven to eight inches tall. Continue feeding the cows their normal winter ration, and begin to decrease feeding the barn. •Move fast. A goal should be to top graze every paddock that is to be YOUR BEST FORAGE BOX VALUE Gehl’s new BU9BO Self-unloading forage box has been redesigned for improved performance and durability. ■ True variable-speed drive for infinite unloading speeds ■ Single lever control ■ Improved beater design. ■ Stronger drive chain and reinforced roof ■ Standard highway light package. ■ Optional folding 18-inch conveyor extension Features include Gehl builds it better GEHL Foraglng Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 19, 1997—Page grazed in the spring and not set aside for harvesting. A good goal is to top graze each paddock during the first seven to 10 days. During this time you are “staging the paddocks” to different maturities for later grazing and to avoid all paddocks being ready to graze at the same time. Cows are gra dually increaseing pasture intake and decreasing stored forage intake. This practice also helps to gradually adapt the rumen of the cow to a change in feedstuff. If pasture growth gets ahead of the harvesting by cows, more of the pad docks may need to be set aside for mechanical harvesting. If unneeded paddocks are harvested early, they can be returned to the pasture system ear ly. As a “rule of thumb” for milking cows, you may only need one acre of pasture for each 154 to 2 milking cows during the rapid spring pasture growth. •Keep dry jnatter high. Spring pas ture is highly palatable, is about 15% dry matter, and is higher in protein and energey than most stored forages. During the early spring pasture growth, we want to gradually adapt the cows and the rumen environment to the new pasture. With dairy, our goal is to maintain a high DMI and high milk production. We want to gra dually decrease the stored forage as pasture intake decreases. We still want to maintain a reasonable level of grain feeding similar to what is being fed in the bam for the early lactation cow. Some long fiber (hay) can help pro- Improved Jimmy C. Henning, Garry Lacefield, and Leonard Lauriault Agronomy Dept. U. of Ky. “THOU SHALT SEED CERTI FIED SEED OF AN IMPROVED VARIETY” is imprinted in the fine print of every practicing agronomist’s diploma, along with things like “soil test regularly,” “rotate crops,” and “conserve soil.” However, in times of price crunches, everyone truly becomes a cost-cutter and bargain hunter just to continue to be profitable. One area that perennially comes vide adequate, effective fiber that may be lacking in lush spring pastures and adds some dry forage to the wet pas ture diet. Adding extra magnesium to the grain ration can help prevent grass tetany. •Walk pastures daily. Walk all pad docks daily to visually observe pas ture growth. When pasture growth is in excess of the cow’s ability to keep up with it, you should consider remov ing some of the paddocks from the rotation for hay or silage. In addition to visually observing the pastures, feed refusals and change in refusals at the feed bank should be monitored. Spring is a challenging time for “old” and “new” graziers. It takes excellent management of plants and animals to get that good start to graz ing. Happy grazing. Grazing Center One of the goals of the Grazing Center is to coordinate educational activities and disseminate information on grassland agriculture. Please let us know of various grazing activities, meetings, and pasture walks during the upcoming grazing season. We will publish these activities in a Grazing Calendar at the end of the Grazing Gazette column. Please contact us at the Grazing Research and Education Center, c/o Sue Eisenhauer, 116 Agricultural Sci ences and Industries Building, Univer sity Park, PA 16802, fax (814) 863-7043, or Larry Muller, phone (814) 863-4205, and e-mail lmuller@- das9.cas.psu.edu. Red Clover under close scrutiny is that of the price of the seed of better varieties of forage legumes. With the down prices of cattle, this scrutiny of seed costs will get even more intense. But what is the true value of using better seed? This article will examine the value of better red clover and alfalfa variet ies, based on data collected from the variety testing program at the Univer sity of Kentucky. To get to the point, seeding certified seed of red clover and alfalfa does pay, and the data are convincing, con sistent, and significant. But let’s look With Gehl’s forage harvesters ■ Exclusive Auto-Max Load-Sensing System - Increase capacity by up to 20% without the fear of overloading ■ Metal-Stop Metal Detector - Prevents machine damage ■ In-Head Hydraulic Knife Sharpener ■ Patented One-Sided Cutterbar Adjustment. ■ Three Models To Choose From. (Turn to Page 14) - UNMATCHED CAPACITY Gehl The Force Behind Fanning 211
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