FROM PENN STATE
AGRONOMY FACTS 43
A well-managed pasture program
can often be the most economical way
to provide forage to ruminant animals.
It is estimated that on many dairy
farms where pasture makes up a signif
icant portion of the forage program,
feed costs can be reduced by $.50 to $1
per day per cow during the grazing
season.
However, to optimize the produc
tion and utilization of pasture, as well
as animal performance, careful plan
ning and sound management are
important. Knowing your animals,
plants and soils, and being able to
respond to their needs is a skill that
must be developed if rotational grazing
is to be successful on your farm.
Developing a pasture system that
utilizes your land resources and fits in
with your total animal, forage and crop
program is an important first step in
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Follow These Steps
pasture management. A major goal in
pasture management is to provide
quality pasture for the grazing animals
throughout the grazing season.
The first step into rotational grazing
is to determine the forage requirements
of the herd or flock. Dry matter forage
intake varies by animal species and
class. The concept of animal units
gives a much better measure of pasture
required, as compared to using animal
numbers. One animal unit (AU) is
based on the daily forage intake of one
1,000-pound dry cow (about 25 pound
s of dry forage per day).
The next step is to estimate how
many acres will be needed throughout
the grazing season.
Estimating the number of acres
required to pasture a herd or flock
depends not only on the feed require
ments of the animals but also on the
available forage produced. Pasture
growth is dependent upon plant spe-
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Foraging Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 1, 1997—Page 25
To Rotational Grazing
cies, soil characteristics, topography,
fertilization, temperature, and other
factors.
The best way to manage this situa
tion is to not use a set rotational
scheme, but move animals to those
paddocks which have reached their
optimum available pasture. Keep ani
mals off a particular paddock until it
reaches it§ desired optimum available
pasture.
The third step: estimate how large
each paddock should be.
Paddock size depends on the AU in
the herd, the amount of available pas
ture at the beginning of grazing, and
the desired grazing period. Available
pasture refers to that present in a pad
dock at the start of grazing minus the
amount present when the animals are
removed from the paddock. Typical
Pennsylvania pastures, depending on
density of plants, have about 300
pounds of pasture.
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The last step: estimate number of
paddocks needed.
The number of paddocks needed for
a rotational grazing system will
depend on the number of days the ani
mals graze in a paddock and the maxi
mum summer rest period needed. ~
Spring management usually
involves diverting some of the pad
docks out of the rotation scheme and
using the forage for hay or silage. This
effectively shortens the rest period
between grazings and improves utili
zation of rapid spring growth.
Lactating dairy cows need consis
tent quality forage; therefore, the graz
ing period may be anywhere from .5 to
2 days. Beef cows, brood ewes and
most other ruminants do not require as
consistent a quality forage and a graz
ing period of 3 or more days may
suffice.
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