Does Grazing Have A Place
(Continued from Page 28)
milk prices, increasing feed costs, and the increase in
all farm costs, which resulted in shrinking profit mar
gins’
Many dairy “graziers” are now increasing herd size
to generate the income needed for the goals and life
style of their farm families. In Pennsylvania, there are
many grazing herds above 80 to 100 cows, with five to
six herds between 200 to 400 cows.
A 1999 farm business analysis study examined the
performance and profitability of grazing farms in
Michigan, Wisconsin, and New York. Average profita
bility, based on net farm income (NFI)/cow, ranged
from $543 to $796/cow.
High-producing grazing herds averaged $l,lOO
NFI/cow in Michigan (average herd size of 132 cows)
and $923 NFI/cow in New York (average herd size of
53 cows.)
The top 20 percent of large non-grazing herds (aver
age of 823 cows) averaged $BOB NFI/cow in New York.
The figures comparing well-managed grazing and
herds indicate that the NFI/cow is similar
or slightly better in grazing herds. Obviously the larger
herd sizes of nongrazing operations in the study result
in higher total farm income.
Does grazing have a place with larger, confinement
herds? A common observation from pasture-based
farms in the U.S. and other countries is that cows are
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older and average four to five lactations per cow, sub
stantially more than commonly found with confine
ment operations.
The nonvoluntary culling rates in grazing herds are
often 10 to 15 percent lower than with confinement op
erations.
Foot health and lameness are a major issue to dairy
producers because of increasing occurrence and eco
nomic losses. The major types of foot problems in
cluding foot rot, heel erosions, laminitis, ulcers, and
digital dermatitis (hairy warts) contribute to major
losses estimated to be a minimum of $9O to $lOO/case.
These losses are often subtle, and include body weight
loss and decreased milk yield, dry matter intake, and
herd longevity, and reproductive efficiency. Getting
cows off concrete for a few months a year should be
beneficial to foot health. The current high price of re
placement heifers makes lower culling rates quite prof
itable. As a sidebar, foot health is not a topic that is
very high on the “radar screen” in the world in
pasture-based countries.
Many graziers in Pennsylvania have adopted a
“hybrid” system, which combines pasture with a
pTMR, which uses the existing equipment and
feedstuffs on a farm. In a recent research study at
Penn State, cows that grazed for Vi day, where they
consumed about 16 pounds of pasture dry matter
(DM) and were fed a pTMR for the other V 2 day, pro
duced seven pounds more milk/cow/day (70 vs. 63
to P
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