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Rotational Grazing Programs Vital in Dry Year
By
Laura Skillman
PRINCETON, Ky., (June 20, 2007) – In a year of reduced hay and
pasture yields because of a late spring freeze coupled with the
current dry conditions, pasture management is even more crucial
than usual. Rotational grazing can play a big part in getting
the most out of forages in these lean times as well as the good
times.
“In a dry year like this, it gives the most efficient
utilization of the grass, and with the dry weather and reduced
growth, the better the utilization, the longer the cattle can
stay on pasture,” said Ray Smith, forage specialist with the
University of Kentucky College of Agriculture.
Research has shown that rotationally grazed pastures maintain
productivity longer into a drought than those that are
continuously grazed. Yet, in any year, there are several key
advantages to rotational grazing. The primary advantage is that
it gives the producer management over his pastures. He’s telling
the cattle what to graze rather than allowing them to graze
whatever they want, which usually results in over grazing the
desirable grasses. Given the opportunity, cattle often graze
those out and leave the undesirable or lower quality grasses, he
said. Rotational grazing also gives the farmer an opportunity to
take a field or two and cut them for hay if there’s excess
growth.
“By rotational grazing, there’s a lot less chance of waste from
them trampling feed, and you can make them graze it down to the
recommended height,” he said. “We recommend cool season grasses
be grazed down to a height of three to four inches.”
One key advantage that particularly shows in a drought is the
plant has a rest period to grow back after a grazing period. The
rest periods allow for new top growth, but more importantly, it
also allows the root system to grow. In cool season grasses, the
growth of the roots shuts down for a period of about two weeks
after grazing. By allowing the field to rest for three to four
weeks, or longer in dry weather, the plant has the ability to
increase its root system.
“In dry weather, you want that root system to grow down and get
to moisture,” Smith said. “So you’ve got a healthier root system
which is going to allow the plant to survive drought better and
extend its growth into the hot time of the year. With a
continuous grazing system, not only is the root system shutting
off as it is being grazed hard, the root system is actually
getting pruned back and getting shorter and shorter over time.
You end up with a plant that has a very shallow root system so
in just a few weeks of dry weather it no longer is able to get
moisture.”
Smith recommends waiting until plants regrow to a height of
eight to 10 inches before cattle are allowed to graze it again.
This allows plants to have healthy top growth and a healthy root
system. To maintain pastures long term, Smith said, it is better
to feed some hay in a dry period so that when the rain does
come, the pasture has a chance to recover. This means one field
may be sacrificed – the animals stay in it while the other
fields are given a recovery period.
Rotational grazing is also advantageous during these times of
high fertilizer prices, he said. By using rotational grazing, a
farmer gets better utilization of the nutrients they put on the
field. Additionally, a plant with a better root system will be
able to get nutrients from a wider area in the soil so they can
be better utilized.
“Rotational grazing provides better use of water and better use
of nutrients as well,” Smith said.
The practice does not require dividing a farm up into many
little paddocks which can be somewhat labor intensive. Anytime
there is more than one pasture, rotational grazing is an option.
Smith said most Kentucky farmers using rotational grazing are
using three to four fields however there are a few doing it with
a high number of paddocks. The biggest benefits from rotational
grazing are seen when a farmer goes from having one pasture to
having three or four. Beyond that there are incremental changes.
For more information on rotational grazing, contact your local
Cooperative Extension Service office.
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Contact: Ray Smith, 859-257-3358
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