ENVIRONMENT
With our goal of having cows that truly fit our environment, the subject of environment is paramount. Our Indiana IRM motto is “caring for the land and the cattle that graze it,” so we are very focused on environment.
The focal point of this area is grazing. We know that if we can extend the grazing season so that the cow does most of the work for us – harvesting the crop and fertilizing the land – we move closer to our goal of a low-input/high-profit herd. When high profit producers are asked the keys to their success the first response is decreasing winter feed cost (nutrition) and the second is Management-intensive Grazing (environment), so this is very high priority. In fact a way to decrease winter feed cost is via extending the grazing season further into the winter and this comes back to environment.
A key to improving your cows’ environment is to develop a team approach with experts in your area. Who are the grazing and forage gurus in your part of the world? My experience is that these folks love what they do and are more than happy to share this knowledge with you. Schedule a day for this expert to come to your farm or ranch and do a pasture walk. You will also benefit greatly from visiting other grazier’s operations to learn from them.
Learning to be a master grazier takes many years. Just as you think you really have things figured out, nature throws you a curve and you have something brand new to learn. You learn to be flexible.
The worst thing you can do as a novice grazier is to tear up your pastures and start over. Always learn to graze what you have before you ever plant a new seed. One experienced grazier told me years ago that the first thing you should plant are some temporary fence posts.
Some pearls of wisdom from many years of learning from the best include:
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spend your first dollars on temporary fence and soil testing.
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frost seeding red clover at 5-8#/acre pays huge dividends if it is done correctly, i.e. soil test and apply nutrients, graze very hard in fall and apply seed as per recommendations for your area (in Central Indiana – early February).
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cows will not walk more than approximately 800 feet to get to water in the summer.
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make paddocks as square as possible.
Some grazing links are:
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