Author: Colby Guffey
Planning Unit: Clinton County CES
Major Program: Beef
Plan of Work: Livestock, Poultry, & Crops
Outcome: Initial Outcome
Bale grazing is a technique of winter-feeding stored forages to beef cattle that has gained in popularity in recent years. A local cow/calf producer inquired about utilizing bale grazing on his farm to help get better distribution of animal manure during the winter-feeding period and to minimize the damage done to feeding areas by his tractor while setting out hay. Aerial maps as well as on farm visits were used to select the areas that the bales will be staged at prior to winter feeding. The producer set out hay at a rate of roughly 1-2 tons per acre to start. The hay rolls were then sectioned off so that cows only had access to 3-4 rolls at a time using polywire fence. As the cows consume the hay the polywire was moved to give access to more hay. The producer indicated that it was a little more manual labor than normal, but he felt that he was saving time and money since he only had to start his tractor a few times during the winter to stage out more bales. The manure distribution during bale grazing was evident, and very little damage was done to the feeding areas. The producer plans to continue bale grazing in the coming years to help increase fertility in these areas and to cut down on the amount of time he is using his tractor during the winter to feed his hay.
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