Programming in Bale Grazing 2023-2024

Bale Grazing is a winter feeding practice originally developed in the western Canadian provinces and portions of the northern US.  Done correctly, it can reduce equipment and labor (no tractor is required for feeding) and dramatically increase pasture fertility.  However, it had to be adapted to work well in the Upper South as our soils aren’t frozen over for months at a time during winter.  I started bale grazing on one of my personal farms 14 years ago to figure out how it can be adopted here.  It took a few years to develop a system that worked well on my farm and that I felt could be tried by other Kentucky cattle farmers.  Since that time I have worked closely with nearly 30 farms in Kentucky and had over 120 other farm visits to get them started on bale grazing.  

In 2018 I obtained a small grant to start on-farm demonstrations related to bale grazing (SARE On-Farm Research Grant, $12K), and was able to leverage it with five demonstration farms in Kentucky, one in Missouri, and two in Virginia.  This seed grant led to an NRCS CIG grant with $2.3 million in funding that started in 2022.  There are five states that are participating and it will last for six years.  I’m the PI and lead investigator on this overall project that has roughly 30 team members.  We will be collecting soil, forage, and economics data comparing bale grazing to other winter feeding practices, and document how bale grazing changes pastures over time.  We will also be creating on-farm demonstration sites so that area farmers can see bale grazing in practice to evaluate it, and to have a chance to talk with the farmer about the practice.  

This research into bale grazing is important because NRCS and extension has been promoting engineered feeding structures as the solution to the winter feeding problem with beef cattle.  NRCS is finally admitting they are not working as designed, and looking for alternatives to these costly structures.  Bale grazing is a low-cost solution to the problem.  In addition to Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and New York are all working on this project together.  We will have demonstration farms in all of these states.  

Through my on-farm research and collaboration with other states on the CIG grant, I have turned bale grazing into one of my signature extension programs.  In 2023-24, I had 39 farm visits to help guide on-farm implementation. I had 10 in-state extension presentations during that same time.  

There has been increasing interest the last few years in other states to teach farmers how to implement bale grazing in the wetter eastern US conditions.  I had nine out-of-state presentations: Eight at the state or regional level, and one multi-state presentation (Appalachian Grazing Conference).

The clearest qualitative evidence of program impact is the sheer number of requests for presentations, (including national and international presentations in 2022-23).  These requests are not happening because I’m a good marketer of this program.  They are happening because people are watching my videos, reading my magazine articles, or attended my presentations on bale grazing and the demand for this topic is spreading word-of-mouth.

The clearest quantitative measure of program impact was from a presentation I gave for the Kentucky Forage and Grassland Council annual meeting in 2021.  While this presentation occurred in fall 2021, it was recorded with the other presentations and posted to the UK Forages website for continuous viewing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M3zs0TWmrg  

As of 7/15/24 my video had 20.0K views and the next highest was 3.0K views by the out-of-state keynote speaker.  These are summarized below:

Greg Halich                                                                 20.0K

Ed Rayburn (Out-of-State Keynote)                         3.0K

JD Green (UK Specialist)                                             1.6K

John Grove/Chris Teutsch (UK Specialists)              1.1K       

4 Other Presentations by UK Specialists                 Less than 1.0K each

The sheer number of views compared to the other presentations shows strong evidence (at least comparatively) of program impact.  My experience related to bale grazing and presentation quality has steadily improved since 2021.  

I get scores of emails each year from farmers who have either watched one of my videos, read one of my articles, or attended one of my presentations or field days on bale grazing.  Here are some of these emails:

Brad Moore, cattle farmer in Alamance NC, and District Conservation Administrator of the

Alamance Soil and Water Conservation District:

“I would like to tell you that I enjoy the Kentucky Forages youtube channel and I have really enjoyed your bales grazing videos. I’m a typical person with a public job with a few cows and I can honestly say bale grazing has changed me forever. I’m so glad you figured out how to make it work in the East.”

An email from another NC cattle farmer and NRCS employee Lee Holcomb from Hiddenite, NC:

“Just wanted to say I appreciate your videos on bale grazing and economics of grazing to bring some logical sense to ruminant farming.  Thanks for what you're doing with Extension research and sharing your results with all of us common folk across the US.  Finding common sense and practical knowledge with NRCS employees is getting more difficult by the year”.

Andy Bishop, Kentucky cattle farmer and president (now past) of the Kentucky Cattleman’s Association (series of texts on his fiasco with conventional hay feeding this past winter and switching to bale grazing at the end of the 2023-24 winter):

“Took me all day to get 15 rolls hauled home and put out at 3 farms. Stupid just stupid. Left at 11am and finished at 730 tonight. Yeah I'm not doing this again. I will sell them [the cows] before I have another winter like this”.  

I helped Andy implement bale grazing in February 2024 and he continued with it the rest of the winter.  He will bale graze at all three of his farms in 2024-25 and will be one of the participating Core Farms in the bale grazing grant project.

Alex Miller, Tennessee cattle farmer and Finance professor at University of Tennessee, group email for a national farmer peer mentoring group that I’m part of: 

“The latest issue of Hay and Forage has two articles, both by faculty members I admire. One was our own Greg H, and the other was by Alan Franzluebbers. I read Alan’s twice, and still have no idea of what to do differently. Greg’s was a quick read and I left it w 5 clear “to dos.”  Thank you so much Greg for your contributions over the years. Outstanding!”

The article Alex was referring to was “The Five Commandments for Bale Brazing in the East”

Ben Smith, cattle farmer in Meade County, and also teaches agriculture at the community college in Elizabethtown (ECTC): 

“You are the only one in land grant extension who seems to be familiar with the process [bale grazing] and understands the economic and ecological benefits… I've followed your work and guidance on bale grazing, and we have seen great results with regards to soil health, animal performance, and overall profitability.”

Ted Johnson, ANR Agent Lee County, after an agent tour of two of the CIG bale grazing farms:

“I was wanting to learn and see a more planned way of making it [hay feeding] more effective for the farmers. I learned a lot on our tour that I can relay to my producers and assist them in being more efficient. Very interested in follow up tours on this topic. Keep up the great work.”

John Murray, West Virginia University Extension Agent: 

“One of the producers that attended the meeting held at the State Fairgrounds in January was my wife’s uncle.  He went home and immediately set out bales that week and gave bale grazing a try. I was talking with him last week and he was happy with the way things went and plans on utilizing bale grazing again this coming winter.”

Bale grazing is a radical change to conventional wintering practices, and requires a different mindset to have the confidence it can work.  For some farmers an article, presentation, or You Tube video will be enough to give them the confidence to make the change.  However, for many other farmers the only way they will make the change is to see it working on an actual farm.  That is one of the main goals with NRCS CIG grant: to have farms scattered across multiple states to provide demonstration farms where farmers can see bale grazing in action and see the results over multiple years.  The next four years will provide an opportunity to expand the scope and impact of this signature program.  I look forward to the ride.    

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