In our last newsletter we discussed spring grazing options. For growers looking for a season long grazing crop for their livestock, spring is your first opportunity to plant forages. Spring oats, peas, barley, brassicas, and clovers provide a great starting point for early season livestock forage. As we move through the spring and the daylight stretches out, the cool season species will start to mature and reach the end of their life cycle. It’s important to have a grazing plan that adapts with the seasons and a diverse array of warm season forages fits the bill.
Mix Ratios
A mix with 70% grass, 20% legume and 10% other broadleaves gives you ample biomass and protein, while providing diversity for the livestock above and below ground. A warm season mix generally needs 45-60 days of growth before it is ready for a grazing event. Wait until your grasses are at least 18 inches or taller. The more biomass you start with the more time the livestock can spend grazing in that particular area.
Grasses
Sorghum sudan packs a punch when it comes to biomass production. Growing upwards of 10 feet tall with wide, juicy leaves and stalks, this warm season plant makes sense in many grazing mixes. Sorghum sudans come equipped with a wide variety of traits making it easy to select a variety that’s right for your livestock and operation. Millet is also another excellent choice, performing well with less moisture and not posing any prussic acid threat.
Legumes
Cowpeas, mung beans and forage soybeans are among the most popular summer legumes. They produce large amounts of biomass, compete well with other plants, and provide protein. Sunn hemp, though not particularly palatable, is used for it’s soil health benefits. Take caution as a mature sunn hemp plant can become a nightmare if mechanically harvested. If you think you might harvest some of your mix, consider leaving sunn hemp out entirely.
Brassicas
Plants in the brassica family love cool, wet weather, not usually common in the summer time. Planted in a mix, however, they can perform well as they are shaded by the taller plants and the micro climate created from the canopy is cool and humid. Turnips and radishes planted in the early summer grow enormous, energy-rich tubers which livestock love. Additionally, hybrid turnips and collards work well in mixes where multiple grazing passes will be made as they regrow exceptionally well.
Broadleaves
Here’s your chance to turn up the heat on diversity. See if you can get 7-8 different plant families represented in your mix. You don’t need more than 1-3 pounds of each, even a half pound can make a difference. See below for a list of cover crop species and their specific plant family
Rotate
Rotational grazing helps extend the life of the cover crop mix and maximizes forage utilization. There’s a balance to strike between letting the forage get tall enough to begin grazing the first section and not waiting too long that you can’t get through everything before it gets too mature. It’s also a good idea to have a back up harvest plan, such as mechanical harvest, to ensure your summer forage stays in vegetative stage. You don’t necessarily need to bale or ensile the forage, though that’s definitely an option.
Perennial Pastures and Stockpiling
In situations where cool season perennial pastures are readily available, the summer is a good time to give them a rest and rely on annual forages. If you have ample summer perennial forage, you could skip the summer annuals or use one or the other as stockpiled feed. Stockpiling simply means growing forage during the growing season to be utilized during the non-growing season. This differs from feeding hay or silage because the forage is still standing where it was grown and the livestock do the harvesting. Hay can be one of the most expensive line items on a livestock operation expense statement. Stockpiled forage offers an opportunity to minimize hay use, even if it’s just a short period of time. In 30 days a herd of 100 pregnant cows could consume about 90,000 lbs of hay. That’s a 1,200lb cow consuming about 30lbs of hay per day over 30 days. Multiply that by 100 and you’re looking at 90 round bales weighing about 1,000lbs. In short, 30 days less of feeding hay could save you thousands of dollars on feed costs.
Planning the next phase in your year round grazing cycle is crucial to success. Take stock of all your available forage and use a warm season crop to fill in the gaps. Summer is the best time to grow biomass for your livestock, so don’t miss out on those long days and the ample sunshine.
