Spring
Spring
Strategies for Repairing Pugged Pastures
Wet conditions can result in significant pugging damage in pastures. Pugging occurs when the hooves of grazing livestock penetrate the soil surface during wet conditions, causing damage to pasture plants as well as soil structure. Pasture plants can be torn and buried.
Late Winter and Early Spring Reminders
Refine plans for pasture use for the upcoming grazing season; consider fencing, seeding, fertilization, herbicide applications, water and shade availability. Frost seeding of clovers should be performed between February 1 and March 1.
Preventing Grass Tetany
As spring approaches and grass begins to grow, grazing livestock may experience a forage-related problem known as grass tetany, grass staggers, lactation tetany, or hypomagnesemia. Grass tetany is a metabolic disorder caused by reduced magnesium (Mg) levels in the animal’s blood.
Use of Temporary Fence
The practice of rotational grazing allows forages a rest period that permits them to initiate regrowth, renew carbohydrate stores, and improves yield and persistency. A rotational grazing system divides a larger pasture into smaller paddocks allowing livestock to be moved from one paddock to another easily.
Planning Your Grazing System
Rotational grazing can help producers increase forage productivity, which can increase the profitability of an operation. Additional benefits to implementing a rotational grazing system include: reduced supplemental feed costs, improved animal distribution and forage utilization, improved manure distribution and nutrient use, and many more.
Planning for Pasture Fly Control
Here are a few things to consider as you weigh the options for pasture flies: face fly and horn fly control. A key pest is one that is there every year and, when it is bad, causes significant losses in reduced gains and extra expense in time and effort. In Kentucky it is usually either the horn fly or the face fly, and associated pink eye.
Transition from Stored Feed to Pasture
Pastures have greened up and are once again producing lush, high quality forages for grazing. Although it may be tempting to put livestock back on these pastures right away, certain precautions should be taken to protect the livestock and the new forage growth.
Rotational vs. Continuous Grazing
In Kentucky, having cattle that graze is how many farmers provide additional income for their families. Continuous grazing has been the traditional way to graze cattle over generations, but there may be a way to improve your grazing system and make your operation more profitable. An alternative to continuous grazing is a method called rotational grazing.
Managing Legumes in Spring Pasture for Bloat
Pastures were slow to green-up with the cool weather this spring. However, the past few days of warm weather has really made the grass pop. I noticed today, April 18, that some of the timothy and bluegrass was beginning to flower. Now is a good time to be investigating pasture stands for legume content.
Producing Quality Hay
Hay is the most commonly stored forage on most Kentucky farms. Since hay is widely utilized, understanding the factors that affect the quality of hay is important, as well as how to produce high quality hay. The ultimate test of hay quality is animal performance.
Starting the Grazing Season Off Right
Turning livestock onto pastures as soon as forages begin to green up in the spring can be tempting. Research has shown that most cool-season grasses produce two-thirds of their season long yield during the spring of the year. Growth of these grasses slows as temperatures rise above 75°F.
Cattle Management Practices when Grazing Alfalfa
Alfalfa is a versatile crop that can be planted in pure or mixed stands with cool-season grasses (i.e. orchardgrass/tall fescue) for grazing or harvesting as stored forage. These fields can be harvested for hay when excess pasture exists and re-enter the grazing rotation when the growth of other forages slow.
Important Reminders for March
Soil test to determine fertilizer applications. Heat stress starts as early as May – plan for shade and cool water in every paddock. Reduce damage to forages and soils by moving feeding area and livestock often.
Spring Reminders
Soil test to determine fertilizer applications and apply fertilizer according to soil test results. Heat stress starts as early as May — plan for shade and cool water in every paddock. Reduce damage to forages and soils by moving feeding area and livestock often.
Harvesting Excess Spring Growth
Cool season grasses are growing rapidly and producing large amounts of forages at this time of year. Livestock may not be able to keep up with grazing the excess growth during these times. In order to keep forages from becoming too mature and decreasing in quality, one good option may be to harvest some fields for hay while managing others by grazing.
Grazing Systems
Two main systems are used when grazing livestock. Continuous grazing is usually a low management system where livestock are allowed unrestricted, uninterrupted access to the same pasture for the entire grazing season or year. Using rotational grazing instead of continuous grazing is strongly suggested for numerous reasons.
Rotational Grazing Practices Improve Soils
Implementing rotational grazing practices improves forage productivity. Plants often show an improvement not only in growth but rate of regrowth. Improvements in soils seen by rotationally grazing directly impact forage growth. These benefits are realized through reduced erosion, decreased soil compaction, and improved manure distribution.
Managing Spring Grass: Going from 0 to 60
Spring can often be one of the most challenging times of the year for graziers. Grass growth goes from nonexistent to excessive in a matter of weeks, and in many cases grazing livestock have a hard time keeping up with it. This can result in lower quality forage that is less palatable.
Aerating Pastures: Is It Worth It?
Cattle producers in Kentucky rely on cool-season perennial grasses to provide the majority of forage for their cattle operations. Grasses, such as tall fescue, can be grazed for many years without any type of tillage tool being used on the field.
Interseeding Clover
Adding clovers to grass pastures and hay fields can offer many benefits to a forage system. Clovers interseeded with grasses improve animal performance, increase nutritional quality of pasture and hay, extend the grazing season, and reduce the need for nitrogen fertilizer.
Buttercups in Grazed Pastures
One of the signs that spring has arrived is when the yellow flowers of buttercup begin to appear, but it’s during the winter months that the vegetative growth of buttercup takes place. As a cool season weed, this plant often flourishes in over grazed pasture fields with poor stands of desirable forages.
Promote Early Grass Growth this Year
Cool-season grasses show dramatic responses to nitrogen fertilizer applications. Benefits include stimulating growth, improving yields, and increasing protein content. Applying nitrogen in mid-February to mid-April can promote early grass growth which can increase overall forage production.
