# managing pasture for cows



## rongarrett (Jan 6, 2012)

I live on a farm in central Georgia. We have 40 acres of pasture and presently 18 cows, one bull, one donkey, and one horse{owners wifes pet}. The front pasture has been grazed into almost extinction. Last year we had 16 additional calves, {since taken to sale barn}, that helped overgraze. This pasture is about 40% burmuda and 60% clover. Almost no fescue survived the last couple years of drought. I did take a soil sample to the county extension srvice for analysis. They recommended I seed regular burmuda this spring to try and battle the forcasted continuance of the drought. I am presently sub soiling the pasture. Back in October I sowed rye grass. It did not do much at first, {kept cows and horse out of this section}. Finally I gave up and let the cows back on it. We then got some rain and the rye grass I thought was dead began to come on, but the cows just ate it back down. I have the option to rotate the 40 acres into thirds. My question is how long to rotate ? Hay is not much of a problem. We also run a hay business and have numerous fields to harvest. Equipment is as follows: M70 Kubota, Ford 5000, and MF 35 tractors, three square balers, one round baler, fluffer, rake, and assorted plows. What is your recommendation for a pasture plan? Really want the front pasture, {approx 8 acres} to look good for potential customers / guests to see when they first pull up. We will hopefully be taking calves to the sale barn again this summer. Thanks, Ron G.


----------



## mulberrygrovefamilyfarm (Feb 11, 2009)

Okay, GA and IA are worlds apart, but I'll give my input based on _here_ and what I've read in research. The more paddocks, the better the efficiency. Here I could run your animal units on 40 acres and never come back to the same paddock in the same year. But, I will also have paddocks as small as .01 acres and depending on the grass and speed of grazing, I have moved groups of cows to a new paddock in as little as 3 hours when the grass is slow. I've seen that the pasture improves pretty rapidly from this process. Here's a video showing us moving a group of cows into an average size paddock.


----------



## CockrellHillFarms (Aug 30, 2011)

I agree with mulberrygrovefamilyfarm. You will have to do rotational grazing. Thats the only way it will work with that many animals and that little of area. 40 acres should be easy to do it on. We do rotational grazing but not that intense. I dont have enough time to move them that often. We do about 20 acres at a time. The bigger the paddock, the more "waste" you will have. Put I would recommend loading up on fertilizer to get that grass back. I would also make sure it was put down early so that the grass will kick in to gear quicker, especially if you dont think its gonna rain much. The only other thing you need to worry about is water. I dont have any idea what ur water situation is like but you can always run water out to each paddock if u had to with a tank in a truck or something (which is a pain). If you have a pond or something, just make that the center of all ur paddocks so that as you rotate the animals they always have access to the same water source.


----------



## rongarrett (Jan 6, 2012)

Thanks guys. We are presently upgrading / adding gates / fence lines to be a little more versitile. I am in hopes that the subsoiling will help the water situation. As it usually happens I sit here talking about a drought and subsoiling to combat it and the present forecast is calling for a solid week of rain every day, preventing me with continuing the sub soiling.

We do have a pond, but it is near the property line preventing us from letting it be the center of rotation. However there is a small creek running through the other two that will provide water, so we are good to go for that requirement. We also have a deep well that could feed the front pasture I mentioned.

This is a very informative forum. I will be soaking up all the information I can.


----------



## mulberrygrovefamilyfarm (Feb 11, 2009)

For water we use above ground water lines and portable tanks. We also use heavy duty garden hose to connect to the tank so that we can move to any paddock size we want. Believe it or not you can cover a lot of ground and it is a pretty cheap setup. The tanks have Jobe float valves in them so I don't have to worry about watering chores and we can move cows in minutes. This guy uses some of the same stuff (the risers and quick connects etc) that I do except we don't use the tires for tanks and we have quick connects on the tanks as well, so we can drag our tanks around by hand.


----------



## downtownjr (Apr 8, 2008)

Great videos Chris, thanks for sharing. I also agree, rotational grazing makes a world of difference. I have been working on clearing old pasture and building fence this fall and winter to create even more. You can increase your livestock a bit, keep a healthy pasture, and stretch your ration money and improve profit.

By the way, I think you may qualify for the EQIP program, which will cover some of the cost...here are some links...

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/programs/financial/eqip

Georgia Grazing Program info

Georgia EQIP

Also here is the Purdue book on rotational grazing I use here in Indiana...

http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/AY/ay-328.pdf


----------



## Texasmark (Dec 20, 2011)

Main thing to keep in mind, per TAMU Ag. Research Station publication from Renner, TX. is that the plant gets a large portion of it's growing requirements from the air. You absolutely must have leaves in contact with the air to get any kind of reasonable growth to any growth at all.

Close grazing is a no-no and eventually will kill your grass. Rotation is the answer or else low stocking rates so that the grass can keep up with the consumption. BTDT

Mark


----------



## Blisterbug (Apr 2, 2012)

Since you are in Georgia, be sure to use Durana white clover. It is a little on the expensive side, but it will spread everywhere. If it can get a stand, it will take over and really help your land and your cattle as well. I think that you will find it in some of the Ga. pub.'s I planted it in all of my pastures, and it was the #1 changing factor.

It had fattened my cows , and they were ready to start the winter early. The clover stayed green all winter long, but was too short for the cattle to reach it. On warm days, the small short stolens continued to spread. The longer days, contributes growth and spread also.

When my cows start the winter fat, it just doesn't take as much hay to maintain them until spring comes. Regular worming program and keeping up with your herd is a big factor. 
BB


----------



## rongarrett (Jan 6, 2012)

We are rotating. I kept the cows off the front field for three months and the white clover grew to about 10 inches high and very thick. Now in addition to the white clover we have lots of Yellow Hop clover. I recently took my bush hog and just grazed the top of the clover to cut the Goldenrod stems before it flowered out. Presently I have turned the cows back into the field as the clover is in such abundance I wanted the cows to benefit. Beautiful sight to see the herd, knee deep in clover, gorging themselves Am I correct in believeing the clover will keep making nitrogen until the hot summer sun pushes it back? Clover is so think I can't tell just what all is under it. We have 10 tons of chicken litter to spread.


----------

