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Grazing option to high hay costs

A grazing expert says hay production costs have made grazing the best option for feeding most livestock.

“The cost of making hay has increased at a much faster rate than what the value of our products are, and whether or not you can afford to make hay is pretty closely tied to the revenue stream that the livestock are going to generate.”  Jim Garrish from American GrazingLands Service tells Brownfield the cost of a round baler has gone up ten-fold over the past 40 years, where the prices received for beef and milk are only about three times higher, meaning input costs have outpaced revenue.

Garrish says cows can harvest their own forage, saving money. “A dollar-35 per cow per day difference between a grazing cost and a hay feeding cost, and if you’re looking at a one hundred day or 130 day hay feeding season, that’s a lot of dollars.”

Garrish says many farmers and ranchers are grazing 10 to 12 months a year.  He told producers at the GrassWorks Conference in Wisconsin the grass may not be growing in the winter, but it’s still there and cows are good at getting to it… even when it’s under a foot or more of snow.

Garrish says dairy cows might not be suitable for heavy grazing, but putting them out to pasture more often can work as a low-cost feed supplement.

Jim Garrish talks about grazing with Brownfield’s Larry Lee