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Helping your pastures recover from drought

May 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Last year’s drought was very hard on pastures around the country.  In some cases, those pastures were overgrazed and will need time and moisture to recover.  

According to Chris Bryan, DuPont Crop Protection range and pasture specialist for Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado, the overgrazing of pastures can also lead to increased weed pressure as weakened grass plants become less competitive with weed species for space, water and nutrients.  Bryan discusses that topic and offers some recommendations on how to deal with it.

AUDIO: Chris Bryan (3:00 MP3)

Link to DuPont range and pasture weed control web site

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Nebraska’s pastures could be slow to recover

May 2, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Nebraska’s pastures are starting to grow again, but the effects of last year’s drought linger and might cause complications for producers throughout the year.

That warning comes from University of Nebraska-Lincoln forage specialist Bruce Anderson.  He says while some producers are anxious to get their animals into green fields, drought-weakened pastures will not be able to feed those animals without sustaining further damage.  And Anderson says, in some cases, damaged pastures could take another year to recover.

Although recent snow and rain has provided some moisture for Nebraska pastures, the levels were still less than average.

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New Zealand companies promote dairy grazing

April 30, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The New Zealand government’s Trade & Enterprise Agency (NZTE) has brought leaders of dairy grazing companies doing business in the states TO the states to meet with producers.  James Wilde is the agency’s U.S. business development manager working with global companies in what they are calling a “New Zealand Agri-Tech Road Show.”

Their first stop was in Kansas City, Missouri on Monday and they’ll be meeting with stakeholders Thursday in Augusta, Georgia.  Wilde tells Brownfield Ag News, “It’s essentially an opportunity for us to target what, in the United States is a niche market, perhaps, but a high value one and one where New Zealand companies could have, I guess, a strategic advantage based on our experience doing this type of agriculture in New Zealand.”

Wilde says they’ve singled out Missouri and Georgia for their good grazing conditions and potential and they have New Zealand companies that can help meet producers’ input needs.  He says, “We had companies that range from genetic companies for dairy cows, all the way through to seed drills to seed technology. We had animal health companies. So, it’s basically, a very broad range of agri-tech.”

The Missouri Department of Agriculture and MU Extension are part of the New Zealand/Missouri collaboration. Wilde adds, “Everybody has to have a little bit of skin in the game in order for everyone to benefit from it. Whether it’s your expertise in the technology or your expertise in the region, you know, you can’t do it alone. That’s our goal here.”

Wilde says this is their first dairy grazing mission in the states and they plan to have more in the future.

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Nebraska grazing tour is June 11

April 30, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The Nebraska Cattlemen’s organization and the Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition are planning a Summer Grazing Tour for June 11th in the southeastern Nebraska Sandhills.

The tour will involve four long-standing Sandhills ranches northwest of Burwell—Gracie Creek Ranch, Shovel Dot Ranch, Twin Creek Ranch and UNL grazing research on the Barta Brothers Ranch.

Preregistration is required by June 3rd.  Contact NGLC coordinator Ron Bolze at 402-426-2033 or ron@nebraskagrazinglands.org.

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Equine Pasture and Hay Mgmt. Workshop

April 10, 2013 By Leave a Comment

An Equine Pasture and Hay Management Workshop hosted by the Athens County Soil and Water Conservation District and the Ohio Forage and Grasslands Council is going to be held Saturday, April 20 at Hocking College in Nelsonville.

The day-long workshop will be led by grazing specialist Bob Hendershot and will cover everything from pasture management, to pasture soil fertility, to horse nutrition on pasture.

For more information or to register contact the Athens County SWCD, 740-797-9686 or email.

The deadline to register is April 15.

 

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Illinois Forage Institute is April 2nd

March 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The Illinois Forage Institute has been rescheduled for Tuesday, April 2nd in Galva, Illinois for producers who want to learn more about managing hayland and pastures.  Presenters will be staff members from University of Illinois Extension, the USDA’s NRCS, forage industry companies, and there will be several beef producers giving presentations. There will also be commercial exhibits from the forage industry and exhibitors are still wanted.

The Illinois Forage Institute will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Black Hawk College – East Campus conference center in Galva on April 2nd. Pre-registration is going on through March 22nd.

 Illinois Forage and Grassland Council – Illinois Forage Institute

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Managing pastures for drought tolerance

February 12, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Speaking at the recent Ohio Forage and Grasslands Conference, Chris Teutsch, Associate Professor at Virginia Tech’s, Southern Piedmont Research Center said that while there is no silver bullet for managing pastures for drought tolerance, there are other management practices that could help, including developing a drought plan.

Audio: Chris Teutsch, Virginia Tech (3:00 mp3)

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Cattle producers should consider delayed turnout

December 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Due to the extreme drought, pastures in Nebraska were in very poor shape this fall.  As cattle producers develop their drought management plans for next year, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension educator Dennis Bauer in Ainsworth says they should consider delaying their spring pasture turnout. 

“Normally our turnout up here is about the 15th of May,” Bauer says, “and to allow those grasses and those plants to recover, we would suggest putting a plan together that would maybe turn cattle out the first week in June. 

“I know most producers aren’t going to like to hear that, because that means feeding them an extra two or three weeks.” 

But Bauer says for the health of the pasture and the grasses, it’s a wise thing to do.

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Maximizing pasture usage

October 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

As beef producers head into the winter months, Purdue Extension beef specialist Ron Lemenager says if they haven’t already weaned spring-born cattle – they should consider doing it now.  “We know that if we wean the calf – the intake on the cow will drop around 25 percent,” he says.  “And if we’re still out on grass – it gives us more days of grazing – if you can do that.”

Lemenager says it actually stretches the forage supply by 30 to 40 percent.  “By taking the calf off, you eliminate the calf’s consumption of those pastures and you also eliminate the trampling losses associated with the hooves of those calves,” he said. 

Lemenager says weaning now not only reduces stress on the cows as they head into their last trimester of pregnancy but also can provide some economic advantage to the producer.  “If the cows go into the cold part of the winter or late pregnancy with a little extra condition, these cows have some wiggle room in terms of losing some weight,” he says.  “That also reduces the expense of needing to supplement weight and condition back on to these cows.”

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Purdue Extension to host grazing workshop

August 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Purdue Extension will host a conference in southern Indiana to help livestock producers integrate management-intensive grazing programs in their operations.  Grazing 102 is scheduled for September 14 -15 at the Southern Indiana-Purdue Agricultural Center in Dubois.

Margie Zolgmann, Perry County agriculture and natural resources extension educator says the program will teach some of the fundamentally important concepts to make a management-intensive grazing program successful in a livestock operation.  Topics will cover forage types, soil fertility, rotational grazing, animal nutrition, pasture rent, and pasture management.

The deadline for registration is September 7 and the cost is $65. 

Click HERE for a link to registration.

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