Winter feed costs are usually the largest expense to raising cattle. Planning ahead to extend grazing through late fall and much of winter can save costs and labor.

Some ranchers stockpile forage, saving certain pastures for later. This works well on native rangeland. Other types of forage can be grazed lightly in the spring and regrowth saved for fall and winter grazing.

Tim DelCurto, head of the Department of Animal & Ranch Sciences at Montana State University (MSU), says some range operations graze well into winter. The benefits of being able to graze longer are substantial.

“At our research center at Havre and with our MSU herd, much of our research efforts focus on extending grazing,” says DelCurto, a professor of range beef cattle nutrition and management. “Some winters we only feed hay for about a month at our MSU Red Bluff Research Center.”

Ranchers are trying to reduce costs, with less reliance on harvested feed and fossil fuels. Growing cover crops requires farming equipment and fuel, but if producers are doing some farming anyway, it can be cost-effective to grow triticale, forage barley or other annual forages for fall grazing.

“No two farms or ranches are alike. What might work for one may not work for another,” says DelCurto. “It depends on climate, resources, labor, et cetera.”

In the West, ranches with native bunch grasses for summer grazing are most vulnerable to grazing damage during the growing season.

“If we can graze some of these pastures in fall and winter and reduce the time we graze while they are actively growing, this may be better management,” he says.

Many native pastures thrive and improve if rested during the growing season to be grazed in fall and winter, when plants are mature and dormant. Cattle can graze heavily then, and trample seeds into the ground.

“Research on dormant-season grazing suggests that grazing late has minimal impact on the plant community,” he says. “Cattle use the decadent plant material and process it to where it is more readily incorporated into the soil as organic matter.”

Grazing it completely off in the fall also reduces fuel loads and reduces risk for serious wildfires the next year, he adds. When feasible, winter grazing on rangelands, utilizing protein supplements when needed, saves money during those grazing days.

The key

“Strategic supplementation makes this work, but there is no magic protein or best kind,” says DelCurto.

Consider cow nutrient requirements, he advises. If cows need 2 pounds (lb.) of protein per day, the forage is 6% protein and the cows eat about 20 lb. per day, they will get only 1.2 lb. of protein from the forage. They need an additional 0.8 lb. of supplemental protein.

With optimal supplementation, a 1,200-lb. cow would consume 2% of her body weight (24 lb. of dry matter) from the forage itself, DelCurto says.

Delivery of supplements can be a challenge.

Studies evaluating salt-limiting supplements (e.g., blocks or tubs) and cake have dispelled earlier concerns, says DelCurto. At the Northern Agricultural Research Center near Havre, feeding up to 300 head of all ages — yearlings up to 13-year-old cows — researchers saw, for the most part, uniform consumption. The young animals (1- to 4-year-olds) actually ate the most; the middle-aged and older cows consumed less.

“We have a lot of data with salt-limited supplements that show they work,” he says.

He cautions that, in multiple studies, young cows didn’t eat molasses blocks very well.

“It’s foreign to them; they have to learn to eat it. Once they get a little older they generally eat it, but yearlings are not used to this form of supplement and often eat less than the label amount,” says DelCurto.

Winter challenges

Winter environment affects nutrient needs. At higher elevations there may be challenges to grazing stockpiled forage or native rangelands, DelCurto cautions. When grass gets covered with snow or temperatures drop dramatically, cows require more feed.

“In the past nine years that I’ve been in Montana, we’ve had some winters that were really hard on cattle,” he says, sharing a call from a producer in the Glasgow area. “We’d had a week of –30° F with wind chill equivalent of –50° or colder, and he asked how he should feed his cows. This is a tough question. Hopefully cattle go into winter with extra body condition so they have some reserve. During weather like that, with wind, cows hunker down and don’t eat or drink much because it’s just too cold.”

These are things to be prepared for, and try to manage around. But, as a general rule, cattle can do well on an extended grazing program — only fed hay when conditions make grazing impossible. Most ranchers want cattle that can harvest their own feed.

“As the saying goes — you want cows that work for you, rather than you working for them. But, you have to provide the right nutrition and tailor your program to your environment and your cattle,” says DelCurto.

Annual crops

On dry years, native pastures and hay aftermath don’t produce as much forage unless you can irrigate. One strategy is to grow annual crops, which can include cereals and brassicas.

In dry climates ranchers may be short on late summer and fall pasture, as productivity of cool-season perennials is limited during the heat of summer. Mark Hayek, assistant state conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) at Bismarck, N.D., says some of the traditional cover crops work well for extending grazing periods. If you want to do a full-season cover crop, he recommends a mix containing both cool- and warm-season species. Diversity is the key to a season-long cover crop.

“We’ve found that sorghum-sudangrass (a warm-season species that provides a lot of tonnage) can be the centerpiece of a season-long crop, adding some legumes,” says Hayek, noting the goal is to produce a lot of tonnage. “Any of the vetches or clovers will work. We also add a warm-season legume, such as cowpeas or any of the pea options.”

Warm-season cover crops can be planted June 15-Aug. 15 in North Dakota, he says. “The earlier you get a warm-season plant in the ground, the better possibility for more tonnage produced by the end of the year for grazing.” Options include any of the millets, and warm-season legumes including soybeans and cowpeas.

The important thing for a season-long crop is diversity. This provides a better diet for cattle, as there is always something nutritious growing, providing a high-quality forage throughout the grazing season.

Legumes also help with nitrogen fixation, which is beneficial to soil health and growth of other plants.

“We target soil health, as well as cattle nutrition; we’re increasing soil fertility and organic matter,” says Hayek. “The root system of sorghum-sudangrass can do that, and reduce erosion from wind or water. It helps capture and recycle/redistribute nutrients in the soil profile.

“Deeper-rooted plants,” he continues, “like sunflowers, can reach farther down. They might be a poor forage source, but [they] add to diversity and help pull up nutrients and maybe break some of the compaction that occurs. They also provide benefits for pollinator insects.”

To get good tonnage for fall grazing in North Dakota, a cool-season mix could be planted Aug. 15-Sept. 20, Hayek suggests. You could plant a little earlier in optimum moisture and weather conditions, to get the crop going earlier in case winter comes early.

Plant something frost-tolerant, that stays green and holds its nutrients and that won’t kill out at 27°, Hayek advises. “We may get an early frost and then it warms up again with more growing weather. Brassicas are good for this. Mustards, rape, canola, radish, kale and turnips are very winter-hardy. They don’t stop growing until air temperature drops below 25°.”

Targeting that fall window, Hayek says he centers a mix around brassicas, then includes a cool-season grass such as winter rye, triticale, oats or spring wheat to provide extra tonnage.

“Brassicas tend to be high in moisture (and go through the animal swiftly), so adding a grass species makes a better mix nutritionally, and helps slow the material as it goes through the cow,” he says. If you just do a brassica mix, make sure there is enough dry-matter supplemental feed.

“The Menoken Demonstration Farm in North Dakota did some work with Jay Fuhrer, soil health specialist for NRCS, sampling top and bottom halves of various plants to see where the nutrients are. As we graze cover crops, if we leave stubble (rather than eating them down to the ground), this helps feed the soil and aid soil health. About three-fourths of the plant nutrients are in the top half. The bottom half is where the nutrients really drop off. If you want high performance — with weaned calves or yearlings, or heifers prior to breeding — you don’t want them to get down into the bottom half of the plants. Keep them moving to new plants,” Hayek says.

Editor’s note: Heather Smith Thomas is a freelance writer and cattlewoman from Salmon, Idaho.