by Nofence

What is your primary goal for pasture management this season? Do you want to optimize forage quality or quantity?

Those are the first questions grazing specialist and Nofence internal sales representative Alayna Gerhardt-Crile asks producers who want help improving their grazing strategies.

“Managing pastures to benefit cattle requires balancing forage availability and forage quality to make the most of the point where they intersect,” says Gerhardt-Crile. “In all forages, there is a trade-off. As plants mature and quantity increases, quality starts to decrease. A good grazing plan helps you identify which you’re trying to maximize — quality or quantity — and helps you map out how to get there.”

A good start for the season

Forage management is a yearlong effort. The priority during April and May is to set pastures up for a successful growing season. First, give grass a head start, says Greg Brann, a grazing consultant from Adolphus, Ky.

“We’re setting ourselves up for the whole year, so it’s important not to graze too soon or let forage get too short,” says Brann. “I wait to start grazing until the grass is at least 6 inches tall; 6 inches is the perfect height for the animal if we have consistent growing conditions.”

The tops of grasses are the most tender and nutritious part of the plant because grass grows at the tip. When grass is growing quickly, as it tends to do in April and May, Brann uses a “top-third” grazing strategy. He lets cattle graze the top one-third of the available forage and then moves them to the next paddock.

Increasing stocking rates might be necessary early in the season when forage is in its fastest growth phase and quality is high, says Gerhardt-Crile.

“In a pasture that has high-quality forage, if cattle take six months to graze it, that is quality wasted,” Gerhardt-Crile says. “In that case, it’s better to graze more cattle for less time in one space.”

Brann uses virtual fencing to keep cattle moving at the right pace across pastures with fresh and fast-growing early-season forage. Virtual fencing uses GPS collars to train cattle using sound cues to stay within boundaries producers create with an app on their phone or a platform on their computer. Virtual fencing is gaining interest and adoption by livestock producers across the United States because it eliminates the time and labor needed to move physical fencing.

“Strip-grazing is the easiest way to graze cattle at higher densities to manage forage height,” says Brann. “Give cattle a narrow strip, let them eat it down, then move them before they overgraze. It’s one of the most common and effective ways to manage pasture, and virtual fencing has changed the game for the better.”

Observing cattle behavior is a good way to learn the ideal pace to move cattle and how much space they need as conditions change during the season, says Brann.

“The best way to use pasture is to allocate it like you would a feedbunk,” Brann said. “Let the animals line up and graze, not trample or leave manure all over the paddock. It’s time for another allocation when cattle stop grazing or lie down. Keep an eye on the rumen, which you can see directly in front of the left hip bone. The ideal state is level or slightly bulging. If it looks sunken, that means cattle are not getting enough feed and need bigger paddocks.”

Meet individual needs within the herd

Early-season forage is higher in protein, which is ideal for putting muscle on growing calves. Virtual fencing works well to make the most of forage quality when grazing cow-calf pairs. The cow wears the collar, and the calf stays nearby, grazing slightly ahead of her to reach the best quality forage.