Extended Grazing Seasons Do's and Dont's

This week,  Shaye sits down with Chance, a ranch manager at the Noble Research Institute, about extending grazing seasons to cut winter feeding and hay costs. Chance describes Noble’s 5,100-acre native-grass operation running about 200 cows, using intensive rotational grazing (moving daily to every few days) and aiming to remove only the top third to half of forage during the growing season so enough standing grass remains for winter.

He stresses producers often plan too late, and recommends measuring pasture forage monthly to guide stocking decisions, destocking, or hay purchasing. Winter management includes protein supplementation (cubes/cake) for four to five months and occasional hay during heavy snow. They discuss other options such as cover crops (noting weather risk), rye winter pasture, crop residue grazing, and bale grazing/unrolling or pre-unwrapped bales to improve soil and return nutrients.

Learn more about resources from the Noble Research Institute here: http://noble.org/find-a-course

Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com

00:00 Cutting Input Costs00:10 Meet Shay and Chance01:31 Why Extend Grazing02:05 Noble Ranch System02:37 Summer Grazing Plan04:51 Rotation and Calving Setup06:42 When to Move Cattle08:43 Stocking and Weather Limits10:23 Cover Crops and Rye12:14 Bale Grazing Methods14:53 Put Nutrients Back