MiG into the winter?

[wstevenl]

This is my first year with cattle, first year for our pastures, and first year doing MiG. We're moving the cows everyday to a new paddock and our rotations have taken around 55 days but we added a few cows 2 weeks ago and our rotations are now probably going to take 46 days (just estimating based on sq feet because we always make a new paddock with polywire). I'm trying to estimate how long we'll be able to graze into the fall/winter but I'm not sure how the forage will grow in the cold/frost/cool weather. We've got alfalfa/orchard/ladino clover/medium red clover/ and seedling fescue, timothy, and orchard in order of most to least in the pasture. We just recently got a good rain and the forages are growing back quickly.
My question is, how could I expect the grasses to grow back as the season gets colder? Will anything grow after the frost (supposed to be around Nov. 7th). Will clover continue to grow through cold weather? Should I assume that all our forage after the first week of Nov. will need to be stockpiled from before then?

Also, we have 2 acres of bermuda that we planted this year too. The bermuda is doing well but there is fox tail and other stuff in it too. I recently mowed it. After the bermuda turns brown could I graze it to remove what isn't bermuda? My horses won't touch dead, brown bermuda and I'm wondering if cows are the same way.

[agmantoo]

wstevenl

I am planning on going through the Winter with no hay. Our first frost will about coincide with the date you posted and possibly a little earlier. With the fescue I can expect some growth; but declining, as we approach Christmas. I have to have enough grass stockpiled by 15 Dec to last 90 days. If I am uncertain about having enough forage stockpiled , I need to overseed the areas grazed in mid Oct forward with Marshall rye grass ASAP. The rye grass will carry me from mid March forward until I get Spring growth on the fescue. The time periods we are addressing are what unnerves people that feed hay to the point they will not shift away from making hay. It is the management of this time period and avoiding the need for hay that adds significantly to our bottom line. I do have 15 days worth of hay for unforeseen emergencies. I have held this hay which is stored in the dry for several years. I guess we all need something as a security blanket. PS......Are you always grazing the tallest forage first?

[wstevenl]

agmantoo, right now I am grazing the tallest first. There was a point, when our nurse crop of oats was seeding out way ahead of us that we mowed it down (about half of it) , and then ended up not getting to it to even eat the regrowth. This was really bad for that area.

I learned now that grazing, at least this time, is far superior to mowing for stimulating regrowth. I'm not certain if it is the manure that is spread, eating it down lower than the bush hog cut it, or the hoof action, but where we were able to graze came up thick with our legumes and a good amount of orchard grass and where we didn't graze until last month was weedy and unpredictable with spots of good green forage. Now, after grazing it's filling in with clover and alfalfa.

That being said, we are going to leave an area ungrazed after this current rotation and let it grow tall, and hopefully thicker for stockpiling.

My biggest worry with winter grazing is freezing water. We use a 50gal rubbermade tank with a float valve attached to a hose. The hose could be insulated and kept short (12') but I'm still afraid that there wouldn't be enough water flowing into the trough to keep it from freezing... with only 10 head of Dexters.

[agmantoo]

As the Summer ended and some rains started it would have been beneficial to have clipped the pastures right at the top of the growing grass. This would have put the taller weeds under stress and would have severed many of the immature seed heads from the undesirable weeds. Something to remember for the future. As you approach stockpiling time (near term) you must let the cattle graze the paddocks closer and hold them off a portion or the pasture. Reduce the area and force the cattle to eat the forage thoroughly, moving them as necessary but always restricting the area and maximizing the grazing. Essentially you need to be feeding them off maybe 40 to 60 percent of the pasture and letting the remainder grow. If you have some hay you could use that as a supplement and let the paddocks grow. It is far more convenient to feed hay while the weather is mild and before mud sets in prior to the ground freezing, if it does freeze. Being able to run out and string a little polywire and jump back into warmth beats the heck out of firing up a cold reluctant tractor and sliding through mud when you are cold. Actually it bothers my conscience to spend only a few minutes to feed when my neighbors are spending considerable time and are miserably wet or cold doing the same thing.
You need one of those big homemade waterers made from a large off road machine tire and have a ground heat tube under the tire. Scroll down half way here
http://www.extension.umn.edu/beef/co...ng_systems.pdf

[agmantoo]

wstevenl
Here is a pic I took today and you can see where I am forcing the cattle to clean up as they go. By concentrating the cattle in this manner, I am reserving the other paddocks for stockpiling purposes. Yesterdays grazed area on the left and partially grazed area on the right. The area on the right will be consumed by morning. I plan on over seeding some Marshall rye grass on the grazed areas. It is taking the entire herd (100 mature head) to eat off ~11000 sq. ft. this close in 1 day.

[wstevenl]

I don't see many cows in this picture but your numbers would have 100 cows on a 100' x 110' paddock. That's about 1/2 a million pounds per acre, real mob grazing.
Are your numbers right?

[agmantoo]

wstevenl
The paddock allocation in this photo is rather long (290 ft) and rather narrow (38 ft). It has a high ridge in the center and the bulk of the herd are on the backside out of sight. Some of the cattle have already gone for water also. My cows are small framed and they weigh around 1100 lbs. The 100 head would weigh 110,000+ lbs. The footage of the paddock is correct as I paced it off rather than a guess so that I could share the information with expected visitors. The visitors were here Friday and they saw this actual area and they saw the herd and they asked about the size and were surprised at how rapidly the cows were consuming the grass.

[agmantoo]

Here is the herd. This is an older photo