Rotational grazing and row crops

lnicholson · #1 11/12/12, 07:39 AM

Hi All,
I wanted to pick some brains about rotational grazing and row crops.

I currently have 47 ac in row crops and 45 ac in pasture. I'm working with the farmer planting row crops and he knows my goal is to remove all the row crops within 5 yrs and put it in pasture with livestock. Currently I have 61 goats and 16 cow/calf pairs on the 45 ac in a rotational program. I will be feeding some this winter and am currently rotating the goats through the bean stubble.

I'm trying to figure out a way in which to help him build organic material and utilize the land after harvest as a rotational "bank" of forage.

My thoughts were if the crops came off in a timely manner one could plant wheat and annual rye and rotate on the crop through the winter. If the weather was bad and the crops did not come up early then there is the option to fly the wheat and rye on ahead of the harvest.

So what are your thoughts... it would cost roughly $30/ac to fly the wheat and rye on. in a worst case scenario.

Lee

kickinbull · #2 11/12/12, 02:58 PM

That sounds like a good idea. Search the net and you'll find a lot of info. The Univ. of SD has done of lot of test/research. They found the more species of plant the better it did.

ramiller5675 · #3 11/12/12, 03:57 PM

Where are you located?

What kind of row crops are you growing? What kind of herbicides are being used on the row crops (because there can be a residual that might not let you plant wheat for a period of time, depending on the herbicide)?

Try going to: Grazing Cover Crops | Plant Cover Crops for some info about planting and grazing cover crops.

Do you even need to plant wheat or ryegrass?

I've grazed cows over part of the winter on grain sorghum stubble, stocking them at about 1.5 acre per cow. I feed them a couple lbs. of cubes per day to give them enough protein, and provide some hay (they don't eat much hay until the stubble is about gone).

The stubble will last about 2 months and then there is usually a volunteer stand of ryegrass that they will graze for another month or so before I pull them off so I can kill the ryegrass in a futile attempt to clean up my fields (I wouldn't ever plant ryegrass on cropland).

If you had corn stubble, I would think you could get even more grazing from the stubble, and wouldn't necessarily need to plant wheat or ryegrass.

lnicholson · #4 11/12/12, 04:58 PM

I'm in Southern Indiana... real close to the Ohio River. They usually plant either soy beans or corn. Mostly beans as of late. They use Glyphosate for the weed control.

I've never grazed the stubble before now. I'm working on getting the row crop fields fenced. I've got about 4,000' left to build. I have 12 ac under fence and another 17 under temp fence.

Valmai · #5 11/12/12, 06:57 PM

Several things to investigate, some fertilizer & sprays on crops may be bad for animal health, the cattle may pug up the ground. Done properly it would definitley benefit both animals and crops IMO. My neighbour has a pipfruit orchard and has both cattle and sheep grazing between the rows year round.

Gabriel · #6 11/13/12, 07:03 PM

You'll want to be able to remove the animals if the weather turns really soggy. Test for nitrates. Make sure you strip graze so as to minimize pugging and maximize usage.

lnicholson · #7 11/17/12, 06:49 PM

Thanks all for the info..... what is the fertilizer rate of return from a cow? By running cows on it how much are the cows taking off? I want to make sure I'm not costing the row crop-er any more money in fertilizer.

Thanks

FarmerDavid · #8 11/18/12, 01:53 PM

I would think that what the cows take off wouldn't amount to much. I planted wheat after beans to graze. I didn't get it in till late so I won't get much off it but with $70 a bale hay it doesn't take much. I'm planning on switching to a corn-cover crop-corn rotation that I should get lots of winter forage off of. I should get close to 6 months grazing off of it if it works as planned. Not sure what I'll use as my cover crop mix just yet.

lnicholson · #9 11/18/12, 03:55 PM

I hear you on the hay prices. I had the "me so stupid" moment.... Since the drought and also learning more about the rotational grazing and forage management..... I'm kicking myself for not getting something in the ground after the crops came up. Had I planted something I wouldn't have had to pay $4k for hay.

With the rotational grazing I have set up now I should have forage through December and into January so all is not lost.... I probably bought more hay than I needed.

Next year will be much different for sure!!