RANCHING Business
Planning and Preparation Get the Most out of Winter Pasture
By Lorie Woodward Cantu W
INTER FORAGE HAS TRADITION- ally been used to feed growing stocker cattle in
the Southern Plains region. “Winter pasture is a source of
high-quality nutrition, but it carries a signifi cant price tag, one that often exceeds $100 per acre for just seed and fertilizer,” says Jim Johnson, soil and crop specialist with the Noble Founda- tion. “Generally, its highest and best use is putting weight on cattle that are still growing, so producers can benefi t from maximized gain.” Other less common scenarios
where winter pasture may be useful include providing a stable source of winter feed for a cow herd when an absentee landowner can’t be on-site regularly, “bringing spring early” to provide extra nutrition for a spring- calving cow herd, and growing a spring hay crop. Winter pasture has a fall and a
spring phase. The fall/winter phase, which begins at planting in early- to mid-September, includes establish- ment, growth and initial production. Generally, the plants are big enough and established enough to begin graz- ing cattle in mid-November. “Plants need to establish roots,”
Johnson says. “We recommend keep- ing cattle off the plants until it is diffi - cult for you to uproot a plant, because then its roots are mature enough to anchor it in the soil.”
Editor’s Note: This is the eighth installment in a 12-part series on “The Realized Value of Management Decisions” that was developed with the advisors in the Producer Relations Program of the Agricultural Division of the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation. The independent, non-profi t Noble Foundation, headquartered in Ardmore, Okla., as- sists farmers and ranchers and conducts plant science research and agricultural programs to enhance agricultural productivity regionally, nationally and internationally.
66 The Cattleman August 2015
thecattlemanmagazine.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116