Winter grazing

Swath grazing cattle seemed like a good choice in September But we went back to the andamp lt a href andamp quot http www kxnet com t usdaandamp quot class andamp quot kxInlineLinkandamp quot andamp gt USDAandamp lt aandamp gt research station south of andamp lt a href andamp quot http www kxnet com t mandan-ndandamp quot class andamp quot kxInlineLinkandamp quot andamp gt Mandanandamp lt aandamp gt to see how the cows faired once the snow started getting deep Ag Reporter andamp lt a href andamp quot http www kxnet com t sarah-gustinandamp quot class andamp quot kxInlineLinkandamp quot andamp gt Sarah Gustinandamp lt aandamp gt has the story When the weather was like this grazing wasn t a problem But what about when it s like this and you are expected to dig through some pretty deep snow drifts to find your food Eric Scholljegerdes Animal Scientist andamp quot Based on what i saw this winter they can graze through at least 15 inches of snow as long as there is not crust on it andamp quot This snowy winter is a part of The Northern Great Plains Research Center s four year experiment to see if swath grazing really has some advantages Scholljegerdes says despite the snow the cows finished the trail Grazing from September 26 to January 7th But they did get a little help starting the middle of November when each cow started receiving 5 pounds of peas each day Eric Scholljegerdes Animal Scientist andamp quot It was about 103 days that they were out on pasture they received hay out of 103 days And so with all snow that we got 8 inches 12 inches upwards to 15 iches depending on how hard the wind bllew they were digging through 15 inches of snow or better andamp quot Now the cows did lose some weight Losing 6 tenths of a pound per day But the control group eating chopped hay lost 1 2 a pound each day Eric Scholljegerdes Animal Scientist andamp quot If you are looking at just the cost of production it s how much are you willing to let your cows lose a little weight but not affect performance and there is alot of data that would say they can lose a little weight during the second tri-mester and not have nay effect on susquent calving and rebreeding andamp quot Scholljegerdes says this year the control group may have faired a little better but last year the grazers did better I guess we will just have to wait a couple more years to see if we should start changing our ways South of Mandan Reporting for KX News I am Sarah Gustin Scholljegerdes says as long as the cattle seem content they are proabbly finding the forage they need He said they did increase everyone s energy requirements by 25 percent to make sure the cows had the energy they needed to battle the extreme temperatures