Rethink Grazing

Take Grazing Outside the Box

These calves didn't get into the green corn field by accident. It's just one of today's innovative, diverse grazing strategies. (DTN/Progressive Farmer photo by Becky Mills)

If you see a group of steers in a field of green corn, you can generally bet it is either an accident or a salvage operation for a drought-stunted crop. But not at Josh Gunn's operation. Grazing green corn is just one way he makes use of a high-quality summer annual.

"We started grazing corn in 2004," said the Springfield, Tenn., cattleman. "It really helped fill a niche for us in the summer, and since then, we find it allows us to extend our spring grass gains."

Gunn and his family don't make use of grazing corn every year, but they do keep the option open to help meet summer gains goals for their custom-grazing and grass-finished beef enterprises. Gunn normally no-tills a forage-type selection of corn into winter annuals or a permanent pasture he is planning to renovate. The seed, herbicide, fertilizer and custom machinery run an average of $185 an acre.

GRAZING CORN

Cattle are turned into the crop based on animal size. Four- to five-weight calves should graze when the corn is knee to waist high because the nutritive value is higher then, he explained. Once the corn makes an ear, it's better suited to heavier animals because their rumen is developed more, and they can use the energy in the ears. They can also reach up for the top leaves. On growing or finishing calves, Gunn said he gets gains of 2.5 to 2.75 pounds a day.

To ensure none of the corn is wasted, Gunn insists on strip-grazing. Temporary electric fence portions off only what cattle will eat in a day. And he doesn't use a back fence, so the herd can wander back and eat grass growing under the canopy and any ears they may have missed.

During drought years, corn can accumulate nitrates in the lower part of the stalk. However, Gunn said he hasn't had trouble with nitrate poisoning because he offers the cattle fresh forage before they get hungry enough to eat the stalks down to the danger level.

"Even with the increase in fertilizer costs, grazing corn is very competitive to a byproduct type feed," he said. "Really, unless you are set up to use silage, grazing is by far the cheapest way to utilize corn."

STRIP-PLANTING PEANUTS

In the search for a warm-season legume adapted to the deep South, University of Florida researchers have been working with perennial peanuts for more than 30 years. Both scientists and growers are sold on the high-quality forage as dairy and horse hay. However, beef producers have found challenges with the system.

University of Florida graduate student Kim Mullenix is working to change that. She wants to make the forage more beef friendly. Her strategy is planting the peanuts in strips throughout bahiagrass pastures.

After establishing 13-foot-wide strips of perennial peanut between 8-foot strips of bahia, Mullenix said harvested bahiagrass averaged 4,000 pounds of forage per acre with no nitrogen fertilizer. At crude protein levels of 18% to 20% and energy at 60% to 70%, the legumes definitely helped the quality of the bahiagrass.

The researcher said cost of establishment per acre depends on what percentage of the pasture is planted to the perennial peanut crop. University of Florida Extension estimates it costs $550 an acre to establish a pure stand.

Mullenix said it usually takes two to three years to see a hardy stand with the perennial peanuts. Even when heifers at Florida trial plots were only allowed to graze the perennial peanut/bahiagrass plots every 28 days and were removed when bahiagrass was grazed down to a 6-inch stubble height, it reduced the perennial peanut a significant amount, and they didn't establish as fast.

"The heifers would eat all the peanut forage first then the bahiagrass," she said. "That is part of the problem. They are hard on them [peanut forage] because they like them."

When the comparison plots were hayed rather than grazed, the peanut developed normally.

Tampa, Fla., producer Glenn Emerson is determined to make perennial peanuts work in his pastures. He used a no-till sprigger to strip-plant the rhizomes 20 inches apart into his bahiagrass pastures.

In mid-July, Emerson left 30 cow/calf pairs on the field he had sprigged on May 20. He is also a fan of grazing cattle on straight fields of perennial peanuts. His weaned calves gained 1.7 to 1.8 pounds a day with no supplementation when they grazed the legume.

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Emerson takes no precautions against bloat and said his cattle have had no problems even on the pure stands of perennial peanut.

GAINING ON CHICORY

A high-quality cool-season forage, chicory can be adapted throughout most of the U.S.

Clemson University Extension forage specialist John Andrae said chicory is best planted in the early fall and should provide grazing by mid-February or March, at least in South Carolina. "We graze it into the summer and get a little fall growth," he reported.

Chicory excels in the quality department, typically ranking with a mix of annual ryegrass and white clover. Andrae said the crude protein can be more than 21% and is low in fiber and highly digestible.

"Weaned calves will gain on it. When we grazed our finishing steers on it, they gained 2.4 pounds a day, and they were 1,000-pound animals," he explained.

The downside to chicory is it can be high maintenance. It likes high fertility and responds well to nitrogen fertilizer. It can tolerate fairly acidic soils, but they need to be well drained. And since the plant is a broadleaf, weed control can be a challenge. Without the ability to use a broadleaf herbicide, there is no way to control pigweed or thistle.

Andrae said chicory, which looks like a giant dandelion or a small tobacco plant, requires careful grazing management. It bolts, or the middle shoot grows tall and stops plant growth.

"Rotational grazing works best. It doesn't need to be intensive because it needs a rest period," he explained. "It works fine to graze it for seven days and let it rest for 21 days. You can really graze it short."

Chicory doesn't last forever, however, two or three years at most, and it can be pricey to establish. Andrae said they planted 6 pounds of seed an acre in their trials. Currently, at specialty suppliers, seed can cost as much as $7.50 per pound.

But Andrae stressed chicory has a niche. "You want to save it for animals you can put gain on and recoup your costs."

FAST-GROWING TURNIPS

While forage turnips will grow in the summer in cooler climates, the high-quality brassicas really shine as a fast-growing fall crop.

University of Arkansas animal scientist Kenny Simon uses forage turnips on his own place. He recommends planting around Labor Day. Grazing is usually available in just 30 to 45 days, depending on weather and variety.

Not only do turnips provide fast grazing, they are incredibly high in quality. Crude protein averages around 18% to 22%, and digestible energy is usually in the mid- to upper 70s but can reach the lower 80s. Simon recommends using them in place of grain as a supplement.

"They fit really well with a fall calving herd," he said. "With cows, you can limit-graze them two to three hours every day, or eight hours a day for two days out of the week. Depending on the quality of your hay, that can meet their nutritional requirements."

Simon limit-grazed replacement heifers and 2-year-old heifers on turnips for two to three hours a day from late October until the first of January. He saw Body Condition Scores (BCS) go up by one. On his cows, he said they calved at a BCS of 6 and maintained that BCS through breeding season.

Whether he is grazing cows, heifers or calves on the turnips, Simon makes sure they have free-choice hay or another fiber source. Turnips are highly digestible, and they shouldn't make up more than 75% of the diet. The cattle need another roughage source to provide proper rumen activity.

Lack of roughage can lead to bloat. Turnips can also accumulate nitrates and put cattle in danger of nitrate poisoning. Also, although it is rare, grazing brassicas can lead to atypical pneumonia, hemolytic anemia, hypothyroidism and polioencephalomalacia. This makes grazing management critical.

"We recommend waiting until there is a canopy height of 14 to 16 inches to graze. Take cattle off when the canopy is still 6 to 8 inches high," Simon says. "That will promote regrowth. They won't tolerate close grazing."

He recommends waiting 21 to 28 days between grazings.

This high-quality crop won't break the bank. Seed costs are around $3 to $5 per pound, and seeding rates are 2 to 3 pounds per acre.

FORAGE SOYBEANS

With a crude protein range of 20% to 26%, forage soybeans as a summer annual can give alfalfa a run for its money. Best of all, it's adaptable.

"It will grow almost anywhere," said Rebecca Atkinson, Southern Illinois University (SIU) animal scientist. "I've talked to producers from Montana to Alabama who use it."

The legume's ability to fix nitrogen lowers establishment costs, but producers should check phosphorus and potassium levels. On seed costs, Atkinson said they use a bag an acre at $68 a bag.

Atkinson has grown forage soybeans in the beef program at SIU since 2008. "We try to plant them in May," she said. "They can be a foot and a half to 2 feet tall and ready to graze in four to six weeks."

To get the most out of the forage, she uses rotational grazing. The cows eat mostly the leaves and can graze them down to the first nodule (around 10 inches). In Atkinson's part of the country, they can get three to four grazings in a summer.

Don't let forage soybeans get to the pod-forming stage, or leaf quality goes down. And when the first frost hits, it is done.

Like Atkinson, Scott Sell said, "Forage soybeans produce a tremendous amount of high-quality forage." However, in Blackville, S.C., where he is the director of the Edisto Forage Bull Test, he said they only get a month of grazing from them.

Making hay from the forage can also be a challenge. It is hard to get the stems cured, but Atkinson said the crop makes great silage.

She cautioned producers to use a bloat block when grazing the legume, saying it's a lot like grazing straight alfalfa.

WEEDS AS FEED?

When nothing else will grow, it always seems you can count on weeds. Scott Sell, director of the Edisto Forage Bull Test, not only counts on them, he lets the bulls graze them -- at least temporarily.

Based at the Edisto Research and Education Center, in Blackville, S.C., a facility with a unique history, researchers here actually planted pigweed so they could study ways to control it. As a result, it's plentiful.

"When pigweed is small and immature, it is pretty palatable," Sell reported. "So we use grazing as a tool to manage it. We run the bulls across it when they aren't on test."

University of Arkansas animal scientist Kenny Simon added there are a lot of winter annual weeds like buttercup, chickweed and curly dock that are palatable to cattle when young and vegetative.

That doesn't mean grazing weeds is a year-long management strategy. Simon said grazing does not take the place of spraying and adds many weeds are toxic, making proper identification critical.

To learn more about the identification of toxic weeds, visit ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/ws/ws_37_toxicplants08.pdf.

(VM/CZ)

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