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By Sandra Forster
Grazing on greener pastures – even when they’re
covered in white – appears to be just fine for cattle.
University of Guelph professors Jock
Buchanan-Smith, Animal Science, and Ann Clark, Plant Agriculture, have found
permanent grass-pasture stock-piling – a natural feeding system providing lush
pasture after the first frost, which will allow cattle and sheep to stay outside
well into December – works well even when the grass is under six inches of snow.
Keeping cattle out of the barn longer means less
hay and straw required, and lower equipment, fuel and labour costs for farmers.
"It’s cheaper for cattle to harvest the feed for
themselves than it is for us to go out and mechanically harvest it and cut it as
hay or silage," says Buchanan-Smith
The cattle grazing season is extended by
allowing pasture fields to grow after the first cut of hay is harvested, by
keeping cattle out of the fields from the end of July until October 15. An
electric fence on a spindle controls pasture access by allowing cattle to
strip-graze until the snow gets to deep.
The research trials, conducted at the New
Liskeard research station, involve five-hectare plots. About 8,000 beef animals
are located in the immediate vicinity. The late pasture system provides extended
use of less-productive Class 4, 5, and 6 land. And although it’s comparatively
far north, Buchanan-Smith’s previous research at the Elora Research Station
yielded equally successful results.
Forage seed mixture choice is important because
nutrients decline in the fall at variable and unpredictable rates. Clark has
experimented with four monoculture pasture seed species. Researchers take forage
samples twice a week from a one-metre by one-metre plot to analyze for fibre,
protein and energy content. Some tests have found the fall crop is 80-90 per
cent as valuable as summer pasture. Both summer and fall pastures can graze 2.5
animals per hectare. Forage yields have measured 2.5-4.5 tonnes per hectare.
This research is sponsored by the Ontario
Cattleman’s Association, with support from the Agricultural Adaptation Council. |
