Forage in the Field

Program: Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI)

Overview: In 2003, the Elk Conservation District received a grant from the Bob and Jewell Evans Foundation. In cooperation with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the West Virginia Conservation Agency, and the Elk Conservation District, an extended grazing project was held on the Hamric Farm in Glendon, West Virginia, located in Braxton County.

The goal of this grazing project was to graze six Angus steers throughout the winter on two acres of turnips, one acre of triticale, and five acres of stockpiled fescue without supplementing any other forages or concentrates. The three plots were prepared in July and August by spraying with Round Up, disking the ground, seeding the plots, and applying fertilizers at various stages. The fescue plot did not need seeded as it was already growing, but fertilizer was still added.

Accomplishments: Despite a couple set backs in the production of the triticale and turnips, the overall objectives were reached. The triticale plot was planted on ground that had turnips in it the year before, and some of the hard seed germinated before the triticale, thus shading out some of the triticale crop. The two acre turnip plot was completely damaged by deer before grazing was permitted. In the end, the steers were able to graze the plots of triticale and fescue until the end of April with only supplementing four bales of hay.

Program Benefits to Landowner: The benefits to the land owner from this project included grazing the six steers all winter long without having to supplement any significant forages or feeds. All plots had a forage analysis performed on them, and all results came back with very desirable crude protein levels and TDN levels. The steers gained on the average 203 pounds over a 164-day period. This calculates to 1.23 pounds of gain per day per animal. After all expenses were added up and the time involved with performing this project, it was determined that the Hamrics saved approximately $360.00 over the 164-day period of grazing if they would have used round bales and supplemented 3 pounds of grain per day per head. The cost per day using the extended grazing project came to $3.52, and the cost per day if the steers would have been fed hay and grain would have been approximately $5.71. The time spent on performing this extended grazing project was also lesser than the calculated time spent on producing the round bales and then feeding them throughout the winter.

Program Benefits to Community: The benefits of the project to the community were a widespread interest in many other local farmers/producers to try a feeding system similar to the Hamric’s project. Many individuals could see that forage in the field that was stockpiled or planted for fall grazing was higher in quality when compared to hay/forage that had been harvested earlier in the year and stored for winter. They also saw that there were fewer dollars spent on seed and fertilizer than there would have been in producing hay and purchasing grain for supplementation. All of this benefits the community in that offering a higher quality forage for livestock throughout the winter months will help animals maintain and even perform better, thus giving them a step ahead for the spring months whether we are dealing with growing animals or cows that will be calving in the early spring. The more producers we have that use this grazing system the better quality of animals we’ll have in the long run!

Contact Information:

Bulls turned into Turnip Patch 1 for the first time!


 

Laura & Buck holding Purple Top from Field 1.
 

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