Bale Grazing in Kentucky-Fred Thomas

This presentation was given as part of the 2022 Fall Grazing Conferences entitled "Profitable Grazing Systems from the Soil Up" held on October 26 and 27 in Leitchfield and Winchester, KY, respectively. A copy of conference proceedings can be found at forages.ca.uky.edu/.

[@marlinyohn8982]

With all of the hills you have to deal with, do you purchase cows where their legs are longer on one side than the other?

[@davesipsy7587]

This is the first time I've heard someone else mention not being afraid of "damage" to pasture in a rotational grazing system. I purposely pour my mineral directly on the ground during the months when my warm season grasses are actively growing. This creates about 12-14' diameter damage circles in areas of my pasture that used to be almost monoculture Bahia grass. These damaged circles are quickly colonized by crabgrass, Dallas grass, white clover and occasionally Johnson grass and Timothy.. I am absolutely certain that I have accelerated the diversity of forage on my rotationally grazed pastures using this method. But I've never discussed it because of this stigma of purposely creating bare soil.

[@oby-1607]

Did I miss something but I didn't get a number of cows or animal units correctly. You say 32 animal units but is this cow count or cow/calf count? A lot of talk about possible damage but not before and after enough. Net wrap helps preserve the bale and should be left until time to feed. Its designed that way. You sure don't get the snow that we get at our ranch. Seems to be more wet than cold where you are at.

[@nizexlizzy]

Too bad he references here, here and there so much with no reference to us where he’s pointing.