Spring grazing underway!! Harvesting 200 cow days per acre and very high conversion efficiency!

[@runningtfarmsnc]

Forgot to mention stock density around 713,000 lbs per acre per break.

[@stephendavidson2837]

Great class on Spring grazing Josh!! You regularly provide a great example of how to do non-selective grazing at it's best.

[@runningtfarmsnc]

Thank you sir! I’m still learning myself.😂

[@stephendavidson2837]

@@runningtfarmsnc learning is a lifelong endeavor. Keep up the good work!

[@user-kv2pt4lu9y]

Like the "mechanical diarrhea" term. We just said "too much protein in the ration" vs "bacterial or viral issues" at the dairy.

[@chersmith3181]

Thanks so much for sharing this!

[@grantmaclean3607]

Helpful observation re auto moving vs manual where the trade-off is they get on their feet in anticipation and have a BM prior to the shift reducing fouling.

[@coyroberts8356]

Thanks 😊

[@samuelahrens1936]

Have you done any soil organic matter % testing before and now? How quickly is it increasing??

[@runningtfarmsnc]

We have done baseline testing about the time we started Nonselective grazing. We participate in EOV Ecological outcome verification through the Savory Institute. I believe that the next soil testing will occur around the 5 year mark. We are a little over 2 years into managing this way. Our land improvement has greatly improved since switching.

[@brettpayton6286]

So curious.. if their pooo was let's say more runny then you would like, not scour's but because of the protein, what would you have done to correct that to hopefully bring them closer to normal?? Thanks

[@runningtfarmsnc]

Try to balance the protein to fiber ratio. It would normally be letting the forage mature a bit more and then doing a high harvest efficiency grazing removing 85-95% of the plant. This will increase the amount of fiber (stems) and balance out the protein. Of course you would do this in a very short time period no more than 3 days and then move the cattle on and don’t return to regraze until the forage has completely recovered.

[@user-kv2pt4lu9y]

Could offer some hay.

[@jameshentges192]

How many breaks/day? Can you achieve high harvest efficiency with one move/day?

[@runningtfarmsnc]

We are moving 4 times per day. But you can achieve a very good harvest efficiency with once per day moves but must be very observant of your animals and insure you are keeping them well fed and not loosing body condition.

[@balakrishnangovindasamy3473]

If understocked, why not tip graze just the spring growth.?

[@runningtfarmsnc]

Selective grazing the tips I have found early in the season leads to mechanical diarrhea in the cattle and lower conversion efficiency and possible health issues. Pinkeye foot rot etc.

[@haydenlejeune3601]

Just curious, what do you do for shade when grazing at such a high stock density?

[@runningtfarmsnc]

We will offer shade only when it’s necessary and as we continue to improve our genetics it’s becoming less necessary. We are usually able to offer shade around the edges of our fields where we have some trees. It’s best to not have to use it if possible to keep the nutrients on the pasture where they belong.

[@curtisfisher3439]

How wide are your runs?

[@runningtfarmsnc]

I like to set them up in roughly 3 day cells so I don’t have to use a back fence. So it depends on the total length of the cell. This particular one is 150’ wide and 57’ deep per break but I always try to make it so that from one end to the other is about 3 days. So it will always depend on how much forage is in the cell and the size of the herd.