Graze your grasses up

How is the growing season grazing going?

Whether we are grazing in the summer rainfall country or the temperate zone, we have control over how we manage our grazing within the rainfall and temperature of each growing season. Do we have the grazing management in place to garner the best results from the growing season?
Some key questions-

1. Are we growing more than we are grazing through this growing period? The pasture we accumulate now is to carry our mobs through until the next growing period. In the northern summer, this could be 9 -12 months; in the more temperate regions, it could be 6 months. (You know your country). Rest will not fix an overstocking problem, so if grazing is outstripping growth, stock numbers on-property need to be reduced.
2. Are we giving country the opportunity to build health? Health in country is like a bank account. If we draw down, as can happen in prolonged low-growth times, or when we overstock and overgraze, then we need to repay. Sufficient rest to rebuild root systems and foster recruitment of diversity. Sufficient grazing to open sward to sunlight and optimise growth. If we are grazing well, we can be building; rainfall capture and water retention (water cycle), green leaf growth for longer (energy flow/photosynthesis), a wide range of species with different root systems and nutrient concentration (biodiversity). We are building soil health. Know your species and how they respond to grazing at different times. Change in country is typically episodic.
3. Are we optimising profit and animal production? If we have more growth than stock, is there an opportunity to bring in stock to profit from this pasture? There is stock on the move in all seasons. Can we take on agistment or are we better to buy for short or longer-term trades, or buy and hold? The growing season is also the time of maximum daily gain; are we getting the weight on the right animals?
4. Are we setting pastures for the different mobs’ needs later in the year? Mature mouths will handle lower-digestible, more mature feed; we cannot get our growing stock performing on the same. Can we graze mature mouths through select areas during the growing season and then let it rest as growth slows to have that set up with a higher volume of more digestible feed for the younger mouths? Our breeders can calve in the paddocks of mature feed with a tad of supplement if needed.

Managing what we can see at soil surface and above feeds our business, the wider ecology and the life below within the soil.

Want to learn more about pasture and livestock management? You’re welcome to join us at our upcoming Free Keep In Touch days, Grazing Clinics or Grazing for Profit courses. Call 1800 356 004 to learn more.