Bale Grazing

[wade]

I am looking for info on bale grazing- do's/dont's,pros/cons, advise, wastage, comparison to swath grazing, etc.
Read somewhere that a cow passes out 80% of what's consumed so like the thought of bringing in nutrients to the farm (have alot of stubble ground) as compared to swath grazing but am worried about wastage.
Thanks in advance for the input.

[cswilson]

I posted some pics on ranchers.net under the thread 'Bale Grazing Revisited'. They did some tests at the Beef Development Center in Lanigan Sask. and wastage was under 5 percent. I've been very pleased with it and the grass growth is phenomonal-you actually get a better response than from spread manure because you don't lose the excreted urine.

[rkaiser]

In other words Cory (if you don't mind sir - my time is limited on agriville these days and Mr. Wilson takes to long to type) ---- Bale grasing is a net gain and there is simply no waste. I'm totally doing it next year.
Thanks Mr. Wilson

Randy

[cswilson]

Well it works pretty well I think. Too bad we hadn't figured iut out years ago so a guy wouldn't of had all those ten bale stooks to pick up by hand lol.

[grassfarmer]

I don't bale graze but am not opposed to the concept either. I'm curious why bale grazing works so well at boosting grass production and people have explained to me that it is because of the hay or fibre that you are wasting boosting organic matter. If wastage is under 5% I can't see you are adding a lot of organic matter. I think I can get a similar effect by feeding straw in rings. We can usually buy silage cheaper than hay so use moveable feed bunks out on the pasture followed along behind by oat straw in ring feeders. I believe this works like bale grazing because the urine and manure are put in contact with the straw that is wasted, and the ground.
I may be crazy here but I think bale grazing works not because you are feeding hay on the ground but because you are trapping the nutrients and contacting them with the ground. I know if I feed only silage on the ground there are just as many manure piles but we don't get the boost of grass next summer - too many of the nutrients vaporizing with the winter sun and frozen earth?
How many cow days per acre of nutrients are you guys putting down that are bale grazing? I am putting down about 650 cow days/acre this winter trying to get a fertility effect that will last 5 years and do a fair bit of reseeding at the same time.

[cswilson]

Way too much math for me to figure lol. I just know there's lots more grass where we do it-it also suits my natuallly lazy nature to a 'T'.we get our hay delivered right to the paddocks so only handle the bales once when unloading.

[DiamondSCattleCo]

As I posted on Ranchers, I found that I had a higher than 5% waste when I did my bale grazing trial this year.

For those who don't read ranchers, I bale grazed for a few weeks by setting out a set number of bales every couple of days. Then I switched to using my hay saver feeders and feeding the same number of bales. I found I was getting an extra days feed (3 vs 2) with the feeders.

However, my manure spread was not as good, since my hay savers feed 3 bales to a feeder. So what I've got is fairly large clusters of manure that I believe I'll have to harrow out in the spring before thaw.

Having said all that, I plan on trying it again this year, only I'll be setting the bales out ahead of time and on grass. I did some reading, and many guys felt they got better consumption if the cattle were making their way down to grass below.

I like the benefits of bale grazing, especially not having to fire up a tractor all the time during the winter, but I haven't been able to make it pencil yet.

Rod

[wade]

Thanks for the info everyone. Am trying to figure whether to seed something for swath grazing or keep buying hay(which I don't mind doing-nutrient value added to farm). Herd is growing and firing up the tractor all winter long is not an option for next year. Know I gotta keep winter feed costs down!
What are some do's and don'ts, etc? Is it better to use only a couple of days worth compared to a weeks worth/ spacing and placing, possibly placing a windbreak away from bales so they bed away from feed??????

Thanks again- Wade

[cattleman2]

1- Bale grazing helps grass growth next year as you have some "wastage" that is trampled into the ground. It is seeding whatever is the type of hay you have bought.
2- where my cows are at they are stringing out enough for 5 days at a time. That way you can blend some lower quality forage into the ration without forcing them to eat low end hay for days at a time.
3- cows need some windbreak but cows are not supplied with any beeding seperately away from the hay. Cows do lay aropund the bales but they are not crammed together so cows still pick through the bottoms.
4- bales are spaced about 10-15 feet apart so once broken open, the spread still doesn't meet in between the bales.
5- cows are being alloted about 32# day including wastage and are in body score 2.5 to 3 and the majority are older type cows (5 )

[grassfarmer]

"majority are older type cows (5 )" - is that 5 years old? older types?

[cattleman2]

sorry it was to read 5 plus. meaning years old.

Throughout last couple of years have not been replacing with younger animals and this has caused age to go up. Have some good producing cows that are surviors as we mouthed a cow the other day and vet said she was 12-15 yrs old, teeth all there just worn down but still in calf and in decent shape. One more calf then she can go...