Grasses and Grazing

Imagine waking up tomorrow morning to find that you have 43 percent more forage, and you didn’t have to do a thing to get it.

Cool-season perennial grasses are the foundation of productive horse pastures in the north-central, central and eastern U.S. Pastures are an affordable way to feed horses and are about one-third as expensive as hay.

There are several ways to assess pasture growth and make management decisions.

But Jeff McCutcheon, an agricultural extension educator at Ohio State University, says he noticed that most methods were used to make decisions at the end of the year for next year.

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of three articles. Part 1 can be found in the Issue 8, 2011 Progressive Forage Grower, or click here to read Part 1.  Part 3 can be found in the Issue 9, 2012 Progressive Forage Grower, or click here to read Part 3.

Types of fencing
There are two types of fencing systems: fixed or portable (flexible). Both systems have advantages and disadvantages (Table 1).

Spring can be one of the busiest and most important seasons in terms of determining this year’s plans for sustainable and profitable production. Following are important tips for spring forage management for both hay and pasture.

The largest expense for most cattle operations is the cost associated with producing forage. The key to managing these costs is making sure the operation is using the produced forage as efficiently as possible.