Page 9 - MWC 4-20-2023s

“Can I start grazing?” By Victor Shelton, Retired NRCS Agronomist/Grazing Specialist
The Midwest Cattleman · April 20, 2023 · P9

I’m usually glad to be Quite often you will find
past April Fool’s Day. In the these stands initiating repro-
past, too many found it way ductive stages quicker and
too entertaining to try and earlier because of this sur-
spoof someone into believing vival mechanism. In some
something untrue. The tom- cases, some anti-quality fac-
foolery tradition supposedly tors, such as alkaloids, may
started because some groups also be higher due to this
thought that the beginning stress. In the long run, if you
of the year should be with take care of the plant, the
the spring equinox instead of continued on page 16
Jan. 1 and were considered a
bit foolish. Weather around
the spring equinox in the
northern hemisphere is usu- PARAMOUNT
ally still changing or switch-
ing to warmer conditions.
But the back and forth keeps
“fooling” us. I live in Indiana
where if you don’t like the Elevate to a more valuable female.
weather, just wait a few min-
utes!
I have already heard the For over a decade, Red Angus females have
question, “When can we commanded more at auction than all other breeds,
start grazing?” That question including Angus. According to Superior Livestock data,
came up a bit earlier this
year than normal because Red Angus heifers brought nearly $17/cwt more –
we had enough warm days in that equates to a $92/head premium
between the cold ones to pro- on a weaned replacement female.
vide the energy to really see
some early green up.
I’ve seen a lot of live- To learn more about
stock already out grazing industry-leading
fields. That is OK if they
are still grazing stockpiled stayability, visit
forages left from last year’s RedAngus.org
growth, but if they are con-
suming only new growth and
chasing after each new green
blade of grass like a chicken
after a bug, then you’re usu-
ally doing more harm than
good.
Fields that were grazed
hard last fall, especially prior
to dormancy, and fields that
were grazed early this year
because the cows needed
someplace to go, could abso-
lutely use a longer deferment
prior to grazing again this
spring. Those fields will need
to first try to grow or regrow
their new solar panel off the
reserves that are left, and
then spend valuable time
rebuilding roots and root re-
serves before allocating ener-
gy and resources on growing
forage. The plant is going to
try and preserve itself and
yield is the last thing on its
mind. It’s thinking about sur-
vival. If you push it too much,
production is altered and
seed head production will be
more of a focus for the plant.