Page 11 - MWC 8-25-2022s

The Midwest Cattleman · August 25, 2022 · P11
“Be sure and close the gate, son” – Managing our pastures during drought

By Kevin Laurent – Extension Specialist, Department of Animal and Food Sciences, University of KY
When I was a kid growing thing they can find, but that
up in south Louisiana, we strategy is short term at best.
used to buy our square hay What usually happens is we
from a retired gentleman who hammer our forage base into
lived several miles down the the ground which not only in-
road. Mr. Ralph, as we called creases recovery time but also
him, had a sizable herd of cows opens the canopy for weeds
and always seemed to have a down the road. Another po-
barn full of hay for sale. Any- tential problem in drought
time Daddy sent me there for years is cattle that are al-
hay, Mr. Ralph’s parting words lowed to wander and scrounge
in his deep voice was always for forage may get tempted to
“be sure and close the gate, consume noxious weeds they
son”. Words every farm kid usually avoid such as perilla
has grown up hearing. “Close mint.
the gate”, “shut the gate”, “did Shutting the cattle into ei-
you check the gate?” The rule ther a sacrifice area or, better
I try and teach our 4-H judg- yet, the worst paddock or pas-
ing kids during workouts is ture on the place is a much
the old standard, “the last one better strategy. Feeding hay across a poor pasture during F Farm in Gracey, KY way
through, shuts the gate.” in a more limited area will drought conditions could be a back in 2006-07. We called
So why is it when grass not only allow the remainder win/win in terms of nutrient this strategy “strategic win-
gets short, whether it’s during of the farm to rest and recover recycling for a later renova- ter grazing” for lack of a bet-
dry spells or drought or in when rainfall occurs but may tion of the poor pasture and ter name. It could simply be
early spring when the grass give you an opportunity to avoiding grazing damage on called “feed your hay first” be-
is just greening up, that we “fertilize” a poorer paddock or your good pastures. cause that is the basis of the
“farm kids” have the tendency pasture through hay feeding. This drought may present strategy. Our demonstration
to open all the gates? I know Remember, 80% of what a cow another opportunity to try consisted of 41 spring calving
it’s human nature to try and eats comes out the other end, a hay feeding strategy we
let the cows scratch for any- so hay feeding/bale grazing demonstrated on the Circle continued on page 23

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