Subject: Pasture FAQ

From: Ronald Florence <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 1995 04:15:13 GMT

Archive-name: rural/pasture-faq
Last-modified: 3 June 1995

                Frequently Asked Questions About Pastures
                -----------------------------------------

Changes since <[email-masked]>: 
	mail-server,
	target stocking levels,
	warm-season grasses,
	herbicides or mob stocking before no-till seeding,    
	rotation recommendations,
	fertilizer recommendations,
        lead animals for root-crop grazing,
	hydroax.

Copyright 1994-95 Ronald Florence.  Permission is granted for
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------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: why pasture

1.  Why pasture?  

    On many high-productivity farms today, the answer might be
    `nostalgia' or `to clean up odd corners that the tractors can't
    reach.'  Some large, mechanized farms get along with no pasture at
    all.  Dairy cows are fed silage, hay, and grain; market lambs and
    beef cattle are fattened in feedlots; horses get by on stall
    feeding.  In the interest of efficiency and maximum gains, pasture
    is sometimes limited to dry cows or rams after breeding.

    The economics of high-productivity mechanized farms don't
    necessarily apply to smaller farms, and especially hobby
    operations, where pasture can provide excellent low-cost feed,
    savings in hay and manure handling, a healthier environment than
    the barnyard or feedlot, extra-clean wool or grass-fed lamb or
    beef for specialty markets, long-term benefits to the land, and
    the pleasures of watching foals or lambs gambol on a grass field.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: how much pasture

2.  How much pasture do I need?

    Pasture needs depend on whether the pastures are primary or
    supplementary feed, local rainfall, forage quality, the
    availability of alternate pastures for rotation, the level of
    fertilizer and other nutrients applied to the pastures, the time
    and equipment available for pasture maintenance such as clipping
    or taking a cutting of hay, and the length of the grazing season.

    The common rule of thumb is that one acre of permanent pasture can
    support one animal unit (one cow or horse, six sheep or goats)
    through the grazing season.  Pasture productivity can vary widely
    from that guideline.  Lush improved pastures can provide grazing
    for 10-12 ewes with their lambs per acre.  Stocking rates for
    aggressive rotation, with substantial rests for the pastures after
    each grazing cycle, can reach 6 cows or 36 sheep per acre on
    improved pastures.  At the other end of the scale, a cow or horse
    would have trouble supporting itself on five or even ten acres of
    dry Western native grassland, and one sheep per acre is the rule
    on some Australian sheep stations.

    Too much pasture can be as big a problem as too little, unless you
    can take a cutting of hay when the forage gets ahead of the
    animals, or use a mower to clip weeds and over-ripe grass to
    provide fresh grazing.  (See the Haying FAQ for information on
    haying practices and equipment.)

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: making pastures

3.  How do I convert woodland, or an overgrown field, to a productive
    pasture? 

    The methods depend on whether you have more money or more time.
    Instant pastures are expensive.  If you're willing to spend a few
    years on the project, it can be done with minimal investment.

    Start with a survey of the trees.  There may be some trees you
    want to leave on an overgrown orchard, field, or woodlot, like old
    apple trees or ancient `wolf' trees on the edges of a field.  Most
    animals enjoy fallen fruit (watch out for drunk sheep if the
    apples lie too long), and all animals need shade.  You may be able
    to sell mature trees to a logger; otherwise, take advantage of the
    firewood.  If you have access to a chipper, the slash can be
    chipped for garden mulch and as path coverings.  Alternatives for
    the slash are burning (you'll probably need a permit), or piling
    in an out-of-the-way area as a wildlife refuge.  It will
    eventually rot down.

    The quick way to a pasture is to hire a bulldozer with a grubber
    blade, or a backhoe, to clear the stumps and stones.  A grubber
    blade looks like a huge rake, and will clear out stumps and large
    stones without scraping away the topsoil.  A good backhoe operator
    can also pull stumps and stones without disrupting too much of the
    topsoil.  Some backhoe operators find it easier to pull stumps
    when the trees are left standing, by using leverage high up on the
    trunk.  It may be wise to ask before you bring out the chainsaw.
    If you hire a bulldozer without a grubber blade, make sure the
    operator scrapes the topsoil aside before pulling stones and
    stumps, and regrades the topsoil afterwards.

    If you have more patience than money, saw stumps parallel to the
    ground -- a sharp stump can wreak havoc with tractor tires or the
    feet of livestock -- and where possible, cut the stumps low enough
    to clear a mower, so you can clip the pasture even before the
    stumps rot.  You may want to hire a backhoe or dozer to pull a few
    large stones, or learn to live with them.  Lambs love a big stone
    or two for games.

    You can cut brush low to the ground with a chainsaw, a saw-blade
    on a heavy-duty weed-whacker, a heavy-duty brush hog, or a hydroax
    (a super heavy-duty brush-hog mounted on an excavator).  Be
    careful with light-duty brush hogs on heavy brush or a stony
    field, or saw-blades on lawn-trimmers.  You may be able to scrape
    away some brush with a bucket-loader on a tractor, though most
    tractor loaders don't take kindly to being treated as a bulldozer.
    
    Sometimes, it is easiest to use animals to clear the brush.  Goats
    are specialists, often preferring brush to grass and clover.
    Sheep love poison ivy and bittersweet.  The real masters of brush
    clearing are pigs, who will eat roots and all if they are put out
    without nose rings.  The trick to getting animals to clear brush
    and weeds is to confine them to a relatively small area with a
    tether or temporary fences.  If they have an entire pasture to
    roam, animals seek out tasty new grass, clover or buds.  When they
    are confined to a small area, they eat everything in sight,
    including brush and weeds.  Watch out for poisonous plants (see
    question 10 below) when `mob stocking' a pasture: animals that are
    pressed may ingest plants that they would avoid under normal
    grazing conditions.

    Once you have the trees and brush cleared, it's time to upgrade
    the pasture.  See question 4 below.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: upgrading pastures

4.  How do I improve the quality of my pasture from the present mix of
    native grasses and weeds?

    The first step is a soil test.  In many areas of the country,
    pasture land has a pH too low to support the better forage grasses
    and legumes.  The soil test -- make sure you specify the target
    forage when you turn in the sample -- will tell you how much lime
    to add.  If you cannot disc in the lime when it is applied,
    applications of more than two tons/acre may need to be split over
    a period of a year or so.  You can spread lime yourself with a
    dump spreader (they're often available at auctions or used
    implement dealers), or a fertilizer spreader on a tractor, but it
    may be easier and cheaper to have a local blending plant spread it
    by truck.  Spreading lime with a fertilizer spreader is a dusty
    job; if the lime isn't washed off carefully, the metal parts of
    the spreader will end up looking like swiss cheese.

    For low-input passive improvement, you can introduce clovers and
    other desirable forage species by feeding mature hay on the
    pastures.  The animals will trample the seeds into the ground as
    they feed, and distribute seeds in their manure.  You can also
    change the balance between native clovers and grasses, or the
    balance of grasses in a pasture, by tilting the fertilization mix
    and timing of fertilizer application, or by modifying the pH.
    Adding nitrogen-rich fertilizer, and early fertilizer application
    (see question 6 below), favors grasses; heavier applications of
    potash and phosphate and later application favors the clovers.
    Higher pH from applied lime generally favors native clover and
    other legumes.  Timing your grazing and mowing can also improve
    the pasture. Grazing heavily early, when grasses come up before
    the legumes, will favor the legumes.  Grazing heavily or mowing
    when jointed grasses like bromegrass have their growing point
    close to the ground will retard their growth.  Alternately, if
    grasses are allowed to reach boot stage, when seed heads have
    formed inside the stems, cutting or grazing encourages rapid
    regrowth.

    For more aggressive improvement, once you have the pH up where you
    want it -- usually close to neutral for alfalfa or clovers, a
    little lower for grasses -- you have a choice of reseeding from
    clean tillage or over-seeding.  For lush mono-culture grass
    pastures, or for planting legumes like birdsfoot trefoil or
    alfalfa that don't compete well, clean tillage may be the only
    possibility.  You may need to plow under the old turf; you will
    certainly need extensive discing.  It's hard dusty work, and the
    animals will have no use of the pasture until the new seeding is
    well-established.  In some cases you may have better results if
    you plant an interim crop before a final discing and seeding with
    the desired grass or legumes.  Buckwheat that you can harrow in as
    green manure works well to choke out weeds, or you can plant dwarf
    Essex rape, turnips, oats or rye, and let your animals graze down
    the temporary pasture before a final seeding.  Keep your animals
    off the newly seeded pasture until it is well established.

    Many native grass pastures can be renovated without plowing and
    harrowing to clean tillage.  Soil test results will tell you what
    fertilizer to apply for the new seeding.  You can then over-seed
    with a no-till seeder (some agricultural extension offices rent or
    loan them), after killing the existing sod with Roundup or another
    herbicide, or grazing the sod down aggressively with mob stocking
    of sheep or pigs.  If you don't have access to a no-till seeder, a
    few passes with a disc or a field cultivator will incorporate the
    fertilizer and lime, and disturb from 50% to 100% of the existing
    grasses.  If your soil has some clay content and shows frost
    cracks in late winter, you may not need to disc if you `frost
    seed' in late winter, after the snow is off but while the ground
    is still frozen.  The same technique could be used in California
    to seed into the soil cracks at the end of a dry summer.
    Broadcast the new seed at a heavy rate and either roll, harrow
    lightly, or drag with branches or a wooden drag to set the seed.
    A temporary mob stocking with sheep will also set seed.

    If you are seeding legumes to upgrade a pasture (see question 5
    below), when grass growth begins, and as soon as the soil is dry
    enough to avoid tracking, graze the newly seeded fields with
    enough animals to keep the grass short.  This will open the field
    to provide light to the new legume seedings.  If you cannot graze
    down the early grass with animals, you may have to mow it to allow
    light down to the legumes.  Keep the animals on the pasture until
    you see them starting to eat the newly seeded legumes.  Then pull
    the animals off and let the legumes grow undisturbed for 6-8 weeks
    for clovers, 8-12 weeks for alfalfa.  At this stage, don't worry
    about the weeds; it's more important to get the new seedings
    established.  When the legumes are vigorous, you can begin a
    regular grazing program.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: what to seed

5.  What should I seed in pastures?

    Mono-culture grass pastures are sometimes used on picture-book
    horse farms, and mono-culture legumes are sometimes used for
    aggressively rotated paddocks or where a cutting of high quality
    hay is taken off the pasture in the spring.  In general, the most
    productive and lowest maintenance improved pastures for ruminants
    are mixed legumes and grass.  The advantage of mixing legumes and
    grass on a pasture is that the clover and grass grow at different
    times of year, providing good feed through the seasons.  And once
    inoculated clover or other legumes are established, they will
    generate nitrogen that will in turn fertilize the grass -- saving
    the expense of added nitrogen fertilizer.  

    There is also some recent interest in the use of herbs in pasture
    mixes.  Animals love the herbs, and some have beneficial medicinal
    properties.  Chicory and lotus are favorites in New Zealand.
    Rosemary and garlic in the pastures would give you pre-seasoned
    lamb; it takes anywhere from a few weeks to a few months for
    flavors to begin to affect the meat (pine is quick, apple is
    slow).  Be careful with herbs if you're using or selling the milk
    from your animals: Thomas Hardy's _Far From the Madding Crowd_ is
    a good example of the perils of garlic in a pasture for dairy
    cattle.  Most herbs cannot tolerate heavy grazing.

    Typical legumes for pasture seeding are red, ladino, alsike, or
    white clover; birdsfoot trefoil; and alfalfa.  The latter two are
    tough to establish except in clean tillage.  For renovation
    seeding, a combination of ladino and red clover works well in many
    areas.  Red clover can handle shading by grasses better than most
    other clovers; ladino clover has small seeds that do well in
    partially tilled soils.  Some tests have indicated that red clover
    can retard ovulation in ewes, so it may not be a good choice for a
    pasture used for flushing sheep before breeding.  Red clover is
    also susceptible to a mold that causes photosensitivity and
    slobbering in equines.  Ladino clover grows too low to cut for
    hay, so it may not be a good choice on a pasture where you're
    planning to take an occasional cutting of hay.  Alsike clover
    grows well on poorer soils, but is not recommended for equines.
    White clover tolerates close grazing and trampling well.  Make
    sure you inoculate legume seeds before seeding if they are not
    pre-innoculated. 

    Predominantly legume pastures present the potential danger of
    bloating in ruminants, and laminitis and/or founder in equines.
    Bloat can generally be avoided if you condition animals to lush
    legumes gradually.  Let them eat their fill of dry hay in the
    morning before they go onto an alfalfa or clover pasture, and
    limit their grazing the first few days.  

    Among the grasses, orchardgrass, bromegrass, timothy, bluegrass,
    tall fescure, bermudagrass, and perennial ryegrass are all popular
    in pastures.  Unless you've cleared to clean tillage, chances are
    your pasture will be a mixture of grasses.  Some farms structure
    their grazing to provide a rotation between cool-season grasses
    (bluegrass, bromegrass), which do best in the spring and fall, and
    warm-season grasses like bermudagrass or sudangrass. 

    There is some recent research on cultivars of permanent grasses
    designed to grow in early spring, mid summer and late autumn, and
    varieties which withstand continuous grazing.  Local seed
    catalogues are the best source of cultivars for your area; most
    large farm supplies like Agway and many of the seed companies have
    pasture seed catalogues.  The alternative for extending grazing
    seasons is annuals (see question 9 below).

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: maintaining pastures

6.  What do I need to do to maintain my pastures?

    To maintain their productivity, pastures need adequate nutrition,
    clipping or controlled grazing to eliminate weeds and over-ripe
    grass, and protection from overgrazing.

    Fertilizers and added manure provide the nutrition.  Trust your
    soil tests, but as a guideline, legume or mixed legume-grass
    pastures generally need 30-60 lbs of phosphate (P2O2) and 90-120
    lbs of potash (K20) per acre once a year, with the lower rates for
    pastures where you spread manure or have fertile soils.  Alfalfa
    and ladino clover profit from a little boron in the fertilizer.
    Good legume-grass pastures need no additional nitrogen (N).
    Straight grass pastures need 80-120 lbs of N per acre annually in
    split applications (usually a first application in early spring in
    the east, late fall in California, and a second application
    sometime after first cutting of hay in your area), with 40-90 lbs
    of P2O5 and 60-100 lbs. of K2O per acre annually.  If you spread
    manure on the pasture, application rates as low as 40-60 lbs N,
    20-30 lbs. P2O5, and 30-40 lbs K2O are probably sufficient.
    Taller grasses, like orchardgrass and reed canarygrass, generally
    need the higher rates.

    If you don't have access to a blending plant, or don't have the
    equipment to use bulk fertilizer, you may have to select from
    available bagged fertilizer, or mix two or more blends of bagged
    fertilizer to get the formulation you need.  A good starting point
    for legume or mixed legume/grass pasture is 300-600 lbs/acre of
    0-10-40 or 0-15-30.  A starting point for grass pastures is a
    split application of 400-600 lbs/acre of 15-8-12.

    Applied manure, in addition to the animal droppings, is good for a
    pasture.  Ten tons per acre of cow manure (two-thirds that amount
    of sheep manure), well-flailed and spread after grazing has
    stopped (late fall in the east), is ideal.  Chicken manure
    application should be no more than 3-4 tons per acre.  If you
    don't have a manure spreader, you may be able to borrow one, or
    hire a neighbor to custom spread your manure.

    Unless you are using a very aggressive rotation scheme on small
    paddocks, you will probably need to clip your pastures at least
    once per year to control weeds.  Twice is better -- once around
    the time of first cutting of hay to eliminate ungrazed old growth,
    and a second mowing late in the growing season to get the weeds.
    Pastures with tall-growing grasses like orchardgrass or reed
    canarygrass may need three clippings per year.  Clipping after
    every rotation can do wonders to eliminate nasty weeds like
    thistles.  Timing is all-important when you are mowing to
    eliminate weeds.  Mow too late, and your brush hog will actually
    distribute the weed seeds.

    A sickle bar mower set at 3 inches will do an excellent job of
    clipping a pasture.  A brush hog will also do a good job if the
    blades are sharp; on a stony pasture, the brush hog will function
    as a missile launcher, so be careful.  If your pastures are free
    of stumps and stones, you can use a heavy-duty finishing mower or
    lawn mower.  The best time to mow is just after a heavy grazing
    cycle.  Some mowers may scatter the manure, or you can use a spike
    harrow or drag to break up and distribute clumps of manure.  An
    alternative or supplement to mowing is a wether goat or two in
    with your other animals, if you've got the fences and secure
    enough gates to hold a goat.  For hard-to-mow nasties like Canada
    Thistles, try walking the field with a scythe or a metal-bladed
    weed-whacker.

    Grazing too early or late in the growing season takes a toll on a
    pasture.  When a pasture is grazed too early, the young shoots are
    quickly nibbled off, plant root systems are destroyed, and weeds
    move in.  Animals then churn the wet sod searching for palatable
    plants, turning the pasture into a muddy, eroding feedlot.
    Grazing too late strips the growth that forage grasses and legumes
    need to build up root systems during the winter or dormant season.
    Fields reserved for succession grazing on annuals (see question 9
    below) can extend the grazing season.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: pasture fences

7.  What is the best fence for pastures?

    Fences have two purposes: keeping animals in and keeping predators
    out.  The wood fences of fancy horse farms or New England stone
    walls may succeed at the former, unless you're trying to keep a
    bull away from cows in season, or weaned lambs away from their
    mothers.  To keep predators out, you will probably need woven
    wire, high-tension, or electric fences.  Stopping a mother coyote
    who is trying to feed her kit may require 48-inch woven wire with
    additional strands of barbed wire at ground level and above the
    woven wire, or 6-7 strands of high-tension electric fencing.

    Cattle and horses that are trained well to electric fences can be
    fenced in with a single wire.  Many horse farms prefer to use a
    highly visible wire or one of the wide braided conductors.
    Smaller animals and animals with heavy coats need multi-wire
    fences to contain them, and pigs need carefully-placed ground
    level wires -- barbed or electric -- to keep them from digging
    their way out.

    Woven wire fences are relatively simple to install.  Depending on
    local supplies and aesthetic needs, you can use metal T-posts,
    pressure-treated commercial posts, or homemade posts of a
    resistant wood like cedar or locust.  T-posts or sharpened wooden
    posts can be started with a pry bar and driven in with a post
    pounder.  Corner posts should be stout, dug deep and may need
    braces.  Use a fence-stretcher or a tractor to tension the fence
    before you staple it to the posts, and leave the staples loose on
    intermediate posts to allow the fence some play.  A convenient
    tool for fence-stretching is a pair of 2 x 6 boards, longer than
    the height of the fence, drilled for 3 to 5 strong bolts.
    Sandwich the end of the fence between the two boards and tighten
    the bolts to hold the fence, then hitch a chain from the tractor
    or fence stretcher to the sandwich-boards to stretch the fence
    evenly.

    High-tension fences work best for long runs on level land, where
    they require few intermediate posts.  Because of the tension in
    the wires, the corner posts need to be well dug and braced; old
    telephone poles can be cut up to make good corner posts.  In some
    cases high tension fences do not need to be electrified, but to
    look good and perform well, they require careful installation and
    no stinting on tensioners and other hardware.

    For temporary fencing, portable electric fences using `polywire'
    or electrified netting are quick to set up and move.  The various
    reel devices are useful if you plan to move the fence often.
    Gallagher sells hardwood posts that require no insulators, at
    least in relatively dry climates, which are convenient as end and
    corner posts for temporary electric fences.  Welded hog or cattle
    panels can also be used for temporary holding pens.

    Premier Fence Systems (800.282.6631, fax 319.653.6304), Gallagher
    (usa 210.494.5211, nz 07 838 9800) and Kencove (???) distribute
    catalogs with excellent ideas for electric and high-tension
    fencing, including electric scare fences that can be used as an
    adjunct to stone walls or older woven or wooden fences.  Reliable
    electric fences require adequate charger strength, good grounds,
    and some thought to gateways, streams, and abrupt changes in
    terrain.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: rotation grazing

8.  What is rotation grazing and how do I do it?

    Some pasture forages, such as alfalfa or timothy, require a period
    of rest after a period of heavy grazing.  Some other forages also
    respond well to alternating cycles of grazing and rest.  Many
    animals, when they are confined to a limited area, will eat
    everything in sight, including weeds and coarse forage, instead of
    nibbling only the tender shoots that grew the night before.
    Rotation grazing takes advantage of these patterns of forage
    growth and animal habits to increase pasture productivity.

    Rotation patterns can vary from super-aggressive `forward paddock
    grazing' which may move the animals daily, to a casual rotation
    between two pastures every three or four weeks.  Two weeks is
    generally the minimum rest for a pasture; three or four weeks is
    better.  Some farms rotate different livestock onto pastures,
    taking advantage of the different grazing habits of cattle and
    sheep.  After the cattle eat the coarse growth, sheep are brought
    in to eat the fine grasses and clovers the cattle missed.

    Livestock can be rotated between separate pastures, between
    paddocks carved out of pasture areas with stone walls,
    cross-fencing, or portable electric fencing.  Portable fencing is
    versatile, but requires more work to move and set up than the
    advertisements in the catalogs and magazines suggest.  The
    alternative of permanently divided paddocks can be inconvenient
    for mowing, fertilizing, or taking an occasional cutting of hay.
    Whatever the rotation pattern, you will need shade, water, and
    mineral feeders in each paddock or pasture area; if you don't use
    portable fencing, you will need gates or bar-ways between the
    paddocks or pastures.  Some farms save water piping and labor by
    arranging their paddocks around central islands with waterers and
    mineral/salt feeders; by opening and closing two gates, or moving
    a hog or cattle panel, they can rotate the stock to a new paddock.
    
    Strip grazing (sometimes called the Voisin system) uses one or two
    electric fences, moved as often as daily, to allow the livestock
    to graze fresh forage.  On some operations, the lambs or calves
    are allowed to graze a paddock or strip first; when they move on
    to fresher grass and clover, the ewes or cows are brought in to
    clean up the old paddock.

    A few cautions: there are forages, like bermuda grass and tall
    fescue, which show little or no response to rotational grazing.
    And recent research suggests that rotation does not help with
    parasite control unless the animals are wormed frequently enough
    to keep the parasite populations low.  (The typical rotation
    periods of 2-6 weeks are not long enough for the parasitic
    organisms in the idle pasture to die, and the longer ungrazed
    growth of an idle pasture may actually shelter parasites from
    sunlight.)  In many situations, overall production (weight gains,
    milk production) from rotational grazing do not exceed production
    from continuous grazing of the same amount of land.  Excessive
    pressure on forage, when animals are forced to consume all of the
    forage, can actually lead to significant drops in production.

    But, if your pastures are predominantly alfalfa or timothy, or if
    animal management needs such as predator control make it advisable
    to confine the flock or herd to smaller pastures, or if you are
    using animals to aid in the improvement of pasture by forcing them
    to graze areas hard, rotation grazing can do wonders for your
    pastures.  

    Before rotation onto a clean pasture is an optimum time to worm
    your animals.  Even if you don't have a planned rotation scheme,
    when you see animals moving about restlessly in search of forage,
    it may mean the pasture is temporarily exhausted and needs a rest.
    If you don't have an alternate pasture, it may be time to confine
    the stock to a feedlot until the pasture recovers, or at least to
    take pressure off the pasture by feeding supplementary hay or
    silage.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: seasonal rotation

9.  What about seasonal rotation, with alternate forages?

    You can extend the grazing season, and gain maximum production
    (milk from cows, growth in lambs) by rotating stock to different
    forage depending on the season.  On permanent pastures, you could
    rotate between grasses that grow better in the spring and fall
    (bluegrass, bromegrass) and mid-summer grasses (bermudagrass).
    You can also rest pastures by turning animals into hayfields to
    clean up the aftermath.  Some old-time dairy farmers developed
    sophisticated grazing programs to take advantage of the growth
    patterns of a variety of forage, and may be a good source of
    advice.  One caution: ruminants and equines may develop scours
    when they are moved abruptly from one forage variety to another;
    it is generally a temporary condition and disappears when the
    stomach flora adapt to the new forage.

    You can also extend the grazing season by reserving a field or
    portion of a field for annual plantings of supplemental grazing
    crops.  Winter rye and/or wheat seeded in the fall can provide
    early spring grazing before the permanent pastures are ready.
    Oats seeded in the spring can provide grazing in the summer when
    regular pasture growth slows.  On heavier soils, Japanese millet
    can provide mid- to late-summer grazing.  Brassicas like rape or
    turnips can provide temporary grazing in 4 to 6 weeks, and allow
    grazing well into the winter.  Some brassicas can be heavily
    grazed, rested for a month, and grazed again.  Sheep will trample
    and waste root crops if they aren`t confined to a few days worth
    of grazing with temporary fencing, and sometimes sheep need an
    experienced lead animal to show them how to eat root crops.

    Supplemental pastures and/or grazing hay aftermath may allow you
    to bank grass (field hay) on your permanent pastures for late
    season grazing.  Sheep and cattle can graze snow-covered pastures
    as long as there is no heavy icing.  Banked pasture is generally
    low nutrition feed.  If the quality falls below the 45% IVDMD (In
    Vitro Dry Matter Digestability) of good hay, the animals may need
    relatively expensive supplements of grain or silage.

    With carefully planned succession grazing, rotation of permanent
    pastures, and banked grass, it is possible to extend the grazing
    season to as long as 10.5 months in a climate like Wisconsin, and
    possibly to all year in milder climates.  The trade-off for the
    elimination of manure and hay handling is the time, fuel and cost
    of harrowing, seeding and fertilizing supplementary grazing crops.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: unimproved pasture

10. This all sounds like too much work.  Why can't I just turn my
    stock loose in a woodlot or overgrown meadow?

    You can, and if there are no poisonous plants or other dangers,
    the animals will browse grass and brush.  Some species to watch
    out for: choke cherry and elderberry (the leaves are toxic if a
    branch is cut or knocked down by a storm), water hemlock, spotted
    hemlock, rhododendron, locoweed, lupine weed, jimson weed,
    horsenettle (nightshade), milkweed, and some laurels.  Western
    nasties include fiddleneck, brackenfern, larkspur, tansy, and
    yellow star thistle.  Your local Agricultural Extension office
    will probably have brochures and charts to identify noxious and
    poisonous plants in your area.  Most stock will avoid poisonous
    plants unless they are hungry; be careful in dry periods, or when
    you are `mob stocking' (see question 3 above) to improve a
    pasture. 

    Unimproved pasture like woodlots or brushy slopes generally won't
    provide more than maintenance feed for cattle or sheep.  But if
    you already have a regular feeding program and need only
    supplemental grazing, or if you are using animals to maintain the
    land, low-input grazing may be just the ticket.  On some farms,
    feeding supplementary grain to animals on unimproved pasture may
    be more practical than improving pastures with heavy inputs of
    lime, fertilizer, and tractor time.

------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: credits

11. Who wrote this FAQ?  I'd like to be aware of regional and other
    prejudices. 

    Ronald Florence <[email-masked]>, who raises Cotswold sheep in
    Stonington, Connecticut, is the author.  Additional information
    was provided by Christy Gammage <[email-masked]> of Huntsville,
    Alabama; A. S. Chamove <[email-masked]> of Palmerston
    North, New Zealand; Bernie Cosell <[email-masked]> of
    Pearisburg, Virginia; Mark Kramer <[email-masked]> of
    Boston, Massachusetts; Marsha Jo Hannah <[email-masked]> of La
    Honda, California; and David Kee <[email-masked]> of Auburn
    University. 

End of Pasture FAQ Digest
*************************
-- 

				Ronald Florence