Pasture Research

What’s New?

Grey Bruce Farmers Week

January 12 2015

Jack Kyle

Pasture Research - What’s New?

It Depends on

What you Already Know!

Pasturing is the management of

Crop and Animal Production

as a Single Unit

The pasture and the

livestock are fully dependent

on each other

Perennial Pasture is the lowest

cost feed source

• Half the cost of stored feed

• 3/4 the cost of an annual crop

Pasture Research in Canada

BCRC

• Pasture Mixtures for Beef Production

– Dr. Yousef Papadopoulos AAFC NS

• Drought Tolerant Forage Mixtures

– Dr. Michael Schellenberg Swift Current

• Swath Grazing and Extending Grazing

Season

– Dr. Vern Baron AAFC Lacombe

– Dr. Bart Lardner U of S / WBDC

Ontario Research

• Grass Fed Beef Trials

– Dr. Ira Mandel U of G

– Forage Finishing

– Finish and CLA levels

• Rotational Grazing Community Pastures

– 1- 4 day moves

– Measuring forage production and animal

performance

On Farm “Projects”

• Practical Farm “Research”

• What works for one will work for others

– Each farm is different

– Will need some adjustment

• Magazines, Youtube, Internet sharing

Fencing Technology

• Electric Fence

– Energizers, Controllers / testers

– Reels and temporary fences

– Opportunity to graze cover crops and crop

residues

Grazing Annual Crops

• Cereal Rye for early spring grazing

• Oats 2nd crop for fall grazing

• Brassicas – turnips, rape kale

• Italian Annual Rye Grass

• Corn – high yield & wide window

• Sorghum - Sudan Grass

Grazing Cover Crops &

Residues

• Nutrients stay in the field

• Speeds incorporation of Organic

Material

• Low cost feed source

–Red Clover under wheat

–Oats, Brassicas

–Corn Stover

Extending the Grazing Season

• Stockpile Perennial Forage

• Corn Stover

• Bale Grazing

• Standing Corn

Rotational Grazing

• 1-3 days grazing followed by adequate

rest & recovery (30 to 45+ days)

• increase carrying capacity of pastures

–25% to 500%

–4 - 6 weeks more grazing in a dry

summer

Grazing Alfalfa

• Highest yielding legume

• High feed quality

• Reasonable drought tolerance

• BMPs to Reduce Bloat Risk

–Keep animals full

–Move when forage is dry

• Proxelene: Alfasure, Bloat Guard

–Allow you to manage bloat risk

Sainfoin

• Non Bloating legume

• Similar growth to Alfalfa

• Use in a blend with alfalfa

• Potential to simplify alfalfa grazing

• More adapted to Western Canada

• Mountainview– developed by Dr.Surya Acharya, AAFC Lethbridge

Soil Health• Soil Health

– improve plant performance by enhancing soil

health

– More livestock in the soil than on the soil

• Perennial Forage best way to improve soil health

On Farm Trials and Projects

• Producer trials and projects

–High stock density

–Annuals & cover crops

• Each situation is a little different

–Often results are subjective

Pasture Research - What’s New?

It Depends on

What you Already Know!

Animals delight most to feed on fresh plants.

Cattle supplied with this kind of food would be quickly fatted

If a farmer divided his land into 15 to 20 equal divisions,

Stopped his beasts from roaming indiscriminately

Put the whole number of his beasts into one of these divisions,

Have the numbers of beasts so great as to consume the best

part of the grass in one day,

Give them a fresh park every morning to repeat the

same repast,

Have so many parks as days required to advance the

grass to the proper length after being eaten fare down,

So the first field would be ready to receive them after

going over all the others,

So they might be carried round in a constant rotation.

James Anderson, Scottish Agriculturalist,

1777

Questions

What Pasture Research do you

need?