> It's spring, I see a green haze on
> my fields and I am again faced with
> the novice grazier's question
>
> When do I turn out?
Hi,
For top pasture mass production (and milk production) it is
essential to establish a grazing wedge as early in the
spring as possible.
By "grazing wedge", I mean that the pasture mass present in
the various paddocks has a "wedge" shape when plotted on a
graph.
For example:
base = grass below the typical bite height
grazeable = grass the cows can bite off
base grazable
paddock 1 ########## #
paddock 2 ########## ##
paddock 3 ########## ###
paddock 4 ########## ####
paddock 5 ########## #####
paddock 6 ########## ######
paddock 7 ########## #######
paddock 8 ########## ########
paddock 9 ########## ##########
paddock x ########## ###########
paddock y ########## ############
paddock z ########## #############
So the answer to your question is to begin as soon as the
grass is tall enough to bite off, and then to move the cows
around the paddocks in such a way as to quickly establish a
grazing wedge.
It's much better that you go into the winter with the
grazing wedge somewhat intact. It's rather improvident to
graze all the grass right into the ground every fall.
If you don't have:
(1)enough animals, or
(2)enough paddocks, or
(3)a way to measure and record pasture mass, or
(4)compelling financial motivation,
then you can't readily establish a "grazing wedge".
If that is the case, in my opinion, it doesn't matter when
you turn out.
--
Kindest regards,
=======================
F. W. Owen
Owenlea Holsteins
9430 Spencer Road
Homerville, Ohio 44235
e-mail fwo@bright.net
home page http://www.bright.net/~fwo
voice & fax 330.625.2369
=======================
