Precision bale grazing

Actually the herd is less than precise when they munch on a bale of hay this time of year. In this post we cover HOW we decide where we want bales placed in our stockpiled pastures. If the cows aren’t picky where they find a bale of hay, why are we choosy with bale placement? Here are some items considered when placing hay bales:

• How will cows travel to and from water?
• What level of animal impact are we planning for?
• How much stockpile pasture is available?
• Where do we want wasted hay left on the land?
• Is there protection from cold north winds?

If you are not familiar with “stockpiled pasture” you can review our previous posts on stockpiled grass. As for “bale grazing”, this is when we place bales of hay in our pastures. These include large round bales and also small square bales. The hay is a supplement to the dormant (non-growing season) stockpiled pasture grass being grazed.

What precision is involved?

In another post we described using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to plan our grazing. The same principle applies to planning our pasture moves while bale grazing. Using GIS we can see where round bales have been grazed in the past. Review imagery looking for “poor soil” areas where some wasted hay and extra animal impact would help heal the land. Finally run some simple calculations to make sure the herd has adequate feed for the amount of time planned for each move.

Follow along as we use GIS to plan and place the round bales:

With the areas planned (above image) we can use GIS to pre-plan the actual bale locations and about how big each pasture move will be. We know about how much standing stockpile is available, along with how much hay is in each bale. With our current herd size we can calculate how long the herd can be in each paddock.

Precision Placement (kind of)

With the bale locations tentatively marked, we export the data into a smart phone APP (iGIS) for use in the field. This takes the guess work out of bale placement to make sure our paddock sizes will be close.

Once in the field and navigating with the bales, we fine tune the final placement looking for areas near the planned locations that would benefit most from wasted hay and animal impact. This includes poor soil areas, thin grass stands and brush patches.

Results we are looking for

Many sources will tell you the best grazing during the winter will be on stockpiled grass. So why do we bale graze at all?

• An opportunity to bring carbon and nutrients to our pastures.
• Balancing a manageable herd size with the land we have to work with.
• Hay is insurance for unfavorable winters.
• Hay is readily available in our area.

We bale graze for the reasons listed while at the same time providing fresh stockpile grass to the herd.