• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Banked grass feed tests

G

Grassfarmer

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 21, 2005
Messages
998
Location
Central Alberta, Canada
I finally got back the feed test results of grass samples we took last winter as part of a project run by the forage associations. This was grass we grazed once in June 2008 then left to grow back to use as calving pasture in '09. They took samples in August, October, December and early April before growth really got going. We then grazed the field off between April 23rd and May 3rd when it yielded 75 AUDs per acre. By the time we grazed it new growth was started so feed values were likely considerably higher but testing what the cows actually consumed was not part of the test remit. :roll: I was quite happy with the basic feed values but I would be interested to hear the opinions of those more informed on the calcium, phos levels etc and what they would tell you about what my soil is producing and what would need supplementing if anything. I have the values for iron, copper etc which I could produce on request - trying to keep this shortish. The pasture is an old stand of mainly blue grass/fescue/quack grass, alsike and white clover.
Thanks in advance.

Here are the test results;

August - Protein 12.06%, ADF 28.6%,TDN 66.6%, RFV 117.6, Calcium 0.53%, Phos 0.24%, Potassium 2.10%,

October - Protein 9.75%, ADF 33.64%, TDN 62.7%, RFV 104.8, Calcium 0.42%, Phos 0.18%, Potassium 1.49%,

December - Protein 9.5%, ADF 41.14%, TDN 56.9%, RFV 78.2, Calcium 0.52%, Phos 0.13%, Potassium 1.49%,

April - Protein 10.69%, ADF 38.88%, TDN 58.6%, RFV 81.6, Calcium 0.45%, Phos 0.14%, Potassium 0.58%,
 
August - Protein 12.06%, ADF 28.6%,TDN 66.6%, RFV 117.6, Calcium 0.53%, Phos 0.24%, Potassium 2.10%,

October - Protein 9.75%, ADF 33.64%, TDN 62.7%, RFV 104.8, Calcium 0.42%, Phos 0.18%, Potassium 1.49%,

December - Protein 9.5%, ADF 41.14%, TDN 56.9%, RFV 78.2, Calcium 0.52%, Phos 0.13%, Potassium 1.49%,

April - Protein 10.69%, ADF 38.88%, TDN 58.6%, RFV 81.6, Calcium 0.45%, Phos 0.14%, Potassium 0.58%,

The little bit I know about it, I'm surprised the protein is that high
in December when the grass is dormant. It wouldn't be that high
in this country; and I've never seen a grass sample that was that
high in protien in the winter, even October. As you can see, the digestibility goes down (ADF) as the grass cures; which means it
is harder to digest--but still 41% isn't all that bad. 28% ADF in
August?--this is amazing to me. Is this on a dry matter basis?
 
If it wasn't for three feet of snow-I've found its better to extend our grazing by going onto banked grass earlier in the spring than to try and force things to late in the fall. Grass cows will brwak out of in November-they'll break into as soon as the ground bares off. Our native meadows are real good right now-not sure about protein levels but from the looks of the manure iut's good-more like early may that midsept.
 
Same here NR - I see so many guys burning diesel growing cereal crops to swath graze in the late fall when the cows nutritional needs should be the lowest then they feed them hay right till the first of June. We are now going with a 2 crop approach - using lower quality (typically ungrazed for the whole season) grass in late fall/winter which has the advantage of being a big bulky crop and easy to graze through snow. The we keep the higher quality, properly banked stuff for spring grazing or for newly weaned calves when nutritional needs are higher.
Our grass quality will be higher this fall too - lush and green still but the quantities are sure down.

FH one advantage of our winter snow blanket is that it largely protects the grass from deterioration it would otherwise suffer. If we can put it to bed fairly green in the late fall it comes out the other end of winter in much the same shape. Kind of like storing things in a freezer.
 
GF my wife and I did same thing about ten years ago , we based it on native grass in are area , it's pretty amazing how much there really is and nice to see that someone has stopped to take notice , we've been winter grazing for about 20 years now , it's nice see that someone thinks that way , just a little note if you look what soapweed does , you should always give a little , we knew people that lived next door that only winter grazed , not meaning to lean on the fence , they had there problems
 
I'm trying to learn what will work and not work here, I did graze until about Christmas last year. One of the problems is that you really never know if you're going to get rain, snow or anything in between. I have some coastal influence, it's about 25 minutes away. As you go further north and higher elevation the snow is a bit more consistant. We usually get a "January Thaw" where a few rain showers will melt a lot of the snow. The last two years we had good snow cover all winter. That insulated the ground and I got my cows off bales the last week of April this year because we had a quicker green up.
 
That got me. I will have to go to the basement and pull some of the tests we have done. We test all our stored feed, but also our swath grazing and our native.
 
On a DM Basis
Native (Banked/Wintertime) - Protein 6.7%, ADF 46.8%, TDN 48.59%
This sample includes old growth, current season growth but does not include tree/shrub samples. We are continuing this testing project to get a better idea of what is being consumed and its' value.
A couple of years of Swathgrazing
2007 - Protein 10.1%, ADF 32.6%, TDN 63.82%, Calcium 0.23%, Phos 0.25%, Potassium 1.86%
2008 - Protein 11.76%, ADF 35.46%, TDN 60.45%, Calcium 0.25%, Phos 0.20%, Potassium 2.16%

We have noticed over time that the K has risen on continually swath grazed areas. This is one thing we have tried to balance off with our mineral program and we are looking at the cost/benefit of various things such as bale grazing specific types of feed and/or specific crop rotations.
 
RSL said:
On a DM Basis
Native (Banked/Wintertime) - Protein 6.7%, ADF 46.8%, TDN 48.59%
This sample includes old growth, current season growth but does not include tree/shrub samples. We are continuing this testing project to get a better idea of what is being consumed and its' value.
A couple of years of Swathgrazing
2007 - Protein 10.1%, ADF 32.6%, TDN 63.82%, Calcium 0.23%, Phos 0.25%, Potassium 1.86%
2008 - Protein 11.76%, ADF 35.46%, TDN 60.45%, Calcium 0.25%, Phos 0.20%, Potassium 2.16%

We have noticed over time that the K has risen on continually swath grazed areas. This is one thing we have tried to balance off with our mineral program and we are looking at the cost/benefit of various things such as bale grazing specific types of feed and/or specific crop rotations.
Click to expand...
What month did you take the sample?
 
Swath grazing in late Sept Oct.
Native around November 10 (a couple of weeks before we started grazing). Lots of standing litter in those samples that we should have sorted out as we have learned that it mostly doesn't get eaten, just trampled.
 
little bow rancher said:
GF my wife and I did same thing about ten years ago , we based it on native grass in are area , it's pretty amazing how much there really is and nice to see that someone has stopped to take notice , we've been winter grazing for about 20 years now , it's nice see that someone thinks that way , just a little note if you look what soapweed does , you should always give a little , we knew people that lived next door that only winter grazed , not meaning to lean on the fence , they had there problems
Click to expand...

Hey little bow you must have a worse accent than me, I have trouble understanding your posts :) What does Soapweed do? - do you mean supplement the cows with something? if so when and with what? Thanks
 
Grassfarmer said:
I finally got back the feed test results of grass samples we took last winter as part of a project run by the forage associations. This was grass we grazed once in June 2008 then left to grow back to use as calving pasture in '09. They took samples in August, October, December and early April before growth really got going. We then grazed the field off between April 23rd and May 3rd when it yielded 75 AUDs per acre. By the time we grazed it new growth was started so feed values were likely considerably higher but testing what the cows actually consumed was not part of the test remit. :roll: I was quite happy with the basic feed values but I would be interested to hear the opinions of those more informed on the calcium, phos levels etc and what they would tell you about what my soil is producing and what would need supplementing if anything. I have the values for iron, copper etc which I could produce on request - trying to keep this shortish. The pasture is an old stand of mainly blue grass/fescue/quack grass, alsike and white clover.
Thanks in advance.

Here are the test results;

August - Protein 12.06%, ADF 28.6%,TDN 66.6%, RFV 117.6, Calcium 0.53%, Phos 0.24%, Potassium 2.10%,

October - Protein 9.75%, ADF 33.64%, TDN 62.7%, RFV 104.8, Calcium 0.42%, Phos 0.18%, Potassium 1.49%,

December - Protein 9.5%, ADF 41.14%, TDN 56.9%, RFV 78.2, Calcium 0.52%, Phos 0.13%, Potassium 1.49%,

April - Protein 10.69%, ADF 38.88%, TDN 58.6%, RFV 81.6, Calcium 0.45%, Phos 0.14%, Potassium 0.58%,
Click to expand...

GF - Just looking at the Calcium numbers, it appears your doing pretty good! The only thing I'm wondering about is the density of your stand(s).

If the daily requirement of calcium, per day, for a beef cow is 16 grams (for maintenance) (Merck Veterinary Manual) and your at 45% - 53% calcium, that's 204 grams - 240 grams you have! Just a matter of density and renewal.
 
Thanks Liveoak, the density on that field was very good. If we don't have sward density up here the yield is really low. We have some pastures like that that we are still working on improving. Also with the poorer density the grass doesn't over winter so well, best is a thick sward that folds over when the weight of snow comes that way it can keep real green inside the mat.
 
Our internet went out for a few hours, and I've been itching to get back to the house and share this stuff:

Grass samples taken on native prairie in the Battle River Hills, November of 2007. This was a fogged pasture, meaning we didn't touch it all year. I took 2 samples. The 1st being the poorer stuff. I took clippings of the brown dry material that would get eaten last. The 2nd sample I took was the cream - seed heads and all green material taken from deep in the litter on the soil surface. This is always what the cows go for first, then eat what's left. All numbers are on a dry matter basis.

First sample - brown material: We didn't receive K levels in these for some reason, which I wasn't happy about.

Protein - 5%, ADF - 48.8%, TDN - 53.3%, RFV - 65, Ca - .32%, Phos - .12%

2nd Sample - green material and seedheads:

Protein - 6.4%, ADF - 44.4%, TDN - 56.4%, RFV - 73, Ca - .35%, Phos - .16%

From November 2nd to December 21st 150 pairs grazed this stuff. They got loose mineral and from Nov 20th on received 10lbs of hay/day supplemented by average estimates. From Dec 21st until March 31st they were on bale grazing paddocks closer to home.

Now for the good news......On March 31st we had some hay hauled into this "fogged" pasture and we scattered the bales out randomly and pulled the twines off. April 1st we trailed the cows back to this pasture, and they had free access to the bales, as well as all the stockpiled forage they had been on in Nov-Dec. They stayed there from April 1st to May 20th, when we trailed them 1 mile to our calving grounds. The pasture was rested for the rest of the year.

In early fall, the local research/forage association asked about taking some samples, and this is what they found:

Taken December 5th, 2008 from the native pasture that had been fogged in '07 and bale-grazed April/May of '08. 2 samples were taken from an area where the bale grazing coverage was uniform and consistent.

Protein - 12.38%, ADF - 32.34%, TDN - 63.7%, RFV - 111.5, Ca - .48%, Phos - .13%, Potas - 1.37%

Protein - 14.69%, ADF - 35.84%, TDN - 61%, RFV - 105.3, Ca - .44%, Phos - .18%, Potas - 1.98%

This showed us what amazing things can be done with resting pastures, and of course adding tons of organic matter in the form of bale-grazing litter. If bales weren't so expensive, we'd do this every year over larger areas of the ranch. Just goes to show, if you feed the soil, it will feed you.
 
I'd g;adly winter a few hundred cows for somebody -if they supplied the feed i'd supply the labour just for the residue left on the pastures. If the cows go were talking about custom grazing-i'd like to take cattle in at breakup-i could calve them-a'i them-then send them home and bank grass for next year. think that's too radical of thinking for everybody.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top