Grazing can help cut down cost of hay

If you have not fed any hay yet you are now a member of the Graze 300 club. In truth there is no such club but my point is we are less than 60 days away from April 1 and almost at the beginning of another season. April 1 is a target date to turn out cattle and the time to put them back to work.

Pastures can support this early turn out with some management. Plan to leave residue after grazing; don’t let them eat it down like a golf course. Also, be ready to shift cattle around so grass can grow faster than it is being eaten. A short spring rest will do wonders for accumulation, helping you reach an April 1 turn out.

Often I have written about winter grazing and it seems there is no better time than in the middle of winter to point out its advantages. Granted your hay supply is large and what better way to reduce this supply than to use it. This large inventory has pushed prices down, in come cases below cost. The economy is not helping.

Hay is great feed and it carries most beef cattle through the winter, but it is their single biggest expense and so is the first place to start on your expense sheet as you seek to wring a profit out of your cattle. While there is no line that identifies hay on your schedule F, you know the costs include fuel, fertilizer, equipment, twine, seed and labor. There are some other costs that do not show up at tax time.

Hidden costs come from losses during transportation, storage and feeding. Your net utilization per ton of hay cut can be as low as 60 percent. The other 40 percent not eaten is lost to respiration, leaf shatter, dry matter lost during hauling and storage and worst of all, feeding losses. The reality is you role up 10 bales and your cattle only benefit from six.   

This means that as soon as you touch the standing grass intended for hay, you begin to have losses. While this is part of making and feeding hay, these hidden costs raise the actual cost for each ton utilized. To account for these losses you have to charge their costs against the tons the cattle do use. Kind of like an open cow not producing a calf. Her costs have to be covered by the other cows. 

Grazing too is inefficient. Cattle will not totally consume all the tonnage standing out on pasture. In fact, their utilization can be as low as 75 percent.  That means 25 percent of your accumulated forage is wasted or refused. Simply put you need for acres to get the benefit from three. Like the hay example, grazing losses increase the cost per unit actually used. Nothing is perfect, but if cattle can feed themselves we remove costs that we otherwise have little control over and have a better chance at a profit. Grazing land is the key.

Improve your grazing management by building affordable fences. Plan to attend a Fence Building School, March 11 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Only 20 spots left – call 727-34335, ext. 351 to register. Cost is $10 per person.