West End Precast

I enjoy visiting with everyone there, and it’s a great place to learn what’s on folks’ minds. I hear where they are in their operations, what their goals are, and usually meet the next generation that is already active. I hear new ideas for feed supplementation that have been figured out through trial and error. One farmer shared that his cattle enjoyed a restaurant’s leftover bread sticks so much that he wouldn’t feed them again. They would almost take his shirt off when he went in the field, haha.

I was a recent fill in speaker for the Orange County Cattlemen’s Association. This county organization is like many across our state in that they seek to support youth livestock endeavors. This group has raised quite a bit to help with their county 4-H livestock show. Their efforts are to be commended, and the organization is indeed doing a tremendous job. I was happy to share the marketing efforts of our national and state partners at the Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner. 300, which took place in Daytona, Florida.

Sharing our marketing efforts that has resulted in high beef demand is fulfilling and can also be fun. Recently, we asked our beef interns, Ace Murray and Gerald Conrad, to record video clips promoting the annual conference. We look forward to more of these clips that will be shared on social media to promote beef enjoyment and the industry as a whole and provide entertainment.

These three very different avenues, the farm show, a county cattlemen’s meeting, and video, couldn’t be more different. But they all reach people in a somewhat similar way. The more we are able to connect, whether it’s in person or on a screen, the more we can communicate and work together.

By JOHNNY R. ROGERS Amazing Grazing Program Coordinator

Improving Nutrient Distribution on Cattle Farms

One of the many benefits of Adaptive Grazing Management is a uniform distribution of manure and urine across pastures compared to continuous grazing. Cattle have a tendency to defecate and urinate in the areas where they graze. As graziers, we can use this behavior to our advantage by giving cattle smaller paddocks and moving to new grass more frequently. While daily moves have advantages, moving cattle twice per week offers major benefits and can fit the schedule of most graziers. The next step in better nutrient distribution is to change our hay feeding practices. It is common to feed hay in the same location year after year. This is attractive because a feeding position can be chosen which is high in the landscape, away from environmentally sensitive areas, and is often close to the field entrance and hay storage. The vegetation in those feeding areas with heavy livestock and equipment traffic will be destroyed. Based on work conducted at many universities, including N.C. State University, we know that nutrients accumulate in those feeding areas. This has led to exploring alternative methods for using the nutrients in hay to boost fertility on other areas of cattle farms. The current cost of fertilizer makes utilizing nutrients in hay even more critical.

Unrolling hay is an attractive option for hay feeding in many ways. It spreads the hay over a larger area and allows better access when compared to feeding in rings or trailers. Cattle hoof impact and manure/urine are dispersed over the pasture, which could lead to better future grass production. Any hay not consumed becomes a carbon source to feed the soil microbes and may build soil health over time. Hay can be unrolled by hand with smaller bales or by unrolling on hills. There are various equipment options available to accomplish the task as well. Unfortunately, hay unrolling does have its drawbacks. Hay must be fed daily, and the amount provided should be close to the needs of the herd. This requires some simple calculations and an estimate of cattle and bale weights. The daily unrolling of hay does not fit the busy schedule of many cattle farmers. Thus, they use hay rings/wagons/trailers to provide hay for multiple days. In addition, unrolling hay means daily equipment use and traffic on pastures causing pasture degradation.

Another hay feeding practice being explored to enhance nutrient distribution is bale grazing. This technique involves selecting a field that needs added nutrients and placing bales into a pasture weeks or months prior to feeding. Cattle are offered access to a limited number of bales every 1-3 days using temporary electric fence. The fence movement is very similar to strip grazing stockpiled tall fescue, where cattle start at the water source and move across the field, consuming the bales on the way. N.C. State University is working with other land grant institutions (Cornell, West Virginia University, Virginia Tech, the University of Kentucky, and the University of Missouri) to determine best management associated with bale grazing in the eastern United States. This is a tried and true method for hay feeding and pasture improvement in northern/western states. However, the warm and wet conditions occurring in eastern winters provide a great opportunity to learn about the advantages and disadvantages of bale grazing. This five year project will use on-farm data collection, demonstrations, and workshops to find out how to use this practice. If you have interest in working with us on this project or would like to attend a workshop, contact

Johnny Rogers at jrroger3@ncsu.edu or your Extension Livestock Agent. For more information on current beef cattle research at N.C. State University, please consider attending our Beef Systems Field Day on March 18 at the Butner Beef Cattle Field Lab. Contact your Livestock Agent for more details.

Cow/calf production margins have always been tight, and it is critical that we are efficient with purchased inputs. Most of the nutrients that cattle consume are excreted in the feces and urine and thus are available to be recycled in our pastures. Adaptive Grazing Management will make sure the majority of those nutrients are deposited in fields to grow more grass. Getting creative with hay feeding practices could lead to labor savings and pastures that are more productive.