Having a small trial of bale grazing here using 16 cow/calf pairs on a field of 4 acres or so. The field has been rested since it was last grazed in May/June. It is also just about our driest field and its on a slope so hopefully it should give us some interesting results. Currently cattle have been out for about 9 days and seem well contended with it. They are being moved each day in cells of roughly 26m x 24m and 1 bale of hay rolled out daily.
top of page
bottom of page
Great job Jonny. What a winter to try it in as well! Great the stock did well on it. Looking forward to seeing the spring recovery process. How much cover do you reckon was on the field you did the trial on? And was it one of your drier fields or how did you select which field to have go with it on?
This was their last bale on the last day of December
Some areas look like they got a bit hammered but there was no deep poaching and these areas in the original field trial have actually started to green up even in winter. There is a serious amount of manure in each cell and I expect there to be a good flush of grass come spring
So we ended up housing these cattle yesterday. We have never grazed cattle in December and we even managed to get into January….just. The bale grazing trial worked very well in what has been very challenging weather conditions. The original 4.5 acres managed to keep them grazing for 28 days with 1 bale per day. It worked so well that we actually decided to put them into an adjoining 9 acre field to try it there. This field had been grazed at the end of September so didn’t have very much of a grass cover. It was an opportunity to see how that sort of situation would stick the cattle grazing. The cows have managed to stay in that field for 43 days again with 1 bale of hay per day.
The cattle were always content throughout even in bad weather
I think they were always full which meant they didn’t wander about tramping the ground
Calves looked good and seemed to be happy.
All cattle were incredibly clean and shiny despite having no mineral input and only hay and grass diet.
This trial has definitely made me keen to expand and actually plan areas for more bale grazing this coming year end.
Key is moving them on and never allowing them to stay too long in a given area. Move twice daily if very wet.
I’ll try and attach as many photos as I can.
If anyone wants to know more you can contact me no problem.
Very cool! This will be interesing to see the recovery progress, keep us posted