Alternative strategy for overwintering beef cattle

UNDATED – Bale Grazing: An Alternative Strategy for Overwintering Beef Cattle webinar is scheduled for April 27, 2021, at 2:00 p.m. EST.  

Officials will discuss bale grazing, how to properly implement this winter feed strategy even in states with mild/wet winters while minimizing surface pasture disturbance, maximizing hay nutrient distribution, and targeting the buildup of low fertility soils.

Overwintering beef cattle on farms across the U.S. can be a challenge for so many producers. Just the time and effort it takes to feed hay during the wet and cold weather conditions can be stressful enough. That daily chore coupled with excessive hay waste, manure accumulation, and the compaction and rutting of wet pasture soils by the daily tractor traffic, often add multiple levels of resource concerns to soil and water resources on the farm.

Officials familiar with and encourage stockpiling and strip grazing over the winter. They are familiar with the benefits of systematically unrolling hay out across the pasture for the cattle, but both of these management techniques have their limitations.

How about ‘Bale Grazing’? What is it? Can it be a viable alternative strategy for overwintering beef cattle in a variable (cold/mild) and wet winter weather conditions of the eastern United States?

Attend this webinar to learn about bale grazing, how to properly implement this winter feed strategy even in states with mild/wet winters while minimizing surface pasture disturbance, maximizing hay nutrient distribution, and targeting the buildup of low fertility soils.

See the first-hand results of a local farm bale grazing demonstration where this producer fed nearly 400 bales to overwinter his herd using this strategy during the long, wet winter of 2020/2021.

This webinar is presented by USDA NRCS Science and Technology. Contact Jennifer Ryan, Science & Technology Training Library content manager, for more information about this webinar.

To register click here.

NOTE: A “view” button will be available within one week of the live presentation date to access the on-demand recording of this webinar.