Tag: grazing

Livestock, Uncategorized

2017 Summer Grazing Tour

Brandy VanDeWalle

Mark your calendars for the Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition (NGLC) –Nebraska Extension joint Summer Grazing Tour scheduled for June 13, 2017 in south central Nebraska. The tour will involve two Nebraska grazers with three stops including the Bruning Cow Camp near Reynolds, John Lange Land and Cattle near Belvidere and Bruning Family Farms Headquarters near Bruning.Calf Baby Farm Mother Cow Cattle

Stop I — Reynolds, NE – Bruning Cow Camp

  • Started in the 1950’s with the first purchase.
  • Currently 2100 acres of native grass pastures with 60 acres of prairie hay grown. Cross fenced with 50 paddocks- none larger than 80 acres. All served by well water and tanks with 5 wire barb wire fences and corral systems.
  • Rotationally grazed from May 1-November 1 using approximately 6-7 aces per Spring cow/calf unit.
  • Reseeded farming area to Big and Little Bluestem, Side Oats Gramma, Indian Grass and Switch Grass. One area seeding with Intermediate Wheat Grass.

Stop 2 — Belvidere, NE -Lange Land & Cattle, LLC Angus

  • Larry and Rosalie Lange purchased this 320 acres in 1970.
  • In 2004, John Lange installed NRCS EQUIP water tanks and fencing.
  • In 2016, two small pivots were reseeded to grass and more cross fencing is planned to utilize the irrigated grass with the native pasture.

Stop 3 — Bruning, NE – Bruning Family Farms LLC Headquarters

  • Currently 300 acres of irrigated cool season grasses with approximately 20 paddocks- mostly 10-20 acres.
  • Figure approximately 1-2 acres per pair, mostly Fall calving cows.

Preregistration is $20 per person (pay at the door) and includes an evening steak fry provided by Bruning Family Farms. Preregistration is required for meal counts by contacting the Nebraska Extension Office in Furnas County (308 268 3105) by Tuesday, June 6. You can also contact Erin Laborie, Nebraska Extension Beef Systems Educator at erin.laborie@unl.edu. Tour starts with registration beginning at 7:30 AM at the Fairbury Livestock Auction (if coming from the east) and at 8:30 AM at the Bruning Cow Camp south of Reynolds (if coming from the west).

The Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition is an independent organization of ranchers, interest groups, and agencies whose mission is to collaborate on projects that improve the management and health of Nebraska grazing lands and ensure long-term stability of rangeland resources. The NGLC is funded through grants from the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Nebraska Environmental Trust, and the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA.

Crops, Livestock

Grazing Corn Stalks in No-till Fields

Brandy VanDeWalle

The drought this year has left many cattle producers in a bind. Hay prices are high and pastures are burnt up which leaves corn stalks as an excellent grazing option. While many producers annually graze cornstalks, this year it will be of even more importance. Cattle are already in stalks and there are lots of corn fields being baled for forage.

A recent UNL CropWatch article by Charles Wortmann, Terry Klopfenstein, and Aaron Stalker showed that in a corn-soybean rotation study conducted from 1996 to 2011, the effects on yields of the following crop were determined for fall-winter grazing (November to February) and spring grazing (February to mid-April, the time of greatest concern of compaction by animal traffic on thawed and wet soil). The field was irrigated and had three treatments (fall/winter grazed, spring grazed, and ungrazed) which have been maintained in the same area since 1996. The stocking rate was with yearlings at 2.5 times the normal level since 2000. On average, yield of the following soybean crop was increased by about 2 bu/ac with fall-winter grazing, and 1.3 bu/ac with spring grazing, compared with no grazing of corn stalks. Yield of corn as the second crop after grazing was not significantly affected. There is ongoing research which will be reported in the 2013 Nebraska Beef Cattle Report which include a dryland trial.

The article concluded that grazing corn stalks is compatible with no-till management in eastern Nebraska and probably is for irrigated fields throughout the state with no loss in average grain yield expected. With wet soil conditions in the spring, consider removing cattle from the field or taking other steps management steps to minimize the effect of compaction.