Crops
by Dr. Paul Tracy

Pasture sense
Forage production efficiencies have never been more important

With current land, feed, fuel and agronomic input values, the importance of improved forage production efficiency has never been greater. Our region is blessed with the ability to grow quality hay and pasture forage. Many folks (including myself) feel that this forage production potential provides us with a golden opportunity to enhance farm income by keeping animals on the farm longer. The movement toward increased stocker numbers, grass-fed beef marketing, and the development of commercial haying operations are just a few examples of how the increased forage production movement is already influencing our agricultural community. Now is a great time to evaluate where we are, and where we are going as a premiere forage production region.

The key to being an efficient forage producer is to maintain one of the most diverse sets of skills in agriculture. Forage producers who own animals must understand the interactions between the forages they produce and the nutritional needs of the animals they are raising. Coordinating all resources—inputs and outputs—provides the best opportunity for success.

For years, MFA Incorporated has focused on complete forage programs. Few if any organizations have our professional diversity in terms of supplying the inputs and technical expertise required to service the current forage/livestock production environment.

With many forage/livestock systems, especially management-intensive grazing programs, many folks get hung up trying to follow a set protocol. For purists, these systems are designed to replace economic inputs with organization skills and time management.

My observation has been that most successful forage/livestock operations are flexible enough to use hybrid systems where justifiable inputs (often at high levels) are combined with sound forage utilization operations to increase maximum economic potential. As more pressure is put on our forage resources, these hybrid operations will continue to thrive.

Producers who are serious about revamping their profitable livestock/forage operation should consider the following exercise. Start by evaluating past management, defining current management, inventorying current resources and setting future goals. After that, begin the process of identifying what is required to meet those goals.

The first step is to obtain a complete inventory of each forage field including the soil and plant resource. The field/soil/plant resource inventory starts with what I call field architecture. This involves using aerial photographs, making accurate usable acreage measurements and analyzing the soil maps of each forage production field.

Each field needs to have soil samples taken to identify a starting point for determining crop type, fertilizer needs, animal use, and overall productivity. I prefer that all fields be grid sampled using precision agriculture techniques. This exercise will help determine best management practices for each field. It may also help restructure the field architecture into more productive and uniform management units. If grid sampling is not employed, then current fields, paddocks, sub-paddocks or proposed paddocks need to be soil sampled as individual units.

All major plant species (including weeds, brush and trees) need to be identified within each field during the planning phase. Renovation and weed control often take several years and are much more efficient if targeted plant populations and desired crop are addressed initially. For example, if you are planning legumes in a given field and need to use herbicide products that have residual activity on those legumes, you need to consider that residual period up front.

After complete farm inventory has been established, you can start making short-term and long-term management decisions. With forages, those decisions include: keeping the current forage base vs. renovation; replanting vs. inter-seeding; forage utilization timing; prioritization and designation of pasture and hay fields; and annual/long-term soil fertility and weed control programs.

Field livestock management planning during this phase includes rotational grazing setup, identifying permanent, temporary and mobile fencing/watering designs, predicting strategic supplementation needs and the incorporation of sound animal health programs.

It is always important to construct an estimated forage budget. An operation needs to know its critical forage-use thresholds and to be prepared for management modification if and when those thresholds are breached.

The final phase of designing a well-planned forage livestock operation is developing a viable record keeping system. All inputs and accurate production for each field need to be kept.

As additional pressure is put on our forage resources, we’ll need to adjust and rethink the way we produce, market and manage that resource. It all starts with an efficient systems approach to your land base. Those who improve efficiencies while increasing production will be the ones who prosper under the current economic environment. I’ll try to address several components of those systems in more detail in future editions of Today’s Farmer.

Dr. Paul Tracy is director of agronomy for MFA Incorporated.

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