GRASS MANAGEMENT

              When management intensive grazing was popularized through the Stockman Grass Farmer 40 years ago, the theme was disturbance and rest.  Allan Savory through Holistic Management began taking pictures of remarkable recoveries when animals at high density for a short period of time (one day) heavily impacted a spot with hooves and manure.

             In more recent years, however, a "take half, leave half" message has come on strong within the grass farming movement.  Gurus tend to promote one side or the other, almost like a denominational thing.  I'm not sure which side is the Presbyterians and which is the Baptists, but it is clear that the two camps, while friendly, tend to emphasize different protocols.

             Here at our farm, we've been dabbling in this grass farming for half a century and that give us lots of experience, meaning we've done all sorts of techniques and lived to tell about it.  I've concluded that both camps have merit and it depends on immediate objectives and circumstances as to which theme to employ.

             A few years ago we turned a 15-acre field into slurry with 500 head during a spring snow melt.  From a distance, the field looked like it had been plowed.  The following year it was solid weeds.  We grazed through them during the dry summer; the cows weren't the happiest campers in the world.  We pushed them to tromp it down and eat beyond their comfort level.  But the following year, that field had not a weed in it and grew the most beautiful stand of race-horse quality timothy you've ever seen.

             Obviously the disturbance, and then those deep tap rooted weeds, awakened the latent seed bank of timothy (some seeds no doubt had lain dormant for decades) and the conditions were perfect for that wonderful grass to express itself.  To be sure, the preparation for the timothy expression did not put a lot of weight on the cows grazing those weeds, but it was temporary discomfort for a greater good.  Kind of like the fatigue that accompanies a rigorous physical workout.

             If we were being paid for pounds of gain during that two week grazing cycle on the weeds, we wouldn't have made any money.  But we more than made up for it the following year with the thick, magnificent stand of timothy.  On the timothy, we wanted to take half, leave half in order to shepherd it with a lighter pruning and keep it growing rapidly.  And to let the cows have nothing but ice cream and gallop toward exceptional weight gain.

             These kinds of nuances to grazing management take time to observe and take time to discuss.  Cookie cutter recipes don't work.  Dancing with these ideas takes time.  To that end, I encourage you to come to the Stockman Grass Farmer Gathering at Polyface September 16-17.  It's not a weekend.  Allan Nation, founder of the magazine and my most important mentor other than my dad, discontinued the magazine's national conferences more than 20 years ago.  But, like others, he convened them at hotel conference centers where food, logistics, and setting were always an issue.  He eventually gave it up in favor of smaller schools.

             Here on the farm, we don't have to vie with other organizations in the same space or fight with the dining services to offer decent food.  For two days you can rub shoulders with like-minded graziers and converse with experts in the field.  Our favorite columnists will be here to yak and make presentations.  Stockman Grass Farmer is the world's leading publication dedicated to pastured livestock production and it has been my compass of direction and fount of inspiration for 40 years.  This two-day investment will pay back for many years.

             To register, call 1-800-748-9808 or www.stockmangrassfarmer.com.

             Have you ever read the Stockman Grass Farmer?