Plan now, graze later

“Let the cows do the work.” That’s a common piece of advice from grazing specialists, and it makes a lot of sense. Mechanically harvesting, storing and feeding forage requires substantial investments in machinery, fuel, time and labor. In fact, economists generally consider winter feed costs the single-largest annual production expense for cow-calf producers. Cows, meanwhile, are quite capable of harvesting forage themselves. Eliminating winter feeding altogether is unrealistic for many cow-calf producers, but they could extend their grazing season and reduce dependence on harvested feeds by planning to stockpile forage in selected pastures late in the season. Read more at Drovers CattleNetwork…