Grazing a new stand of pasture?

Dieselrider · Sep 5, 2012

Taking back a field for grazing to extend our pastures. This piece (about 3 acres) was planted to oats and grass this spring and is looking good right now. Oats have been off for about 6-8 weeks now. Neighbor has said I shouldn't graze it this year as the animals may hurt the new roots of the grasses. I could really use the space as it has been dry and other paddocks are not coming on fast enough to keep up. I found this from, the university of Georgia

Any of you cattle folks have any input on this? Thanks.
Grazing a new stand

jackinok · Sep 5, 2012

graze it,it actually helps it, simply because it keeps it growing.just watch it really close and dont graze it too much(rule of thumb is you can graze it two thirds i personaly dont like to graze it that much if i can help it). thats an old wives tale that grazing hurts new grass.if you leave it and it goes to seed then it stops growing,when it stops growing and trying to spread weeds take over in the bare spots.grazing keeps it growing because it constantly tries to set seed. mowing a new stand of grass 3-4 times a year helps it to fill in keeps it healthy. mowing is simply simulated grazing. most pasture folks say these days to start grazing in a limited way when pastures are 3-4 months old.

jackinok · Sep 5, 2012

another way to look at this,the longer a stand of grass sets,the togher the stems get.cattle dont really bite off grass,they pull it off. if the new growth is young and tender it lessens the chance grass will be pulled up.so you want to keep the top tender.if you let it get tough then they cant pull it as easily and pull it up. overgrazing basicaly thins a stand this way. unless you have really loose soil,i would graze it.to check for yourself walk out in several places and try to pull it off if it pulls easily without pulling grass up then your likely ok.

randallinMo · Sep 5, 2012

I read through the link you posted and would have to agree on its recommendations. 'Pretty sound advice. Most new stands would require that half be grazed at the recommended time and half of the stand left for future growth and to encourage photosynthesis.

donjr · Sep 19, 2012

You can probably graze it some, but do not overgraze it, especially this time of the year. Use a graziers rule of thumb- if you can see the hooves of the cows, take them off and put them in another pasture. This time of year, the grass is feeding it's roots for the winter, so if you overgraze it, some of it won't make it through the winter.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 20, 2012

We never let cattle in on new pasture. We would green chop it when it got tall enough.

Grazing a new stand of pasture?

Dieselrider

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jackinok

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jackinok

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randallinMo

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donjr

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Anonymous-0

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