Managing your pasture over the fall and winter months is crucial for the well-being of your crop. Dale Risula, Saskatchewan Provincial Specialist for Pulses, Specialty Crops, and Forages shared some tips for fall and winter pasture management.
Stockpiling is one of the main ways growers can manage their forage stand’s growth to extend the grazing season into the fall/winter and reduce winter feeding costs. Growers who use stockpiling graze the stand early in the season and then again mid-summer before leave the stand to rest and regrow till freeze up. These pastures can then be grazed in late fall and early winter when forage growth has stopped to extend the grazing season for mature dry cows in early to mid-gestation.
Risula recommends choosing grasses for stockpiling, especially ones with basal leaves. Those plants provide more coverage after it snows and being closer to the ground than stemmier plants, they don’t freeze as readily and keep their quality better.
Fall is also a good time to evaluate your pasture. In every stand, Risula says there are three types of plants: decreasers, increasers and invaders. Decreasers are the plants you want the most of — these are cattle ‘s favorites. These typically see the highest grazing pressure, which can decrease the number of plants left in the field as the season goes on. As the decreasers are eaten down, more space becomes available for increasers and invaders. Increasers show up as a result of the decreasers being eaten, and are typically less desirable, non-harmful plants. As more and more space becomes available for other plants, invaders start to come in. These are non-nutritious, potentially toxic plants to cattle.
Though it depends on soil zone, common decreasers can be rough fescue, Western porcupine grass, Western wheatgrass, and green needlegrass. Increasers can be June grass, crocus, broomweed, plains reed grass, pasture sage, and more, and invaders can be Russian thistle, dandelions, and Kentucky bluegrass.
In an ideal stand, Risula said you want to keep invader numbers below 10%. The other two (decreasers and increasers) should be at a 60/40 or 70/30 split.
“That will vary overtime,” he said. “It’s dependent on weather and grazing patterns.”
If you end up with a stand with lots of invaders or increasers, Risula recommends considering rejuvenation. That can mean using equipment to break up the soil and reseed the field, applying a herbicide, or bringing in other livestock, like goats, to eat it down.
Another important fall management activity for your pasture is looking at its fertility. Risula recommends doing soil tests in the fall to understand your fertility levels before the spring. Fertility management is often overlooked in hay fields and pastures significantly reducing yield potential of forage crops. Knowing which nutrients your crop needs now can help you to make a fertility plan and take action to set up for a successful season next year.
