Bale grazing is a great way to rejuvenate your pastures, reduce winter feeding costs and save labor on your operation.

Bale grazing is taking three to four days’ supply of hay, unrolling or strategically locating them in pastures or fields and continually moving cattle from bale to bale as they are fed through the winter.

Contrary to feeding animals in a barnyard or concrete lot, the animals are kept on pasture throughout the year. This allows all waste to be left in the field, eliminating the need to haul stockpiled manure in the spring or when field conditions are suitable; saving fuel, equipment use and labor.

Bale grazing is a great way to renovate old pastures: the increased residue and animal waste kick-starts soil biology that have been otherwise starving for food. This winter feeding coupled with adequate rest the following summer, can have long-term impacts on worn out fields.

Providing a weeks’ worth of bales in one trip reduces overall labor, and by strategically locating fences to define semi-weekly feeding areas you can better distribute nutrients, seed and organic matter evenly across the field where 34 percent of the bale’s nutrients are captured versus only 1 percent when fed in confinement.

This savings is further compounded when utilizing purchased hay.

Alternatively making your own hay and leaving those bales in the field to be fed through the winter improves nutrient cycling for that field. Hay waste can be a factor using the methods prescribed; however, providing cattle only a few days of hay and unrolling the bale rather than allowing them to congregate can reduce waste.

Farmers who have prescribed to this method of winter feeding have found while there is some waste generated, the elimination of bedding a concrete lot reduces the impact. Furthermore, viewing trampled or uneaten hay as a nutrient source to the field begs the question if anything is actually wasted.

Finally, there are some tips to keep things simple when starting out bale grazing.

n Locate bales strategically across the fields to be grazed late in the fall before field conditions head south and equipment creates damage later in the winter. This allows you to use temporary fence to confine animals to the current grazing area, reducing time and equipment use later on.

n Remove the bale wrap before freezing temperatures. Twine cut and left in the field can cause issues and get tangled in ear tags or legs and cause real problems if ingested.

n Having water close will reduce foot traffic back to a dedicated source and keep nutrients evenly distributed across the field. The water intake of livestock is significantly reduced during winter months and a small tub is an ideal waterer for pasture use.

If there is snow cover, cows will routinely lick snow for water but having a tub nearby is still preferred.

To learn more about bale grazing or to see how it could work on your operation, contact our office for more information.

Andy Gaver is a conservationist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Butler County.