Sheep – Summer Grazing, Flushing & Winter Feed
Download a PDF copy of this management sheet: Every livestock manager utilizing pasture is concerned about drought. Rather than having to feed expensive hay or sell animals when your cool season pastures slow down, we recommend planning ahead. After soil temperatures reach at least 65 degrees in late May, we recommend planting FSM Brand […]
Sheep – Multi-Purpose Pasture Options
Download a PDF copy of this management sheet: In some years, pastures begin to slow down in early summer and more grazing acres are needed other years, the ewes can’t keep up with all the grass. One way to manage this situation is to plant a portion of the farm to a forage mixture […]
Sheep – High Quality Pasture for Late Gestation, Lactation and Breeding
Download a PDF copy of this management sheet: Many sheep producers have a portion of their farm well-suited to the production of high quality pasture. Generally, soils with good fertility that are not excessively wet or droughty can support high quality pasture grasses with proper management. Soft-leafed tall fescues, like Barenbrug’s endophytefree Bariane or […]
Sheep – Basic Improvements for Difficult to Manage Permanent Pasture
Download a PDF copy of this management sheet: Sheep production has traditionally been a way of utilizing farmland least suited to crop production. Therefore, many long-term pastures tend to have soil moisture extremes, steeper slopes and may be untillable due to rocks or trees. By default, these areas may also be infested with undesirable […]
Sheep – Profitable Everyday Pasture for the Commercial and Purebred Sheep Producer
Download a PDF copy of this management sheet: Maintaining your ewe flock in good condition for the least cost throughout the year is an important key to profitability. With the cost of owning or renting land increasing annually in most areas, improving the carrying capacity of your pasture acres can help your bottom line. […]
Horses – Understanding Horse Pasture
Download a PDF copy of this management sheet: The term ‘horse pasture’ can mean a lot of different things to different people. We categorize ‘horse pasture’ into two categories: exercise lots and standing equine forage. An ‘exercise lot’ is a fenced area with more horses than grass, typically more than 1 horse per acre. […]
Horses – Producing Hay for Horses
Download a PDF copy of this management sheet: The standing joke is that if a hay grower asked 5 different horse owners to describe ideal hay for their horse, he would get at least 6 different answers! A situation that is funny to the uninitiated; frustrating to the hay grower; and somewhat rooted in […]
Dairy – Rotational Forage Options for Storage and Grazing
Download a PDF copy of this management sheet: High yielding, digestible annual forages have a place on every dairy. For early spring planting straight or as an alfalfa nurse crop, we recommend Baler forage oats, OPtimum II, or Green Spirit Italian Ryegrass for early summer harvest. Once soil temperatures reach at least sixty-five degrees […]
Dairy – High Quality Grass for Lactating Cows and Replacement Heifers
Download a PDF copy of this management sheet: Dairymen and nutritionists alike are recognizing the nutritional benefits of high quality grass forage. For years, farmers have noted that cows often “go up” in milk production when turned out on grass. Thanks to advances in forage digestibility analysis (NDFd), we now know that improved grasses […]
Dairy – Growing High Quality Dairy Pasture
Download a PDF copy of this management sheet: A typical grass-based dairy should have about one acre per cow of high quality pasture. In addition, dairymen should have another acre per cow in flexible forage that can either be made for hay or grazed as needed based upon the season. Many dairymen have at least […]