Life Sciences Commons^™

Practical Planning For Successful Winter Grazing, Jim Gerrish

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Most farmers and ranchers consider feeding hay to their stock to be a fairly simple task. You go to the bale yard, pick up some hay, drive out to the stock, and feed them some hay. Simple, but very expensive. Like almost everything else in life, convenience comes at a price. It is up to you to determine what the true cost of each alternative strategy might be and then decide if you’re willing and able to pay the price for the option you choose.

Winter grazing can be as simple and as convenient as feeding hay, but much less …

Applying Kentucky Dairy Forage Research For Beef Producers, S. Ray Smith

Kentucky Grazing Conference

In 2015 the University of Kentucky and the University of Tennessee was awarded a USDA-NIFA grant that we refer to as the Southeast Organic Dairy Project. The goal of this project was to develop science-based recommendations to efficiently manage forages, herd health, and overall farm productivity on organic dairies in the Southeastern US. There are only about 40 organic dairies in Kentucky, but the over 35,000 beef cattle operations in the state will also benefit from this research. We are learning the best forage combinations for Kentucky and Tennessee soils and growing conditions. We are learning how to maximize forage …

How Good Is Our Kentucky Haylage? A Summary Of 2017-18 Farm Results, Jimmy C. Henning

Kentucky Grazing Conference

The ability to harvest moist forage as hay gives Kentucky producers many advantages, including timely harvest, higher forage quality, and less weathering loss over hay systems. The baleage system allows producers to utilize commonly available forage equipment (mowers, rakes, balers) rather than requiring choppers and silo structures or bags. Making high quality baleage requires timely access to bale wrappers.

Grazing On My Farm, Will Bowling, Debby Dulworth

Kentucky Grazing Conference

The downloadable document provides the presenters' bios only. No presentation content is available.

Summer Stockpiling, Christopher D. Teutsch

Kentucky Grazing Conference

The downloadable document includes these components:

• Stockpiling Novel Endophyte Tall Fescue for Summer Grazing
• The Yield and Nutritive Value of Tall Fescue Stockpiled for Summer Grazing
• Using a Summer Stockpiling System to Extend the Grazing Season

Hay Storage And Feeding: Avoiding Train Wrecks, Jeff Lehmkuhler

Kentucky Grazing Conference

When looking back at the Standardized Performance Analysis data collected from cow-calf operations, the data clearly illustrates that beyond the actual investment in the livestock, feed costs are the major expense in the cattle enterprise. In a report of 135 beef cow-calf operations with an average number of 80 cows/operation in the FINBIN data set, the cost of production was reported to be an average of $169.54/cwt or $847.70 for a 500 lb calf (Nordquist and Van Nurden, 2019). This includes all costs including land, labor, feed and so forth. The profit margin is narrow when all expenses are included …

Grazing Management 2020, Mark Harris

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Bill Gallagher Senior had the idea to use an electric shock to deter his horse Joe from rubbing on the families Essex car. After jury rigging a magneto to produce a shock, the experiment was successful enough for him to build a battery powered ticking fence unit for use on his pastoral dairy farm. Word got around and as a result Gallagher the animal management company was founded in 1938 in Hamilton New Zealand.

Most Profitable Hay Feeding Days For A Cow-Calf Farm, Gregory S. Halich

Kentucky Grazing Conference

No abstract provided.

Selecting Cattle For Optimal Production In Pasture Settings, Gordon F. Jones

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Cattle are ruminants and capable of utilizing various forages to support body maintenance and production. However, the major question that needs to be answered “is it possible to select animals that allow for optimal production per acre of land without supplying purchased feedstuffs to supplement the pasture that is provided?” As I have pondered over this issue for many years, it has become quite clear that “environmental and forage adaptability trumps every other criterion that may be used in selection”. This does NOT mean that quantitative genetic values are not available to aid in the selection process, but it is …

Why You Should Be Out Of The Hay Business, Jim Gerrish

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Winter feeding costs are typically the single greatest line-item cost in most cow-calf budgets. The irony of this is it doesn’t seem to matter whether you live in Minnesota, Missouri, or Mississippi, winter feed costs are still the highest cost. If you want to improve profitability in any resource-based production business, your first best strategy is to tackle your biggest cost items. The best way to manage a cost is to eliminate it. Shaving a little here and there does not make a big impact. Think elimination, not reduction.

Foreword And Conference Information [2019], S. Ray Smith, Jimmy C. Henning, Christopher D. Teutsch

Kentucky Grazing Conference

No abstract provided.