SUMMER-STOCKPILING PASTURE: A NOVEL SYSTEM FOR EXTENDING THE GRAZING SEASON

摘要

In most parts of Virginia, pasture productivity is consistently inconsistent. More often than not, we have a glut of grass in spring, which is hayed from pasture only to be fed out later in the year, as early as September in dry years. For producers who stockpile fall pasture to extend the grazing season, this is a slap in the face. An unconventional practice can solve this problem for many. Virginia Tech's McCormick Farm is an Agricultural Research & Extension Center located in the Shenandoah Valley. Its 500 acres of fescue-based pasture are managed in a grazing rotation for both research and production purposes. For the past nine years, the farm has been using a summer stockpiling system to assist in extending the grazing season for their 230-cowherd. It is a strategy developed by the farm that has allowed them to stockpile excess spring growth in the field without making hay, to provide pasture that is limit-grazed from mid-August to mid-October. While this practice provides an important sourceof emergency forage, its true value is as a strategic tool to enable other acreage to be stockpiled in fall for winter grazing. Used in this way, the summer-stockpiling system effectively allows for a reduction in hay feeding and related cost savings. The McCormick Farm's records show that the summer stockpiling system has resulted in an average of 272 grazing days/year over the past 9 years, ranging from 250 to 330 days depending on weather. In other words, the farm is now feeding hay for an average of only 85 days each year. Compared to the 150 days they used to feed hay, the summer stockpiling system has resulted in an estimated feed savings of $36/cow per year.