Over-wintering bale-grazing cattle can improve cattle gains, pasture fertility, and reduce manure handling and labour.
That’s been the experience of three Ontario beef producers, who shared their insight with participants of a recent webinar hosted by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness.
Why it matters: Benefits of over-winter bale grazing include improved pasture quality, calf performance, and reduced manure management costs as input prices rise.
The panel discussion included Don Badour from Eastern Ontario and Micha Gerber and Alex Kraus from Northern Ontario. It was moderated by OMAFA forage and grazing specialist Christine O’Reilly.
All three producers overwinter bale feed livestock, but each began doing it for different reasons, adapting the system to meet their needs.
Gerber runs a mixed 50-head of Angus-Herford cattle, cash crop, and laying hen operation in Fort Frances, integrating bale grazing on 10- to 15-acre pastures for efficiency, to increase gains, and to reduce manure handling and labour.
“It worked well to integrate into our corn grazing,” he said. “And it’s a really nice way to target poor areas of our field, like a very basic variable rate fertilizer application.”
He loads a few bales early in the season, then spends two hours each weekend dropping bales and pulling twine once the lowlands freeze.
In 2021, Kraus purchased a quarter of bushland north of Englehart in the Temiskaming area, cleared some of it, and introduced Angus-Herford beef cattle and sheep the following year, expanding grazing each year.
“That was kind of a big thing, keeping cows out on the ground that we’ve just cleared, and hopefully get some rejuvenation out of that,” Kraus explained. “We started with just a couple of days’ moves, and now we’re going to weeks at a time.”
Kraus bale grazes from December to April, preloading fields from the hay wagon to reduce tractor use and rejuvenate the land, targeting weedy areas with bales for short-term management in summer.
Kraus advised those planning to incorporate overwinter bale grazing to assess bale quality and weight for placement, and to add a straw bale as a buffer and a shortfall alert.
In his seven-day rotation, the bales are thin on Day 5, with cattle eating the residue on Day 6, and by Day 7, they’re ready to move. If they’re picking at the straw bale, he knows to drop an extra bale or move early to avoid issues. Badour agreed, adding that straw bales come in handy during storms for the cattle to hunker down on.
Badour, who raises 50 to 60 Angus-Herford cows, cash crops, and does custom work in Lanark County, began overwinter bale grazing to reduce spring mud problems and prevent damage caused by rowdy bulls.
Badour’s overwintering hybrid system uses bale feeders across two 16-acre pastures, feeding two groups of 20 pairs each, maximizing fertilization and secondary seeding.
“We breed in the wintertime … and since we calve in the fall, our calves are sold the first week of May,” he explained. “It was hard to keep them clean for sale time, so we tried something different, mainly for those two reasons. The benefit to the pasture was kind of an afterthought.”
This year, he invested in the Gallagher eShepherd collar system to simplify fencing, aiming to line up bales and use virtual fencing to rotate them.
Badour considers the upfront cost of $350 per collar and the $2.75 monthly cell fee for virtual fencing worthwhile due to the time-saving benefits, expanded grazing options, and the ability to fence off wet or problematic areas without physically resetting fencing.
The first year provided Badour with an “aha moment” when the bale-grazing calves came in heavier and cleaner than those in the confined system.
“We definitely found a difference in performance and the cows were in a little better condition as well,” he explained, adding that spreading one-third of the manure and bedding saved was a bonus.
Kraus and Badour’s cattle calve in nearby pastures, while Gerber’s calve in barns to avoid predation.
“We might lose one (calf) every four or five years, that’s about it, but it is a concern,” said Badour, given his region’s coyote population. “Feeding cows today, there was a coyote sitting out in the middle of the herd with three-week-old calves, but knock on wood, like I said, we haven’t had any problems.”
Whether left whole or rolled out, seed banks from strategically placed bales cover an entire pasture over time, reducing the need for mechanical overseeding outside of pasture establishment, the panel said.
“We do have a close pasture that we just continually unroll on it, and there’s not the residue that the bale grazing has,” said Kraus. “So, it’s not a worry on the residue side of things, and it’s producing very well right now.”
Each producer uses existing bush as shelter against the weather, choosing pastures to counter wind, rain, and temperature, with cattle naturally clearing the bush.
Badour’s cattle have access to a heated water bowl system near the barn, while Kraus depends on natural water sources and ponds up to a quarter mile away. Gerber uses a frost-free water bowl fed from a dugout but is considering upgrading to a motion-sensor unit to prevent potential freezing.
“There’s a float switch inside the (current) trough that activates the pump. Once the pump shuts off, the line drains out again,” explained Gerber. “There’s no water in any line anywhere. But I do run into (icing) issues (at) minus-25 (degrees Celsius) or lower.”
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