NEW ALBANY, Ind. — “By managing your animals’ grazing, you ensure a grass-covered pasture, lower feed costs and improved health for the herd” – this is from “Grazing the Surface: Managed Grazing,” an article by author and farmer Carol Ekarius, published at www.hobbyfarms.com

November is a time when most farmers have harvested their crops, their calves have been weaned and their cows checked for pregnancy. November is also a good time for cattle producers to plan for the future. They must think about survival of the herd and cost management.

Amy Radunz, beef cattle extension specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has published “Tips To Winterize Your Cow Herd.” It is readily available on the Internet. In it, she focuses on these five areas:

•Body condition scoring of the cows. Young and scrawny cows need to put on body condition feeding prior to winter and before calving. Radunz recommends a body condition factor of 5 or 6 for cows aged 3-4 years.

•Conducting forage lab tests on winter feeds. If cows do not take in enough protein, calves could be weak at birth.

•Making culling decisions. Cows should be sold, that are not prospering in your system.

•Deciding on a heifer replacement strategy. A decision should be made on whether to develop replacement heifers or to buy outside-bred replenish heifers.

•Estimating your winter feed needs – so as to not fall short on available forage.

Radunz also maintains an Internet blog called “Wisconsin Beef Information Center” at http://fyi.uwex.edu/wbic

Another university specialist, Dr. Roy Burris of the University of Kentucky Research and Education Center in Hopkinsville, offers a practical dual strategy for managing a beef operation.

“For the long term, farmers should focus on cows that reproduce efficiently and wean good calves in their forage management system,” he said. “For the short term, minimize feed costs. Avoid wasting hay by properly feeding it in hay rings, geo-textile/gravel feeding areas, et cetera.”

A third expert, Dr. Gary Bates at the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Tennessee, has published research entitled Grazing To Reduce Winter Feed Costs. Bates said one large expense of maintaining a beef cow is winter feeding. Supplying necessary nutrients through stored feeds is much more expensive than grazing.

Bates discovered two methods of extending the grazing season for cattle on into winter. The first is stockpiling grasses in the fall; the second is using cool-season grasses such as wheat, rye and ryegrass. These steps should reduce the number of days hay has to be fed to the herd.

Both Radunz and Burris offered thoughts on the fall management of a beef cattle operation. Burris said, “You should continue grazing on fescue as long as it is available, to eliminate the need for stored feed.”

Further, he suggested “condition score cows and put thin ones on stockpiled fescue to regain condition before winter. After the forage test, feed lowest quality first to dry cows. After calving, feed best hay. Cull old, costly or barren cows before winter feeding, and purchase hay or supplements now.”

Radunz said, “Once the calves are weaning, the cows’ energy requirements are the lowest. So, this is the time to put on adequate condition before going into winter and late gestation. Body condition score at calving is strongly correlated to the cow being able to get bred after calving.”

Finally, she suggested: “Pregnancy check your cows.”