There is a reason green is the “lucky color” during the month of March for most cattle producers. Cool-season forages are about to reach their peak production for the year, and many producers are enjoying the benefits of high-quality forage for their herds.
Grazing pressure can influence how productive pastures are through the spring and should be monitored during the growing season to ensure forage supply is stretched to meet needs until the spring-summer transition. Starting to graze cool-season pastures too soon, or if pastures are short (less than 4 inches in height) can decrease the number of grazing days in the stand.
A good rule of thumb is: “What is aboveground is reflective of what is below-ground.” In other words, the root system which fuels forage growth is only about as deep as what is growing aboveground. Thus, short pastures do not have a well-developed root system, which decreases their potential for regrowth following grazing. Regrowth may be very delayed or not occur at all, depending on how hard pastures are grazed.
In addition to impacts on forage growth, short pastures may not meet beef cattle nutritional demands alone. Cattle graze using the sweep of their tongue and then pull forage into their mouth for mastication or chewing. The more productive the forage, the easier it is for cattle to grab a bigger bite. In shorter pastures, you may notice cattle spend much longer grazing because they are trying hard to eat enough forage to meet their needs.
A good comparison of this is if you or I were eating a tough steak. I may eat about half of my steak before I am tired of chewing. The same can be said for cattle grazing short pastures – at some point, they become tired of walking, biting and chewing to get enough forage, which means they may not be eating as much forage as they should daily.
Keep pastures managed to target heights and allow adequate rest for regrowth to help keep cool-season forages productive until the transition to summer. In Table 1 are recommended target start and stop heights for grazing for commonly used cool-season forages in the region.
