Benefits From Grazing Bales
Georgia Cattle Producer Sees Major Benefits, Few Downsides to Bale Grazing
Ask Robert Smith about bale grazing, and you'd expect him to talk about increased soil fertility and better nutrient distribution. He does. After all, he works for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). But he's quick to mention the No. 1 benefit -- and it has nothing to do with soil.
"I'm going from an hour a day to feed hay down to a few minutes," said the Washington, Georgia, producer. Six minutes, to be exact; he's timed it.
So, what is this magical practice? Easy-peasy. Pick a well-drained field, accessible to your other pastures, and put out the winter's worth of hay before hay-feeding season starts. Determine how many bales a day your cows typically need. For Smith's 60-cow herd, that's around two bales. Then, move your poly wire fence every day or two to take in the needed bales. If you already practice rotational grazing, you have the practice down pat. Think of it as strip grazing with hay bales. Smith prefers a long, narrow field so he can easily string the poly wire from one side to the other.
BALE GRAZING TRIAL RUN
Philip Brown, NRCS grazing specialist for Georgia, first heard about bale grazing in 2009. While it worked in the Dakotas, he said, "They were feeding 4 to 10 tons of hay to the acre on frozen ground. No mud. I didn't think it would work for us."
Then, in 2019, NRCS implemented the Conservation Stewardship Program, which included bale grazing as an enhancement. "I was still not convinced it was going to work, but we had to try."
Looking for a way to save time, Smith was willing to serve as a guinea pig. After a trial run, he called Brown and reported, "This is working pretty smooth." Brown heard similar reports from other demo sites across the state, and when the producers found out about the time savings, they stuck with it.
Smith said the time investment comes when initially placing the bales. It takes him five hours to put out 100 bales, but he saves that for a Saturday or divides it into two weekend days.
"When you're setting out the bales, set them out on the farthest end of the field first. If you start at the front, I promise you'll hit one of them because you get where you're not paying attention. So, just start at the back of the field and work your way to the front."
In the South, Brown recommends putting out bales around or before Nov. 15, when late-fall rains typically saturate pastures. For Smith, that usually coincides with hay feeding time and calving season.
When moving the poly wire to take in two more bales, he cuts the net wrap around the bales with a box cutter, knots it and picks it up later with a fireplace poker he modified with a hook at the end. He also keeps his calf-tagging supplies in his UTV to knock out that chore at the same time.
BALE GRAZING SAVES TIME
During winter, every minute saved was even more critical for Smith. In addition to working full time, he was a single dad with two children until December when he remarried. Fortunately, both Cohen, 11, and Juliet, 9, are adept at moving the poly wire while he cuts off net wrap and tags calves. Now, his wife, Jordan, has joined the Smith Farms bale grazing team, freeing Smith up for more time-consuming cattle chores.
While Smith is sold on the practice, research reports show hay is wasted if it isn't stored in a barn, under cover or off the ground. According to an Oklahoma State University (OSU) study, storing a round bale outside for nine months can result in a 20% loss due to weathering. However, Smith doesn't consider the hay that goes back in the soil a waste.
"If you have a healthy microbial population, the microbes will digest the hay." He easily pries up a handful of soil and said, "Look how crumbly this is, you can see the moisture. You can see all the roots in this. And look, there's a big ol' earthworm. This is what you're looking for. By distributing those cows across the field, you don't have the compaction you have whenever you've got them feeding in one place."
Brown added, "In the demonstrations, we've set out anywhere from 30 to 45 days' worth of hay. But we had an extreme last year in South Georgia, and they set out 120 days' worth of hay. We were concerned about how the bales would hold up, but with net wrap, they seemed to hold up pretty well." He said, however, "I would like to see the last set of bales get tested up front then tested again right before they're allocated to see how the bales have dropped in quality. It would be great to see how the bales hold up over 30 days, 45 days, 60 days."
SOIL BENEFITS SEEN FROM PRACTICE
University of Kentucky forage economist Greg Halich is another fan of bale grazing. When he bought his farm in 2009, fertility was low, and grasses didn't grow very well. "It was easy to seed in clover as there was no competition from the grasses, but it has drastically changed. The grass growth is so good now it takes special management to get a good clover stand. Good, basic rotational grazing, combined with bale grazing stimulates soil biology and nitrogen mineralization that creates vigorous grass growth."
Even better, it was accomplished with no commercial fertilizer. The organic matter on the 30-acre farm has also risen to the 6.0% range. At first, Halich just grazed stocker cattle from spring through fall, but now, along with another 30-acre farm, he forage-finishes around 20 steers a year.
Smith agreed, "It has definitely improved soil fertility due to the nutrients in each bale of hay." He said it is even more beneficial on rough, erosion-prone fields that aren't suitable for spreader trucks.
Along with time savings and better soil health and fertility, his calves benefit from creep grazing. They duck under the single poly wire to graze new fescue growth and cherry-pick higher-quality bales before their dams are allowed in. He's also noticed no cases of calf scours since he started bale grazing.
POTENTIAL DRAWBACKS
When it comes to drawbacks, Smith is hard-pressed to think of any. However, Brown said other producers report deer frequently knock down the poly wire. He said they've had success by putting up two strands of wire, offset. Due to their lack of depth perception, deer aren't as likely to knock the fence down trying to jump it.
Halich recommends setting up your next division fence at the same time as the first one. Then, if deer or cattle knock down the first fence, they'll only have access to a few bales.
So far, Smith is all in. "Bale grazing is a game changer. Hands down, I'll never go back to feeding hay two or three bales at a time every day."
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