Investing in your pastures during the grazing season can help ensure they’re ready when the time is right to grow your herd.
Just as rebuilding the cattle herd won’t happen overnight, preparing your grazing acres to support those extra animals takes time. And it needs to begin well before herd expansion.
“A female throws only one calf a year,” Sam Ingram, a Range & Pasture field scientist with Corteva Agriscience, says. “Similarly, cattle producers get only one grazing season per year to improve their pastures. It’s important to make the most of each opportunity.”
Even as market conditions continue to pressure herd rebuilding, the delay presents an opportunity for producers to get the jump on solidifying their forage base. “Our advice is to take advantage of this window — a time while there are fewer hooves on the ground — to position your grazing acres for when you decide the time is right to grow your herd,” he says. Ingram offers up these three recommendations on where to start:
“Grazed forages offer the lowest-cost way to feed a cow,” Ingram says. “Regardless of cattle economics or whether you’re expanding or maintaining herd size, keep an eye on the expense side of the ledger to help increase profit potential.”
Under normal field conditions, DuraCor® is nonvolatile. DuraCor has no grazing or haying restrictions for any class of livestock, including lactating dairy cows, horses (including lactating mares) and meat animals prior to slaughter. Label precautions apply to forage treated with DuraCor and to manure and urine from animals that have consumed treated forage. DuraCor is not registered for sale or use in all states. Contact your state pesticide regulatory agency to determine if a product is registered for sale or use in your state. Consult the label for full details. Always read and follow label directions.
