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| I'm wondering the best way to manage my pasture/hay field this winter. I have read that some farmers keep their sheep on pasture all winter long, allowing them to scrape down to grass (along with supplemental feed/hay). But I know that many horse farms move their horses off the good pastures for winter so that they don't rip up the sod with their hooves during wet periods in fall/spring. I have horses and sheep - should I put up the horses and leave the sheep in the pasture? I'm tempted to put everyond up in a dry lot(s) this winter to protect the pasture, but I hate to keep everyone confined all winter long. The 'dry' lots are prone to floooding/standing water during wet periods, so they're not great for hoofed animals. We make hay on this pasture, so sound management of it is more important than animal happiness - if I have to choose between the two. What has worked for you all?
Muddy Run Farm -- clean floors are highly overrated
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| We don't have sheep or horses, but cattle. We rotate them in the fields. But we do have decided ryegrass fields. Pa-Pa is working on modifyling the gates to allow only the claves into the ryegrass fields and not the cows. We were to dry last year to bail any ryegrass for the cattle. Rains set in after the 15th of August and then they went to work cutting and bailing everything. Pa-Pa was even going to do the ditches but the state came through and mowed it before we could do them.
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I put my sheep into a dry pasture during winter season and then bale feed. I think this is best for northern climates, where as in southern areas, leaving them out on pasture all the time is just fine.
Some winter graze as you mentioned, but its above my skill levels as a Shepard at this point I think. It does save some costs, but I think the reaction time has to be extremely fast on the shepard's end of things. I mean sheep can paw through some snow, but they cannot paw through ice, so if an ice storm hits, you would have to pull them off pasture really fast. Can you do that quickly...say within 24 hours of a storm hitting? I tested some frozen winter feed last year to see what it tests out as and it was extremely low on protein...this is at a time when a ewe is with lambs so it needs good feed...what would the affect being on the lamb crop? I am not saying it can't be done...heck I want to do it...but it's pushing the grazing to the absolute maximum and that is not for the faint of heart...and only for those willing to lose a significant portion of their lamb crop if they got it wrong. I want to try it, but to be honest with you, I don't hate my winter feeding costs so bad at this point that I find a need for winter grazing.
So I put my bales out on pasture, typically in a bare spot of pasture, roll them out and let my sheep eat what they want. Then in the spring when they are good and dry, I burn what the sheep did not eat, and between the ash and the accumulated manure, the grass turns an amazing lush green! I call this bale feeding on pasture and it works quite well for me.
******
Tell a welfare recipient they must work and they call their congressman. Tell a farmer he can no longer work and he commits suicide. No wonder 1/2% of the population feeds the other 99-1/2%!!
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| DB, You might want to check a website out if you haven't seen it yet. I think they're in MN and they are developing a grass-finishing breed of sheep called Tamarack Sheep. I saw their ad in SHEEP! magazine. Search on Tamarack Sheep and you'll probably find it easy. Doesn't matter what you think about the breed, but they have a pretty nice and extensive website with lots of info on how they manage their winter grazing. It's more extensive and land-hungry than I want to get into - but very interesting info. I bet you'll enjoy reading it. I guess I was asking more about managing the pasture than managing the sheep (does that make sense?). I'll feed the animals grain and hay to keep their nutrition up, but my question is will sheep hooves hurt the hay field during winter if I leave them have access? Will horses?
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Oh yes I know Janet quite well. She is really big into grass fed sheep and has her ideas and improved methods on it. She is really into promoting sheep, developing good genetics and is glad to give her opinions on any of it to those willing to listen.
I kind of alluded to this in my earlier post, but if things were different perhaps I would be more inclined to push my grazing deeper into the winter and maybe even do full winter grazing. The truth is, I am tied in with the dairy farm pretty tightly so my winter feed is provided for me at no cost. There really is no motivation for me to winter graze or reduce my reliance on winter feed when there is no cost savings in doing so. In fact considering the costs of fencing, it would probably cost me more to graze the fields then feed them hay, haylage or corn silage.
Now don't get me wrong, this is just my particular situation. I don't fault anyone (and in fact I encourage others) to try and push grazing to the max to reduce costs. I do want to warn others though that doing so means a lot of responsibility.
I know a few years ago a guy here had some sheep, got divorced and had no money or place for his sheep...so he left them out in a field and called it "winter grazing". They starved and ultimately the state took custody of them and filed charges against him for that little act. In other areas of the country it would be easier to winter graze and shove the grazing season deep into winter, but in Maine its a bit tougher.
It also takes a lot of land. Its not actually from the grazing that's the problem, but their hooves which destroys 80% of the crop. To get it all cleaned up, you have to keep your paddocks small, and move fence a lot. That is not easy when its 20 below and blowing twenty and you are out trying to drive fence posts in frozen ground. It certainly can be done, but as I said, you would really have to hate paying for hay since breaking apart a haybale and feeding it out is pretty easy compared to that. (LOL)
******
Tell a welfare recipient they must work and they call their congressman. Tell a farmer he can no longer work and he commits suicide. No wonder 1/2% of the population feeds the other 99-1/2%!!
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Sorry I got off on Janet's style of operation and forgot to answer your question...
I am no expert of course but I think you are looking at the "damage to the pastures" from the wrong angle. I have a winter pasture that I "sacrifice" for the winter and keep my sheep off the better pastures. But I do not do this due to their hooves. In fact the punching of their hooves in the soil called "pudding" in pasture speak, is a VERY good thing. This helps break up compaction, and since grass seeds like clover, timothy and orchard grass, pass through the animal stomachs without being killed off, the sheep are actually reseeding the areas as the graze, punch holes in the soil, deposit the seeds and fertilize all at once.
The damage to the fields actually comes from the other end...their mouths. The lower a pasture is grazed down, the more the plants (grasses) are stressed. They say that its best for the grasses to be 6 to 8 inches high to really do well over the winter. If they are left at that height, then the next spring they recover faster, get greenier quicker and the plants are never stressed from the cold.
We take this to the extreme and seldom harvest field crops after August, and in years like this one where we absolutely had to harvest in September, we do so with the cutting height of the haybine a little bit higher. Obviously you can work this out quite easily. I have grazed my sheep late into the fall but I also did sop with a very light stocking rate. This year it was 1 sheep per 2 acres of field. With such light density there is no way the sheep will eat so much grass that the entire field is stressed.
Anyway, this is my understanding of why its not good to graze pastures into winter. This is best for the plants, but for some people it makes fiscal sense to not have winter feed costs and winter graze.
******
Tell a welfare recipient they must work and they call their congressman. Tell a farmer he can no longer work and he commits suicide. No wonder 1/2% of the population feeds the other 99-1/2%!!
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| Our pastures are large, and our beef never come inside. They stay out for no other reason other than it's just more cost effective. I feed round hay on the ground. Last year I implemented a system of feeding in a grid, keeping the cattle from standing on the same 10x10 spot each day when feed. This has proven effective since the grass is of a better quality in that 100x100 section were the checker board was laid out.
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| Thanks for all the feedback. I think I'll go with my gut and pull everyone into the small feedlots for winter to protect the large pastures. And I'll try Wos's checkerboard feeding strategy - that seems like a smart approach. I'd never heard of burning off the leftover hay mat in the spring to jumpstart growth. The one pasture area we've burnt came back thick with thistle. DB, ever had that problem with weeds coming into the burn over area?
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the concept is simple. Just keep an eye on the area effected by the animals as they feed. Look at were the feed prints are...the scattered hay and such. then make your best guess as to how far the next bail must be from the old bail so that the 2 effected areas hardly overlap.
I feed 2 600lb bails to 30 grown cattle. SO that made my 10x10, but if you see that 10x10 is to large, don't forget you want to have an even effect the whole way across. If you hae 8 cows, make a 8x8 grid in your mind.
OR, if your stock are more active and crazy at the feed bunk, make it 12x12. 
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I like bale feeding because it is far easier then putting the hay into feed racks or into managers, but to be honest with you, if you need to conserve hay, it is the only way to go. Of course I have range sheep so they like to eat 24/7 if they can...which makes for fast conversion ratio's, but I don't need that on breeding stock ewes.
I find I get the best bang for my buck and reduce feed costs by dolling out the hay in racks. Its a bit better for the sheep too since if you have enough space for each sheep at the feeder, the less aggressive sheep do not get left out...everyone gets a measurable about or grain, mineral mix and feed.
As I said, its a lot better control so you can increase or decrease feed intake, but its not for the lame or lazy that is for sure. Its a pain to feed out that way, but since I am not using my own purchased feed, I have to use what feed I am given appropriately too.
Neither way is right or wrong...just different reasons for using one over the other.
******
Tell a welfare recipient they must work and they call their congressman. Tell a farmer he can no longer work and he commits suicide. No wonder 1/2% of the population feeds the other 99-1/2%!!
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