grass: how much is enough

In winter, we calculate paddock size carefully, because the grass we've got is all we've got -- right up to the middle of April. While summer paddocks will permit very large amounts of trampled, ungrazed forage, now, in the dormant season, we have to get the best use we can of our grass. So we calculate paddock size to leave the least allowable amount of litter -- maybe three or four inches, seldom more.

The question, though, is, "How do I know when a small paddock is too small?" Trampled litter is some clue, but since animals will avoid grass their own species has stepped on or eaten, an adequate cover of trampled litter does not necessarily indicate that all of the animals got to fill their stomachs first.

So, in our herd of fifteen or twenty bovines, we look at two in particular. If these two are full we'll know that everyone else is full also.

First, we look at the least dominant of the dairy cows -- this year, that would be Trinny. A first calf heifer, after her first couple of months of being milked she and her own calf were put in with the dry cows, where Trinny promptly picked up some weanling calves to feed along with her own calf. Young, and an enthusiastic lactator, she just loves the babies; she'll nurse them even to the detriment of her own condition. She, consequently, is the first of the adult bovines to show stress from lack of calories.

So we look at the spot in front of her left hip -- where her first stomach resides -- to make sure it's well filled-out. And we keep an eye on her overall condition -- are her hips, ribs and shoulders well-covered, are the hollows on either side of her tailhead getting too deep. If all of this is fine, she is fine.

Secondly, we look at the smallest, least dominant of the weanling calves -- you know which one this is. This is the animal at the bottom of the pecking order. When every cow in the herd has deposed the beast next down in dominance from its chosen clump of grass, this little guy gets bumped on -- and has no one he can impose upon in his turn. If anyone is going to go hungry, it's this baby -- so if you're shaving your paddocks too fine, he'll be the first that can tell you about it. You want his ribs covered, his rumen full, head and ears up, and some bounce in his step.

Keeping an eye on these two animals gives us the information we need to know if our paddock calculations need adjusting.