winter grazing: order of paddocks
We talk a lot about grass. No surprise there: as the sun is the source of all life energy on Earth, grass -- and all the non-cereal herbaceous growth we lump in with grass when we say 'grass' -- is the most important food source on the planet -- for non-aquatic life. Pretty much everything derives its being from the solar-energy capture of the stuff that covers the ground.
Grazing, then, is of primary concern, and in winter this importance is bumped up a notch -- because right now there's no more grass being made. What order to graze our pastures in is one of our first questions.
Experience has taught us, for instance, to graze younger, less-woody forage early in the winter cycle. This grass is higher in available nutrients, and our initial impulse was to reserve it for February and March, generally times of greatest stress for field-wintered animals. Two considerations would indicate otherwise, though -- and they would be right.
First, the shorter, more tender grass -- this is the regrowth from August and early September -- being closer to the ground and having less lignin to keep it upright, won't be able to hold its nutrition value through months of cold, wet or frosty weather. Snow will press it down, make it soggy, leach its nutrients.
Secondly, and contrary to our expectations, putting the cows on a maintenance diet and saving the highest nutrition for the hardest months isn't the best plan. Grazing cows aren't like cars driven in hilly country, where it makes sense to conserve energy by having a light foot on the accelerator when you're going down, and reserving more gas for the uphill haul. Rather, we have found it better to keep a herd's condition up and flourishing through the first months of winter, feeding it the best we've got for as long as we've got it, so that when February and March arrive they have some sassy cows to deal with, not animals that have already been dragged out by the previous cold months*. Thick-coated, high-energy animals can face a few weeks of lower-protein, woody stockpile with relatively little stress -- and April will arrive soon enough and give them green grass again.
*Thanks to local farmer Clint F. for helping us to this insight.