#13 Fat Cows with Total Grazing

Hello, I am Jim Elizondo from Real Wealth Ranching where our goal is to help you achieve maximum profitability while improving your land the fastest.

Today we are going to talk about fat cows at high stocking rates while doing Total grazing.

Achieving these three things at the same time:
1. fat cows
2. at very high stocking rates, and
3. doing Total Grazing
Sounds too good to be true?

It is doable and me and my students have been doing it with success! 

Let’s emphasize each of the three.

Fat cows, means to me, cows in good body condition

High to very high stocking rates, means 2 to 3 times higher stocking rate than with selective grazing

Total Grazing is a program where we aim for very high harvest efficiency to get more cow days harvested per grazing as this allows the paddocks a much longer rest period than with selective grazing.

I know some concerns people have when they consider doing Total grazing.

First, they worry that their cattle will lose body condition when stocking rate is increased. This comes from believing that there is a set amount of forage an acre produces per year and only half of it can be harvested, they worry that adding more animals will leave less feed for each one. Happily, this is not totally true as when we start doing Total grazing correctly, we will attain a much higher harvest efficiency and give longer rest periods to each paddock plus start deferring paddocks for the Winter and dry season, this allows total grass productivity to greatly increase. This is exactly the opposite of overgrazing and is the reason our grass productivity per acre per year increases. Remember, overgrazing happens when cattle return to re graze an individual plant before it has fully recovered.

Second, some people are concerned that their cattle will not get fat or finish well when doing total grazing as they cannot select their diet as well as under selective grazing at a lower stocking rate. This is the reason why we change from selective grazing to Total Grazing gradually, to make sure that our animals are doing well. They need to adjust to the change and their rumens need to adjust too as the rumen becomes more efficient when their diet is stable as in total grazing. I have students doing Total grazing fattening cattle to market, others maintain their breeding cattle in very good body condition and others are total grazing dairy cows with good results.

Third, they worry that a high harvest efficiency will leave the soil and grass exhausted. When in reality, a higher harvest efficiency removes the stems that drain the energy reserves in crown and roots and allows the plant to conserve its energy reserves high, to wait for growing conditions to return. Because a high harvest efficiency allows us to get more cow days per grazing it also gives a much longer rest period with a higher leaf to stem ratio, and allows us to stockpile whole areas of our farm or ranch to save on hay feeding. A longer rest period allows the roots to grow deep and strong.

Nature always strives for complexity in its succession and maximum productivity, not on simplicity and minimum productivity. If we observe the Serengeti in Africa, we can observe a myriad of different species of herbivores and in large numbers consuming forage, migrating and being preyed upon by predators. Thanks to natural selection, the resultant plentiful animals are in good body condition and with high reproduction rates while the grass, water, and soils are, usually, in good health. 

The same can be done with livestock, we only need to be observant and adjust accordingly. We need our livestock in good body condition, for the immune system to function optimally and for high reproduction. Having animals in good body condition goes a long way towards profits. It is no fun to increase stocking rate only to find that your animals are suffering in body condition.

Therefore, my motto is fat cows, fat cows, fat cows, to emphasize to my total grazing students that body condition comes first and needs to be maintained. Some new practitioners could get carried away and allow their cattle to lose body condition. That is a common beginners mistake which should be avoided.

Always do this: graze at the highest harvest efficiency your actual genetics allow you. This entails two things:

1. That there are differences between animals in respect to nutritional adaptation. This is explained in the adapted genetics/selection guidelines online course

And, 2. You need to know how to monitor gut fill and observe manure

You can learn more at my website www.rwranching.com 

Once you master these two points it is an easy matter to maintain them in good body condition while achieving the highest harvest efficiency your herd can attain.

A fat cow may give you profits while a thin cow will only give you pity!

There is no money to make allowing your animals to lose body condition!

Another big mistake most cattlemen make is not feeding a small amount of protein supplement to their animals when protein is deficient. This makes the rumen microorganisms sluggish and the high fiber forage (like in stockpiled warm season perennial grasses) cannot be well digested, constipating the animal which reduces its intake, manure starts to stack up with large pieces of undigested fiber easily observed in the manure and they start to lose body condition, especially when the fiber in the stockpile is high.  this doesn’t happen in all environments or grasses but when protein is needed it is the cheapest way to go through the winter or dry season with your animals in good body condition.

Feeding ruminants, a small amount of protein while on stockpile can save you around $200 dollars per cow per year compared to feeding them hay, and at very high stocking rates this adds up!

While some “experts” object to feeding ANY protein supplement there is no economic reason to suffer a much lower stocking rate to avoid using a minimal protein supplement which allows a much higher stocking rate. Please remember that stocking rate determines profitability as there are more animal units to divide the annual total costs between. We need to efficiently harvest what our ranch or farm produces and produce more of it!

If you are a Total Grazing student, you have already gone through these numbers and probably wintered animals on stockpile with a minimal protein supplement and realized the huge savings this means.

Conclusion and recap:

1. It is possible to have cattle in good body condition at high to very high stocking rates by doing total grazing which avoids overgrazing, to also improve your land the fastest

2. My motto is fat cows, fat cows, fat cows, to emphasize this

3. While harvest efficiency is important to profit and land improvement, we need our livestock to provide cashflow and they can only do this when in good body condition.

4. Minimum protein supplement may be needed in some situations, and it does pencil out when compared to other alternatives. It is the cheapest option to achieve high to very high stocking rates with good body condition at low cost for the Winter or dry season on warm season grasses stockpile.

5. Genetics, especially nutritionally adapted genetics are important and very profitable when we try to emulate nature. 

Thank you and see you next time, make sure you subscribe to the podcast in Spotify, iTunes or YouTube, you can also join us on the weekly email at www.rwranching.com/join