EXTENDING ALBERTA’S GRAZING SEASON

Making it Work:

Agriculture andAgri-Food Canada

Agriculture etAgroalimentaire Canada

Prair ie Farm Rehabi l i tat ionAdministrat ion

Administrat ion du rétabl issement agricoledes Prair ies

TABLE Of CONTENTS

Introduction 3

Steve Kenyon 4

Tom Krawiec/Janice Baker 6

Glen Smith 8

Steve Haupt 10

Ron Israelson 12

Dave Berry 14

James Ford 16

Kim Nielsen 18

Deseret Ranches 21

Wayne Black 24

PFRA Offices 26

References and Credits 27

Steve Haupt took this aerial shot of his farm at Seven Persons Creek.

There are just as many different ways to winter cows as there are cattle producers in Alberta. Traditionally, cows were brought home and fed in corrals but this has gradually been changing over the years. This booklet provides an opportunity for producers from across Alberta in different climates, soil zones and ecozones (see the map to the left) to talk about what works for them, why they do it and what they have learned over the years.

The stories you will read are very interesting and although they focus on the same subject, there are many different methods and reasons for implementing each particular system.

You’ll find each producer describes the benefits of their systems, to themselves, their cattle and their surrounding environment and ultimately to society. Some of those benefits include:

• Improved distribution of manure and decreased fertilizer costs• Increased organic matter in the soil• Labour and time savings• Improved animal performance and herd health• Yardage cost savings• Environmental benefits for riparian areas and trees • More time for family and community

PFRA would also like to thank Agricultural Research and Extension Council of Alberta (ARECA) and its associated applied research and forage associations for helping find the producers to profile. The contact numbers for PFRA offices are listed on page 26 of this manual.

Extending the grazing season works for this cross-section of Alberta producers in all different areas and with various sizes of herds. Perhaps there will be one element or story in this booklet that you can relate to, that will be helpful for finding the contacts necessary for making changes on your farming operation.

PFRA gratefully acknowledges and supports the producers who have graciously shared their stories, tips and tricks. This booklet provided a forum for them to share and they have done so without hesitation. The work these producers are doing are important land-management practices that are beneficial not only to their operations, but to communities across Alberta.

INTRODuCTION

Calgary

Red Deer

Edmonton

Raymond

Coronation

Provost

Vermilion

Rocky Mountain House

Barrhead

AthabascaValleyview

Dave Berry

Tom Krawiec

Steve Kenyon

Glen Smith

Wayne BlackRon Israelson

Kim Nielsen

James Ford

Steve Haupt

Deseret Ranches

LegendGrassland

Parkland

Boreal

Canadian Shield

Foothills

Rocky Mountains

Winter Livestock Sites

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Grande Prairie

Chinook

Seven Persons

Steve Kenyon is more than willing to admit he keeps his toes in everything to stay on top of running his business,Green Pastures Grazing Management Ltd. From the Environmental Farm Plan program, to being involved with the Agricultural Research and Extension Council of Alberta (ARECA), Kenyon says that informed decisions are the foundation to running a profitable grazing business. Kenyon is also Alberta’s 2006 Outstanding Young Farmer runner-up.

Location and OwnershipSteve and his wife Stacey bought their home quarter back in 1999 near the small north central Alberta town of High Ridge, 25 kilometres southeast of Barrhead. Kenyon grew up on a farm near Lloydminster, but Stacey’s family hailed from the Busby area, drawing the couple to settle in her home community. The area is known as the Dry Mixedwood subregion, and is primarily characterized by low relief and level to undulating terrain. Aspen, poplar and paper birch occur frequently in the area.

STEvE KENyON: Informed Decisions make Grazing a Business

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Management HistoryIn 1996, the young couple started out small with a herd of 25 purebred black Angus. Kenyon had always paid attention to what was happening in the cattle market, a strategy he believes has helped him turn his grazing business into a profitable venture. “I’ve always believed that selling calves year to year only provides you with a cash flow. I’m more interested in the appreciation of the cows. We buy when the price is low and sell when it is high.”

A turning point came in 2001 after Steve took a Ranching for Profit course in Calgary. “I quickly realized that I was paying too much to graze our own cows. The opportunity cost of what I could sell my pasture for custom grazing was around $1/day,” he explains. “It was more profitable for me to switch to custom grazing.” Kenyon sold his herd and made the move to custom graze 500 head for three different investors.

Current Management StrategiesToday Kenyon uses 2,300 acres of managed land, using 2,000 acres for what he calls intensive cell grazing and 300 is purchased crop used for swath grazing. “We concentrate on keeping the grazing period short, which provides a more consistent level of nutrition for the animals,” he says. “All of our water sources are fenced off and water is pumped to a trough. We manage the grass, the water, the mineral and the herd health. This ensures a high plain of nutrition and clean water to all our animals. ”

Kenyon’s have swath grazed for a number of years now. This year they purchased 300 acres of oats—a necessity since he doesn’t own a tractor. He gets his swathing grazing custom swathed, and then sets up a strip grazing system in order to control the grazing for the winter months.

“We move a portable electric fence every second day to allow the cattle to graze the swath with very little labor and machinery costs,” he says. “We have grazed through two feet of snow, through freezing rain and right through the winter until the end of April. We don’t swath graze right through the winter every year but we definitely can help lengthen the grazing season to reduce overall expenses.”

Kenyon’s are a big promoter of bale grazing, which was a move he says was derived out of necessity. “I was working long hours, six days a week, driving truck,” he explains. “Sunday was the only day I had off to feed the cows. And since our infrastructure was already set up to graze intensively, I thought by putting the bales in rows much like you would have swaths, it

would save some time and labour on our part.” For the cowherd most of the bales are placed in the fall before the strings freeze.

To set up for bale grazing there’s 400 bales spread out across 10 acres. The bales are placed three cow lengths apart so that the animals aren’t bumping the electric fence. Bale grazing also provides for better manure distribution in the grazing paddock, adds organic matter to the soil and the extra residue acts as ground cover. This, Kenyon says, “gives an unbelievable amount of benefit. The water holding capacity in the soil is greatly increased. The residue breaks down and acts like a sponge, keeping moisture in and reduces evaporation.”

His theory is simple: “80% of what goes into an animal comes out of an animal, therefore we need to replace the 20% and recycle the 80%. Most agricultural practices remove 90% of the nutrients off the land, which then needs to be replaced with high priced inputs. We just have to know how to effectively recycle the 80%.”

Benefits of Best ManagementThe benefits to Kenyon’s strategy are both tangible and intangible. Chores consist of opening a gate every other day. “Last winter I estimate it only took 15 minutes worth of labour every four days to look after 320 head. Why work any more than you have to when you can get better results?,” he says.

The numbers all seem to crunch. “I’ve figured out that we get $8600 worth of fertilizer from 320 cows. That’s $0.30 per head per day for 90 days.” Yardage costs are also in check. “My full yardage cost of feeding them worked out to be under $0.10 per head per day, whereas the Alberta average is $0.69/day.” And those cost savings mean money in the bank for Greener Pastures Grazing Management.

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To set up for bale grazing, Kenyon spreads 400 bales across 10 acres.

“Lush green pastures are a resulting benefit of bale grazing,” says Kenyon.

Tom Krawiec and his partner Janice Baker know they’re different Alberta ranchers.They don’t own any cows—“not a one” says Krawiec. There’s not a tractor to be found in sight. Seeding is something someone else does. And besides the two quarters they own, any other land affiliated with their ranch is rented. These two entrepreneurial spirits own and operate De Le Terre Farms, which is French for “of the earth”. That title truly captures the spirit of this profitable operation, which makes its living custom grazing 2,600 animals for six other families in North Central Alberta.

Location and OwnershipDe La Terre Farms is located 23 kilometres southwest of Athabasca, and is typical of northern Boreal forests, where there lies a subtle mosaic of aspen woodlands, fescue grass, shrub and wetlands. This gently rolling landscape is otherwise referred to as Alberta’s Parkland Region. It was the beauty of this landscape that drew Krawiec and Baker to purchase their half section here nine years ago, so they could actually make a profit while ranching. “The most unique thing we do is making 100% of our living on the farm. And in this area that is extremely rare,” says Baker.

DE LA TERRE: Making an Art out of Bale Grazing

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Management HistoryKrawiec, a self-proclaimed town boy who grew up in the Swan Hills oil patch, had a love for farming. When a fellow oil patcher spoke about the principles of holistic range management, both Krawiec and Baker took the course so they too could learn how best to make a living off the land, without harming the environment.

They both enrolled in the Ranching for Profit course, a California operation that offers annual courses in Alberta. And both emphasize the time saving techniques they learned, make their farming operation unique and profitable.

They started out with 40 cow/calf pairs in two-acre paddocks, which included, as Krawiec

says, a lot of fencing. “We began with a perimeter fence around 160 acres. It didn’t take us long to realize that we needed to get our labour and time costs down,” says Krawiec of the amount of time they spent fencing. Now they work with groups of 200 animals in larger fields.

Another time-saving technique they use was teaching their cows to come to the sound of a simple cow bell. “Our reason?” says Krawiec. “Cattle are didactic, which means they recognize things visually; they’re meant to be instructed. So if one person moving the cows always wears the same hat, changes the hat from a cowboy hat to a ball cap one day, the cows will react differently. With a bell anyone can move them.”

In 2004, swath grazing was incorporated into their ranching program. “I worked for a neighbour and did a pile of swath grazing for him,” says Krawiec. “I really cut my teeth working for him.” And so began a program where they were moving cattle every three days, using a single strand, high tensile wire and polywire. “We use temporary polywire, on a spooler, so that when the animals are introduced into the swath, they go down one row, then the next and then finally on the third if the field is split into three.”

He uses a 24-volt cordless drill with a masonry bit to put the step-in posts into frozen ground. “I use four joules of electricity in the fence. That’s where I feel comfortable and know I’ll have fewer problems,” he explains. “I know it sounds like a no brainer thing, but using that cordless drill and bit is amazingly fast. We can drill those holes into the frozen ground and be done—quickly.”

Current Management StrategiesIn 2006, Krawiec and Baker started intensive bale grazing to gain the nutrient impact necessary to increase their summer grass production. “We put enough bales in a row for four days depending on the size of the herd. We set the bales on end so that it’s easy to cut the twine off, and space them 20 feet apart. And we let them bale graze, much like we would when the cows swath graze.”

Krawiec purchased oats for swath grazing the previous year, which had been swathed right at the start of the milk stage. “We’ve tested at the end of January and got 14½% protein. We’ve put our herd of early calvers out there in mid-March and in a matter of no time they’ve gained 100 pounds and are still lactating. Calves that are grazed and kept out of the corrals are so much healthier.”

Aerial maps also help Krawiec select the fields he’s going to put the bales in, so that when he purchases the feed, he has them delivered directly to the field to be bale grazed. “We buy all our feed and plan out where they need to go. Since we don’t have a tractor, just horses, we have to pre-plan what will happen. Winter is for reading and visiting. In fact, we started our Christmas visiting on December 15 and didn’t finish until mid-January,” laughs Krawiec.

Water has been the one real challenge for De La Terre. “We had one wreck where there was a period of time with not enough snow—you need to plan on it. So now Krawiec uses a black insulated PVC pipe extending from a small heated stock tank, out 120 feet to the paddock where the cattle are.

“I have pushed my animals too hard and lost condition,” he explains. “It’s really an art to know how much or how little the animals need. It just doesn’t come from one year’s experience.”

Benefits of Best Management“The best benefit is to the land itself,” says Krawiec. “It’s simply phenomenal. A friend showed me the condition of his land after he began intensive bale grazing, setting his bales 40 feet apart. I thought ‘Oh Boy’, but the result was mind-boggling. He had an eight-fold increase in his grass. And that’s how I want to do it in 2006.

“The yardage component of our feeding program is around $0.03 a day per animal. That makes winter pretty easy. And pretty profitable.”

Baker agrees. “I know farm families who have had to chase their kids away from home because there’s just no future. The way we’re operating shows that you can ranch and run animals and make a profit.”

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“Calves that are grazed and kept out of the corrals are so much healthier,” says Krawiec.

Krawiec sets the bales on end, 20 feet apart, so that it’s easy to cut the twine off.

Glen Smith is not like most conventional farmers.But he’d probably take that comment as a compliment, thanks to his innovative and affordable farming practices.“I value my time, and I’m of the opinion that working harder does not always mean working smarter.” For this farmer, his goal is to work towards grazing his cattle 365 days a year.

Location and OwnershipSmith runs 300 commercial cow/calf pairs on 2,200 acres, eight kilometres west of Vermilion. He grew up enjoying acreage life, but never had the practical experience of growing up on the farm and doing chores like so many other generational farmers. He did, however, spend many hours on his Uncle’s operation, and earned his agriculture degree from the University of Alberta in 1984. Glen and his brother bought their first quarter of land together in 1979 and the farm grew in size from there.

The Vermilion area is picturesque country, where the landscape consists of numerous tree-ringed small lakes, ponds and sloughs that provide a major habitat for waterfowl. The climate is marked by short, warm summers and long, cold winters with continuous snow cover. With an average mean winter temperature

of –12.5º Celsius, Smith’s goal of trying to graze throughout the year could actually be achievable.

Management History“We were calving in February and March, in corrals, and basically doing it the hard way,” he explains about his management history. “Our herd at the time was around 80 head, and I was also working part-time. It just got to be too much work,” says Smith, who at the time

was also growing the herd to its present size. “I was checking cows every three hours, treating frozen ears and sick calves. It was just a killer and I knew there had to be a better way.”

Current Livestock ManagementToday, Smith calves out 300 cows in three different breeding groups (of around 90 animals) starting mid-May. Smith is also working towards grazing his animals 365 days a year by keeping his mature cows on stockpiled feed in the winter away from the farmstead. He puts up his own feed when necessary, but is of the philosophy that less time spent using large equipment means bigger benefits in cost savings.

“The cows calve as one group about eight kilometres from home, with the heifers as a separate group (closer to the main yard site). The cows do not get bedding and they are never in the corrals,” says Smith.

In the winter, his animals use snow as their primary water source. “If snow is not available, as was the case last year, I will allow them access to the river or dugouts, but that has only happened once in the past six years. Smith says the cows do have some direct access to water, but it’s something he wants to change thanks to the knowledge he’s gained as an Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) facilitator in the area. “Being an EFP facilitator has taught

GLEN SmITh: Unconventional Changes Mean Greater Benefits

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me to think innovatively, as well as being a responsible producer.”

Spring and summer water is mainly through off-site watering. Some direct access is allowed with relatively short duration grazing.

The cows graze mainly seeded forages. “I believe in multi-species mixes and use a lot of various species,” explains Smith. The main grass species are meadow brome or smooth brome but I have also used crested wheatgrass, reed canarygrass, orchard grass, tall fescue, creeping red fescue, and dahurian wildrye. I also utilize various alfalfa cultivars and cicer milkvetch and have also experimented with sainfoin, birdsfoot trefoil, and kura clover.”

Smith says some native range is used for late season grazing. “I am very much an opportunistic grazer in that if neighbours will let me rent aftermath pasture, I will also use this to stretch out the grazing season.

“To incorporate any change on my farm, it has to make financial sense, and you have to understand how that change might ultimately affect the environment,” Smith says about how he looks at making decisions. “I base them on three pillars: economics/finances, the environment and social aspects.” He also considers if the changes he’s considering, are going to help him manage the time he spends on the farm better.

Benefits of Best ManagementSmith says it’s now less work for him to calve closer to four times as many animals. “Last year I treated only two calves, I don’t need to check them nearly as often (maybe once, sometimes twice a day). He also says scours and navel illness are now a distant memory.”

Having the livestock on the land year round, manuring in the field rather than in a confined feeding area, has improved soil fertility and reduced his fertilizer costs. Another direct benefit to having unconfined feeding areas is

overall improved herd health–lice infestations, for example, have decreased.

“There’s no question it’s hard to quantify in terms of dollars how my changes have affected my financial bottom line,” says Smith. “But I know I spend less time managing my animals, fewer hours using my equipment and winter feeding costs are lower today, than they were before I implemented these changes.

“To me, if it means less work, I’m all for it,” says Smith. And if those changes mean bigger benefits and an improved financial bottom line, it may be just the way to farm–unconventionally.

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“To incorporate any change on my farm, it has to make financial sense,” says Smith.

Smith’s cows graze mainly seeded forages on his Vermilion area farm.

The Seven Persons Creek twists and weaves for five miles through two quarters of Steve Haupt’s farm, located in the Cypress County of southeastern Alberta. This second generation farmer has grown up on the property and has seen the direct affects of what heavy traffic from cattle can do to wintering in creeks and the resulting damage to trees and riparian areas.

Now that he’s at the helm of their family’s farm, he’s taken the measures to implement change for his kids and future farming generations.

Location and OwnershipThe Haupt farm is located three kilometers, northeast of Seven Persons, Alberta, 15 kilometres south west of Medicine Hat. His father John, bought 320 acres and three quarters of lease land in 1961, where Steve and his sister Stephanie grew up. The farm is situated in the brown soil zone of Alberta, and incorporates both dryland and irrigated farming.

Management HistoryWhile growing up, Haupt was always involved in the farm and after graduating from high school, decided this was the place for him to be. He started renting land at the time and the two are still farming together. “My involvement with the farm was a gradual process,” he explains.“Dad is doing a little less every year,” with many of the management decisions starting to fall on his shoulders.

As Haupt describes it, their operation is small, but well-diversified. “I always say that we have a little bit of everything, and not much of anything,” Haupt says. “Cattle really isn’t our main operation. We grow alfalfa and cereal crops on three quarters of land, which

we irrigate, use one quarter of lease land for pasture and another two quarters of dryland cereal production. We only had 10 cows for many years and we didn’t see the pressure on the creek that we have until recently. We would winter the cows in the creek because we thought the area provided them with fantastic shelter. But because of the heavy traffic in the bushes along the creek, we’ve seen them destroy the trees and bushes and subsequent riparian areas.”

Current Management MethodsToday Haupt is running 45 commercial Limousin-Charolais cross cows on their property. And he’s seen the difference even a subtle increase in 35 head can make along a creek bed. “We increased the herd size in 2000 and we saw the resulting damage. I knew I had to make some changes.”

The process of change, for Haupt, began with finding out about the Canada Alberta Farm Stewardship Program (CAFSP), through his Cypress County Watershed group. He applied for funding to fence off the creek area, and redirect the corral runoff into a 200 by 100 foot containment pond. “We built a berm in the fall of 2005, so that the springtime runoff from our corrals doesn’t flow into the creek.

STEvE hAupT: Moving Cattle to Stubble Field Revitalizes Seven Persons Creek

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“The cattle are completely locked out of the creek in the winter, but they’re not restricted in the summer. Before we use to winter them on that site and give them access to the creek. Although the area was sheltered, and the corrals were there, we knew they didn’t need to be there,” says Haupt. He still allows the cattle to access the corrals for water and as a wind break, but relies on feeding the herd on a stubble field, 1/4 mile away from the creek.

Since the cattle no longer have access to the creek, Haupt built a water trough from an old earthmover tire. He uses water fed by gravity from a dugout on top of a hill that fills from a current irrigation system. “We used to chop a hole in the ice on the creek. We needed a

water source to get them out of the creek. The pilot light from a small space heater keeps it from freezing in the winter. I’ve been using an 80 pound propane bottle for two years now,” says Haupt. “It keeps going all winter long and is very fuel efficient.”

Haupt has also moved to a fall calving program, starting mid-August and finishing by the end of October. “We started fall calving in 2000. Dad had always thought a fall calving program would work for us and in 1999 a very unmotivated bull thrust us into it. We wean our calves the beginning of June and run them on grass until the fall and sell them as yearlings. I can’t say that we’re doing any better financially, but all our calves have two ears and a tail,” says Haupt.

Benefits of Best ManagementHaupt says it’s too soon to see any benefits from the changes he’s made recently on his land. But he believes his farm will benefit in the future.

“It’s too early to see any change yet on my land. But I’m doing what I can today because I think we can’t afford not to in this province,” he explains. “It’s just as easy to regulate ourselves now, than if we are forced to later on.” Since the Seven Persons Creek ultimately flows into the South Saskatchewan River, through Medicine Hat, he knows that he has to be accountable

for the quality of water when it comes through his land. And he plans on testing the water at different intervals so that he can monitor his progress in improving the quality of water found in Seven Persons Creek.

“Our farm is a beautiful place and I’m doing what I can to keep it that way. I can’t afford not to,” he says.

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Haupt built a water trough from an old earthmover tire.

This aerial shot shows where Haupt built his berm along the northwest corner of Seven Persons Creek.

Ron Israelson has been swath grazing his animals so long, he can’t remember when he first heard about feeding cattle on open swaths.Fifteen years ago, swath grazing was a relatively new farming practice. Today, more and more cattle producers in Western Canada are swathing late-seeded annuals in mid-September so that their animals can graze most of the winter months.

Location and OwnershipIsraelson says it’s a technique that offers the right fit for their ranch, situated 24 kilometres northwest of Provost, in Alberta’s Central Parkland area. Ron farms with his son Darryl, and their ranch includes 7,000 acres and 175 commercial Hereford cows. Having spent all of his life on the ranch and in that area, Israelson knows what works and what doesn’t when it comes to looking after his animals.

Management HistoryIsraelson considers his place to be more of a grain farm than anything. “There are those who have an awful lot of cows on not much land, where we’re just the opposite—we have a lot of land for the number of cows we run. “We were

feeding bales and loose hay using a Heston stackhand years ago, and we probably started feeding hay the last week of November. I don’t remember exactly how we began swath grazing but I believe we were snowed in one fall and we moved the cattle into the field by accident. We tried a little patch and it seemed to work. Some tend to get a little worried when the swaths get snowed under, but that never really bothered me. The cows usually find the swath under the snow, or after the snow melts.”

Current Management MethodsIn 2005, Israelson’s son Darryl put a new twist on the farm’s seasoned grazing techniques and is now experimenting with corn grazing the animals. He places all 175 animals in a 90-acre area—30 which are seeded to corn, with the remaining 60 acres in oats.

“Last year was the first year we had corn in the same field we used for swath grazing,” says Ron. “We didn’t want to seed a whole pile of corn, but just enough to see if it worked or not.” The cattle didn’t take to the corn immediately, but once they got use to it, “they cleaned it right up,” he says chuckling.

Electric fences keep the cattle in on 15 to 20 acre parcels. The animals are typically in those parcels for up to two weeks. Israelson says with a good crop, 90 acres will last the cattle two and a half months.

“In 2005 our cattle ran on stubble and hayland until three days before Christmas. The cattle were swath grazing until mid-March. But we always give them some supplemental feed when the grazing gets poor for that extra bit of energy, which both Darryl and I feel is important.”

RON ISRAELSON: Long-Time Swath Grazer Finds the Right Balance

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A new twist on the Israelson’s seasoned grazing techniques has led Ron and Darryl to experiment with corn grazing.

Water is another important part of the swath grazing equation. Darryl was instrumental in setting up a solar pump system to water the animals. The pump, situated on a dugout, is covered with straw bales for insulation value. The hut is 10 feet square in size that has a 1 ¼” hose that drains back down into the dugout at a 30 per cent grade. Darryl also covered the system with plastic to help keep the unit from freezing.

The cattle spend anywhere from 60 to 75 days grazing, but Israelson says they also have access to 40 acres of grassland. But it’s the entire swath grazing experience that he says his animals benefit most from. “We just find it’s better for our cattle. They get lots of exercise, they’ve calved mostly by themselves and we’re virtually free of Caesarean-sections and maybe have one every other year.” He’s even put his

first-calf heifers out in the swaths with the main herd, which hasn’t been a disappointment.

Benefits of Best ManagementIsraelson does acknowledge the benefits he experiences. “First of all, you don’t have to put feed up. You don’t have to haul the wastage away and you don’t have to haul feed home. But another thing I can say truthfully about our operation is that we don’t overgraze,” something Israelson emphasizes is very important when swath grazing. “We’re a salvage operation from the word go. We crop 3,500 acres of wheat, barley, oats and canola, in addition to the 30 acres of corn. The drought in 2002 was not a great one for grazing and that year we ended up selling over 1,000 bales,” he explains. “We usually have enough hay for three years. You have to be ready for both extremes.”

Israelson gives one final piece of advice for other producers who might be considering swath grazing: “I would say be sure to have a portable shelter, especially if you don’t have good bush cover close by, in case a storm comes along. We’ve been swath grazing longer than anyone around here, probably because I’m lazy,” laughs Israelson. “It takes time all this baling, hauling feed, feeding animals, starting tractors, running around.”

But when looking at the big picture, Ron Israelson says he’s found the right balance: “It’s just better for the cattle and better for us.”

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When cows are watering at the trough, a trap door on the right side of the trough gives access to a float, in case there is ice build up.

Israelson uses five gallon pails to hold fibreglass fence posts so that he can easily move his electric fence.

Having grown up on prime southern Alberta ranchland, Dave Berry knows what a rotational grazing program is all about. He’s taken that knowledge and put it to work for his family’s cattle operation at their new location at Sunset House, Alberta.

Location and OwnershipBerry moved his family in 2000, after growing up and ranching near Cardston. The new operation is now situated on five quarters at Sunset House, 35 kilometres east of Valleyview, in northern Alberta. The commercial British-based cattle herd sits around 100 head, and includes 35 heifers. Greywooded soils abound in the area with heavy clay. Gone are the Chinook winds that once prevailed, but now Berry contends with more snow, and one common similarity between the two areas of the province as of late—a lack of moisture.

Management HistoryFor Berry, the change in landscape was great. “I came up to run cattle, but bought a farm,” he says. “When in Rome, you have to do what the Romans do. So I had to understand what they did up here and why they were doing it. There

are lots of trees up here for natural shelter. Our place is pretty much all cleared, except for trees on the fencelines. But the wind doesn’t blow up here like it does down south. The only fault to my new place is that it’s a little flat.”

But one of the first tasks at hand was to build a fence. “We put up a lot of fence in the first two years,” he says. “We put in nine and a half miles of fencing and we went with all electric. When I moved up here, I thought electric fences were just pretend fences. But after I compared the pricing for barbed wire, I’ll never look back.

Electric fences are just too flexible—you step in your fence, hook on to your hot wire and you’ve got another fence.”

But Berry offers one piece of advice, something he learned from experience. “You need to buy the biggest, ugliest energizer you can so that your cows only touch it once. If you underpower it, your cows will be testing it all the time. I haven’t had any cows out yet.”

Some of the land Berry purchased had been summer fallowed, so he started seeding it back to grass: meadow brome, creeping red fescue and timothy to name a few. “The huge mistake I made was not seeding more legumes,” says Berry, for nutrition and fertilization purposes. He still puts up some oats as well as 400 to 600 round bales for hay. “We used red clover for our hay because that’s what was here. But trying to make hay out of it was a nightmare. I couldn’t make that stuff dry.”

Current Management StrategyFor grazing, Berry likes Siberian varieties such as annik (or yellow blossom) alfalfa. His reasoning—“It’s a longer-lived legume. I have discovered they will take a lot more trampling and harder to winter kill, than other types of alfalfa. I also like a blend of alsike clover and cicer milk vetch with my grass.

DAvE BERRy: Cardston Rancher Implements Learned Grazing Practices in the Peace Country

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“Every year I keep seeding more and more grass, and I wonder how much to put in the blend. With meadow brome it was expensive—a 70% blend was around $3/pound for seed. Last year I bought some that I found for around $1/pound,” Berry says. “I also look for the brome seed that has the quack grass in it, because it will bring the cost of the blend down. I’ve learned that quack grass is a good grass to graze because it is lush, the palatability and nutrition is good, you can’t kill it and best of all it’s free.”

The grazing parcels were already divided because of the way it had been farmed, and all he did was fence it for size. His largest parcel is 60 acres, which he cross-fences, using a step-in portable electric fence. “This year we used about 310 acres to graze 85 pair or about 3.6 acres per pair, but it was very dry. We have done it on much less other years.”

“We try to target for no more than three days in each grazing cell,” he explains. “My advice is to keep your stocking density higher for short periods, followed by adequate rest, but don’t ever get ahead of your grass. You can’t afford to abuse it and loose it.”

He has swath grazed his animals on 200 acres of oats, saying that he’s a happy guy when he doesn’t have to start a tractor until January or February. “But if I could do what I want, I would throw some barley or winter wheat into the mix to increase the palatability and nutrition of the blend. I wasn’t entirely happy with the straight oats because I couldn’t get them to clean it up entirely.

“I won’t be swath grazing this year because I have lots of good quality hay, poor quality grain, and I bought some timothy straw. If you use those aftermath products, which there’s lots of up in this country, it cheapens up your ration. And to do that it just makes sense.”

His cows lick snow for water, which he “very much prefers. You can’t beat good quality snow.” But he cautions that you give your animals access to either all snow or all water, there’s no middle ground, or you’ll loose condition on the cows.

Benefits of Best ManagementOne of the main advantages to his grazing program, says Berry, is using a controlled water source. He uses an over ground, 1½” PVC pipe as a water line that runs almost three miles. “The lay of the land helps,” explains Berry. “One of the reasons why I chose this place was because there was an 80 foot vertical drop. We’re not pushing water up hill.

“I had a choice of building a dugout, that would service one field, or lay pipe, where I can splice Ts and place a trough wherever I want. It’s not a trouble-free system, as freezing is an issue. But when you bury the line it adds to your overall price, and you loose a lot of the flexibility. But overall it is a good summer water source.

“I’ve learned that proper grazing is both an art and a science,” he says. “But I’m getting better at it.” Berry says he’s seeing healthier stands, with lots of species diversity, fewer weeds, and overall, better quality grass, leading to better gains.

“We all need to farm a little smarter, a lot more the way mother nature intends,” says Berry. “If we do, it puts a few more dollars in our own pockets.”

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When Berry’s cows are out grazing, the largest parcel he uses is 60 acres, which he cross-fences using a step-in portable electric fence.

Berry still uses a tractor to feed his animals, but says he’s a happy guy when he doesn’t have to start the tractor until January or February.

James Ford fell into swath grazing his cattle completely by accident.1999 happened to be a really wet year and getting the oat crop off the field was a little more difficult than most. So he left the crop in the field and let the cows clean it up. Since that time, Ford hasn’t looked back at how he used to feed his cattle.

Location and OwnershipFord ranches with his wife Lori, 15-year-old son Tyson and 12-year-old daughter Sierra, along the scenic Sounding Creek, eight kilometres north of Chinook, and 33 kilometres west of Oyen. This third generation farm family runs 325 head of commercial Red Angus/Simmental cross-cows on 8,800 acres.

The ranch is situated in the Dry Mixedgrass Subregion, which is the warmest and driest in the province. It has a typical continental climate with cold winters, warm summers and low precipitation.

Management HistoryFord says the costs that his farm endured were quite typical to other traditional cattle operations in the province—high fuel bills, baler twine,

tractor maintenance, and being tied down to the farm. He was also spending up to six hours a day in the tractor to feed his cattle.

That first year for grazing Ford learnt that he didn’t split the field into small enough feed plots. So he skipped a year. And it was back to the lack of free time and feeding cows all winter.

“The light came on after that year,” says Ford, “so we decided to try it again using the smaller feed plots. This seemed to be the answer with the animals cleaning up the swaths really well, leaving little waste.”

Current Management MethodsToday Ford is fully committed to feeding his cows by swath grazing. The herd first goes into the 240 acre grazing parcel around the third week of December, and typically doesn’t come out until sometime in March.

That first year Ford used oats for his cows to graze, but he is now finding that a spring triticale crop fits best with their eastern Alberta location. “Most years out here we’re begging for moisture and the triticale crop stays a little greener, longer than most crops,” says Ford. “We seed around May 20th, and try to swath so that the crop is in the firm, hard dough stage.

“You’ve got to be a little careful because if you swath too late, the crop gets a little dark and you run the risk of not getting as much from the crop as you should. This year (2006) proved to be an unusually wet and muddy spring, so we pulled the cows off early. But once it dried out we put the cows back into the field to clean it up.”

Ford’s cows run in managed strips that are a half mile wide to a full mile long. He uses an electric fencing system and steel posts to move the animals back and forth over the 240 acre swath grazing area. The swaths are large at 50 feet, and the grazing strips lead the animals

fORD RANChES: Falling into Swath Grazing Brings Unexpected Results

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back to the yard and corrals, where they can use a stock waterer and bed down in case of a storm.

“If a big storm blows in from the north, they just hunker down and come into the corrals, which are at the north end of the yard,” says Ford. “The only other thing I’d like to add are some portable wind breaks.”

Benefits of Best ManagementSo in the end, what’s the biggest benefit for their ranch? Ford says it’s the free time: time saved from not hauling bales and constantly feeding animals. “From a personal standpoint, we’re not tied down all the time. We can take off for a couple of days and I know the cows will be all right.

“From a business point of view, it’s definitely cut back on our labour costs: my son and I can move the fence in less than three hours,” says Ford. “It’s also cut my fuel bills, buying twine and other costs associated with baling a crop.

“When we first started doing this, my Dad scratched his head and asked ‘What are you doing?’, but we were simply trying something different,” he defends. “He thought we were just wasting, wrecking and getting nothing from a good crop.”

But in the end, Ford says he’s not looking back. He’s even quit moving snow that drifts up over the swaths. “We move the fence line if needed and when the snow softens up the cows go back and find the fresh swaths and graze down to get the crop. The cows get to do all the work!”

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Ford uses a spring triticale crop for grazing because it fits best with their eastern Alberta location.

Ford says the biggest benefit for their ranch is the free time: timesaved from not hauling bales and constantly feeding animals.

Kim Nielsen likes to ensure his grazing philosophies are more than just talk.He wants them to work and at the end of the day, save him time and money.

Location and OwnershipNielsen first came to Stavely, Alberta in 1979 as a trainee with the International Agricultural Exchange Association. He was born and raised on a farm at Hyllested, along the east coast of Jutland, Denmark. Nielsen always had his sights on a career in agriculture and had both a diploma and college degree in natural science and agriculture from his homeland. Once he landed on Canadian soil, he knew he’d found a place to call home.

After working for the Municipal District of Peace as an agricultural fieldman in the early eighties, Nielsen settled in Rocky Mountain House in March 1985 where he continued his career for Clearwater County. In 1992, Nielsen’s dream of ranching became a reality after he purchased 160 acres south east of Rocky Mountain House. “I have had a passion for agriculture my entire life and this “fix-er upper farm” was ideal for us, my wife Pernille and our two children Anders and Kristina,” he says.

Management HistoryIn 1993, the Nielsens bought their first 25 Red Angus crossbred heifers. “Our main focus all along was to be cautious with our machinery and other investments on the farm,” says Nielsen. “Besides wanting to have a piece of ground of my own—to explore things, test things and experience a really wonderful way of life— I had to make sure that my agriculture endeavors were making money. With Clearwater County’s strong support of agricultural assistance to its ratepayers the farm also gave me a chance to walk the talk, and it greatly complimented my job as agricultural fieldman.”

Nielsen’s management practices are fairly typical—calving in February and March and selling calves mid-November. “I’ve debated if this is the most optimum calving season for us. But we get a decent premium on the heavier calves in the fall, the farm had an excellent barn already and the relative low number of cows made for manageable late winter calving chores. Granted, cows calving this time of the year demand close attention to body condition.”

So as a result, the quality of the feed then became very important to Nielsen’s operation. He began experimenting with a mixture of oats, and fall rye for his swath-grazing program nine years ago. “Whatever those cows are eating has to meet the nutritional requirements of those cows in their third trimester with the added challenges of cold weather, crusted and deep snow.

Nielsen started looking for organizations to assist him make better management decisions to help him keep on top of his expenses. “It seemed only natural to extend the grazing season, after we figured out that the biggest chunk of our pay cheque was going to the cow’s wintering costs. We wanted to leave as much as possible in our own pockets after sale of the calves,” he says and calving in February

KIm NIELSEN: Rocky Mountain House Rancher believes Swath Grazing fits all Farm Sizes

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and March did not appear to offer fewer opportunities for reducing winter-feeding costs over other calving seasons.

In 2001, Nielsen participated in Alberta Agriculture Food and Rural Development’s Cow/Calf Cost of Analysis project for select producers in various locations throughout the province. The project, he says, was like a report card on his progress that helped him compare his costs per cow and further refine ways to extend the grazing season.

“I began to record what we were spending our money on and the number of hours per cow per day we use to make that money and the

real eye opener for us was how we stacked up against other operations,” says Nielsen.

The quality of the crop then became very important to Nielsen’s operation. “Whatever those cows are eating has to meet the nutritional requirements of those cows in their second and third trimester,” Nielsen says. He intercrops fall rye with oats seeded late June and swathed late September, even though many have criticisms of the late seeding.

“Many believe that since the crop is planted late, you’ve wasted the growing season. But fall rye grows back in the spring, and you’ll often get a nice re-growth from early May and on into mid June, when it is time to seed the next year’s swath grazing crop. I find, as a crop, it utilizes the growing season very well. If you have any swath material left over after the snow is gone, the cows will aggressively go in after that young green rye growth and clean up the aftermath from the winter,” says Nielsen. The crop will surpass the nutritional requirements of the cow and allow us to lean out the total ration by providing them with straw, fed in bale feeders, further promoting the cow’s cleaning up of the swaths.

Nielsen’s theory he believes can be practiced: the more grazing days you have, the lower your feed costs are. “And if you get maximum yields

you will surpass 300 grazing days per acre in the Rocky Mountain House area. So to achieve this, palatability is important to guarantee clean-up.” To further reduce input costs Nielsen has switched to direct seeding where waste could present a problem for the seeding operation.

Current StrategiesToday Nielsen runs 88 Red Angus/Gelbvieh cross-cows with additional rented summer pasture. The 2005/2006 season allowed Nielsen to swath graze, bale graze and early spring-graze stockpiled grass and fall rye re-growth. Hay was only fed for 92 days from February,

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Nielsen’s theory he believes can be practiced: the more grazing days you have, the lower your feed costs are.

Nielsen says these T-bar bases have a low center of gravity and are very stable for holding the fibreglass fenceposts.

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March and periodically during April and May.In reverse terms Nielsen’s cows grazed for 273 days. Over the years attention has also been paid to cow performance such as calculating the calf’s weaning weight as a percentage of the cow’s weight. This guided him to look more favourably towards to a smaller framed cow.

Nielsen estimates his cows are getting less than a third of an acre per day. “You get a quick sense of the number of posts and the size of the parcel you need for the number of cows you’re grazing.”

Moving his electric fence is a daily chore for Nielsen, but one he says takes no more than five or six minutes to do. “Our fields are long

and narrow, with the widest front at 200 metres. The entire ranch has single-strand high tensile wire for perimeter fences and the cross fence is made up of poly wire, on 5/8 inch fiberglass posts loosely held in a 3/4 inch pipe welded to a T-bar base made from old grader-blades. This has been a good invention and a vast improvement over other means of stringing a fence across a frozen field that Nielsen has tried. The posts are cheap at $1.75 each and lightweight; I use an old golf bag to slide them into when moving the fence. It also sits nicely on the quad and takes up very little space. The grader blade bases have a low center of gravity and are very stable,” explains Nielsen.

“The benefit to using this T grader blade base, is that it is easy to place the fence where you want it. You can easily zigzag your poly wire across the field and the fibreglass posts are better than steel rebar as they will bend and keep good tension on the fence. The zigzag configuration allows for several moves of the fence before the ends have to be moved up the perimeter fence. A well-grounded 110-volt fencer is an important element to managing cattle so they don’t bust through the fence. You have to create a good psychological barrier right off the get go,” says Nielsen.

For water, Nielsen directs his animals to stock waterers back at the corrals, and lately portable

windbreaks have been built to offer some wind protection out in the field where bedding is provided as well. The windbreaks are moved along as the swathes are consumed.

Benefits of Best ManagementAs for moving the fence, Nielsen says it’s a simple chore that even their daughter Kristina enjoyed doing while still at home, each afternoon after getting off the school bus. “It just illustrates how easy it is to do, and how little time it takes, especially when comparing the time it traditionally takes to feed the cattle, starting up your tractor and hauling bales, besides the machinery costs to do so.

“The second greatest benefit I would say is that when spring rolls around, the manure distribution blows your mind. It’s from one end of the field to the other. The nutrient value has been quite surprising and it greatly reduces the need for commercial fertilizer for the subsequent crop,” says Nielsen.

“We realize we fit a lower scale of farm. But I firmly believe swath grazing is size-neutral and offers some rewarding experiences no matter the number of cows you have. You have to make grazing fit for your operation and swath grazing is a significant step towards grazing year round.”

Nielsen demonstrates the flexibility of his electric fence on homemade T bar bases.

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has served as Deseret’s operations manager, with Weldon Thomson functioning as the general manager.

The highest elevation on both ranches is 4,300 feet, which Thomson says, is a 1,000 foot difference from that of Lethbridge. Virtually no trees can be found high up on the Milk River Ridge. It’s an inspiring landscape of gently rolling grasslands, cut deeply in places by the north fork of the Milk River. It represents the least fragmented and most extensive area of foothills fescue grassland in Canada. These big high rolling hills offer many draws, explains Jensen, which provides the cattle with the only cover while out swath grazing.

Management HistoryThe mild southern Alberta winters were used to the ranch’s advantage for many years, allowing them to keep nearly 6,000 head of cows (and at times, up to 3,000 yearlings summer only) out on the native pasture as long as they could or until the weather would determine otherwise, says Jensen. “We would typically feed the cattle out in rows, where we’d feed a blend of alfalfa hay and straw, and that was using the older square bales,” says Jensen, referring to the amount of time that would be necessary to cut and feed out the bales. “We were also supplementing the cattle with 14% range pellets. These pellets tend to be costly since they’re made from a grain

byproduct, and the cost depends on grain prices,” explains Thomson.

“Our change was economically-driven,” explains Jensen. “We don’t put up our own hay, except for a little bit,” he says of the 2,000 to 3,000 round bales they make and use as back up feed for 1,500 bred heifers. “We custom farm and pay someone to cut the hay, bale it and haul it. It was costing us $12/tonne to feed it back out again. So we decided to leave the

SwATh GRAZING ALLOwS DESERET RANChES TO BE DOLLARS AhEAD

Weldon Thomson, General Manager, Deseret Ranches.

Deseret Ranches is fully aware of the economics necessary to run a profitable business.Ingenious inventions and time-saving devices, combined with the benefits of swath grazing, allows the ranch to be dollars ahead, says its operations manager, Ken Jensen.

Location and OwnershipDeseret Ranches runs more than 6,000 mother cows on two separate ranches, the Knight Ranch and the Bar K2 Ranch. Both properties are located near the Montana border, with the Knight property located 41 kilometres south of Raymond and the Bar K2 situated 33 kilomotres east of Cardston. For the past 28 years, Jensen

Ken Jensen, Operations Manager, Deseret Ranches.

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feed in the field,” says Jensen. “We eliminated the baling, hauling the feed home and then hauling it back out and went right to the swath grazing.”

Current Management StrategiesToday Deseret focuses its feeding strategies to limited grazing on 3,000 acres of oats. And depending on the contour of the land, 600 to 1,000 animals will graze on 50 to 100 acres at a time. “We estimate the feed available from one to three tons per acre and depending on the size of animal, they will be eating 20 to 30 pounds per day, to allocate enough feed for a week or so.”

Samples are taken often and analyzed to help the managers keep on top of the protein and energy levels. “When the cattle are out in the

swaths, the protein level drops a little but there’s not much difference from when we first cut the crop to what is there in February. At that time of the year it may look ugly and yellow or even black on top, but the swath makes its own shed. It repels water, and when you barely uncover the swath, the crop underneath is green, just as it would be if it were first cut. It holds its value real well,” says Jensen.

Deseret has also found it’s important to properly time when the crop is seeded. “We get out on the ground as quick as we can, generally by the middle of May if the weather permits,” says Jensen. “We use to seed the crop the mid to later part of June and we found we just ran out of moisture. This year we cut on the first of August. We keep a real close eye on the oats, and try to cut just before the milk stage. We want the whole part of the plant alive. The cattle aren’t just eating the grain; they’re eating the whole plant.

“We really don’t want just the kernel because the cows will sort through to get the grain and turn the whole swath leaving it to blow or dry out,” Thomson explains. “The sooner you swath it, the more uniform the whole plant is.” Thomson also says they leave enough stubble to hold the swath up.

When it comes to water, Jensen says the ranch is blessed with a lot of springs. “We have a couple of places where we’re pumping straight from a well. There is no pressure system. We just turn the pump on and let it run 24 hours a day into big earth moving tire troughs with overflow accumulating into dugouts,” says Thomson.

Moving cattle is not an issue, says Jensen. “It only takes two of us two hours to move the fence. “We have an ingenious system we call a wire roller,” Jensen giggles. “We use old disk pans that are placed onto a big spool. We took a deferential out of an old truck and put it on the three-point hitch on the tractor. It rolls the wire up real fast—all in about 15 minutes.”

Deseret ranch built its own wire roller by using old disk pans placed on a big spool.

This photo shows the cattle out grazing on oats in January. The ranch cuts the oats just before the milk stage to try and keep the whole part of the plant alive.

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They also use 3/8 inch rebar posts for the electric fence. Thomson says that the galvanized aircraft cable, with 19 wires in the braid, is what they use for the wire. “It lasts for years really. It may fray some, but it’s very durable and flexible, and is a lot nicer to use than high tensile wire,” explains Thomson.

The ranch also acquired a wire stretcher that’s about three times the size of conventional ones. “We use it for pulling the rebar posts out of the frozen ground, either with a front-end loader, a three-point hitch, or a truck bale feeder—basically anything with some kind of hydraulic lift,” says Thomson.

Another tool used removes the wire from the insulator without turning off the power source which could be located a half mile or so away.

Benefits of Best ManagementOne of the things Jensen says Deseret benefits from its grazing program is having the manure more evenly spread over the field. “It saves on the ranches’ fertilizer bill. We really manure our ground well,” says Jensen. “You’d be surprised at how well it turns under in the spring. And since our farming is custom done, they get a little upset if the land is too packed so we try to get the animals off the land before first spring thaw,” says Jensen. The result is a field with an even distribution of manure and a cost savings on fertilizer.

The herd is also healthy since they’re out in a natural environment and not confined in corrals. “With so much room to graze there are no footrot problems,” says Jensen.

The ranch has also used fenceline weaning. “It’s low stress and very little treatment is required for the calf,” says Thomson. “We’ll be in a pasture with the cows and calves two to three days before weaning. During that time, we supplement both the cows and calves with the range pellets, so that the calf knows what it is. On weaning day, we’ll bring the pairs in, separate them, immunize the calves and then turn them back into the same pasture they came out of, with their mothers in an adjacent field. A sturdy barbed or even hot wire fence is between them so they can come up nose to nose. What I’ve seen is the calf will come up to the fence,

see its mom and then go back to grazing. They know the field, how to graze, where the water is and are accustomed to the pellet so they’re very much at home.

“Our purpose is to only supplement in the winter with swath grazing,” explains Thomson. “There have been years we grazed through the whole winter. A few years back we had five feet of snow at the end of October. When the weather breaks, you can get back on the native grass, or come back in on the swaths when we have to.”

Overall, both managers speak highly of Deseret’s grazing program. “We’ve seen our costs go way down. The cattle do really well swath grazing,” says Jensen. “Our neighbours were pretty skeptical when we started swath grazing, but when they start doing it, then you know you’re doing something right. There’s some waste of feed, due to freeze/thaw periods, but compared to baling, and hauling feed back and forth we are still dollars ahead.”

Deseret Ranches focuses its feeding strategies to limited grazing on 3,000 acres of oats.

An electric fence separates an oat re-growth field on the right, which at one time looked like the field on the left.

It was the type of winter day most ranchers dread having to feed cows: -25° Celsius with a bone-chilling wind.But Coronation rancher Wayne Black says his recollection of that day makes him grin. “My 18-year-old stepson Myles and I were out moving the electric fence we use for swath grazing. When I looked over at him while he was putting posts into the frozen ground with a slide hammer, I said ‘do you know that you would have to spend two to three hours on a tractor every day for a week to feed roughly the same amount of cows? You’d also have to bale and haul the feed home’.” It was a light bulb moment.

The change in that boy’s thinking is one of the many valuable lessons that has proven to Black that swath grazing fits his family’s lifestyle.

Location and OwnershipBlack grew up on his family’s farm, located 35 kilometres north of Coronation, along the Battle River. He took courses in the Vocational Agriculture program at Vermilion’s Lakeland College and began working at the auction mart in Provost, where he is still working as a fieldman. Black took over a very traditional farming operation in 1984 from his parents,

and started out with a small cowherd, that were mostly of Simmental and Charolais influence.

The home quarter lies south of the Battle River, in the middle of the Central Parkland Natural Subregion, a heavily populated fertile crescent in the middle of the province. The area shares the climatic and vegetation characteristics of the cold, northern forests and the warm, dry southern prairies.

Management HistoryBlack explains that neither grain farming nor cattle was “huge” for their operation many years ago. “We were feeding cattle probably in a very traditional way,” he says, “using traditional crops.” Silage also took up a big chunk of their time. Calving was timed around

March and April, and the systems in place were probably very typical of most mid-sized Alberta cattle operations.

He made the switch to swath grazing over 10 years ago, when Black decided it was time for a change. “My preference is to use Westford barley and spring triticale mix most of the time for grazing. But 2006 is the first year we tried oats in order to break the barley cycle for disease reasons.”

Grazing has started as early as August, but most of the time it’s mid-October, says Black. “I like to be out of the field by the 15th of March. If you don’t the animals start punching holes in the ground, and it’s hard to get the seed into it again.”

Grazing paddocks were built with the help of aerial photographs. “I would lay out my information on an aerial photo and put dots as to where those wooden posts should go. I hired a surveyor to come in and find those spots,” explains Black.

Today Black is a little more precise when mapping out his fields, using a Garmin Map 76 handheld GPS to get a straight line down the center of a half section. “It’s an excellent little tool. But if you use a GPS, get one that has the capability of mapping out your acres.”

wAyNE BLACK: Planned Paddocks Make for Easier Grazing

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Black advises that when planning your paddocks you need to put your wires in a big enough parcel so that it lasts the cows for a week. “Our wires run from north to south, so that the cattle graze the first paddock. The key is to have your parcels equal. If you don’t the wire isn’t equal when you’re moving it to different spots.

“Then to move the cows without gates, you lift the wire up with a two inch sewer pipe with a slot to hook the wire in. We place a 3/4 inch sucker rods every 45 to 50 feet to hold the wires in place. The rods need to be at least seven to eight feet tall, so that I can drive my truck underneath the wires,” Black says. “Quite often we use two of the sucker rods.”

Black has one parcel of land that was located north of the Battle River. “The land is just obnoxious to get to,” says Black of the northern parcel that is 30 kilometres away by road. “It

just made sense to me to use that land to the north for grazing, rather than baling it there, hauling it home and then bringing the feed back out again.” He also uses swath grazing at home for weaning and running calves in the wintertime.

“The easy part is moving the cows to the field. The hard part is keeping the cows from moving themselves,” Black says.

Current Management Strategies Today the cattle on Black’s farm have more of a black Angus influence. Water, says Black, should be a priority for those grazing. “There’s always a period of time where there’s not enough snow or the water’s frozen. You need to have a consistent watering system to get you through that period of time.” Black says he’s fortunate enough to have access to power for the field where he runs a sewer pump in a dugout 24 hours a day. He runs the line into a trough, when then overflows back into the dugout.

Black says he only had one day last winter when his water was not available. But he’s also learned some valuable lessons the hard way. “I like to do things as cheap as I can. But when you run out of water it’s bad. I’ve bought a cheap pump that only lasted 10 days. It pays to buy a good $750 to $800 cast iron pump. In that case quality really pays.”

He also has some advice on electric fencing. “Spend your money on the best fencer you can find. Then the second thing I would buy is a digital tester. This will indicate which direction you’re losing power in so it then becomes easy to start tracking any problems in your fence,” says Black. After those two major purchases Black recommends buying the wire, posts and insulators. “You don’t want too poor of a fencer. You want your cows to think they’re going to get a terrible shock. If that fence isn’t up to par, those cows will be testing it and that’s what you don’t want. Another good investment, he recommends, is a wire roller. “We built a wire roller on a skid steer where we can roll up nine miles of wire fairly quickly.”

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Swath grazing on wide open spaces at Coronation.

Black uses a sewer pump in a dugout to fill his water trough.

Keeping the stress levels low in his animals is also a priority for Black, especially at weaning. He installs paddles in the calf’s nose. “When the calf wants to suck, the paddle pushes the mother’s teat away, so the calf is unable to suck. Then at the real weaning time, the calf is already use to not having access to his mother’s milk. There’s very little stress on the calf or it’s mother—there’s no bawling or fence pacing either,” he explains.

Best Management BenefitsThe size of the field used for swath grazing, Black has learned over the years, is also important. “I think one of the biggest parts with swath grazing is that you can’t use too big of an area. If the paddocks are small and you do it right, there’s not much residue.

“The ultimate for me, that we’ve concluded, is that after one week we move the animals. That is basically four days of good grazing, two days for clean up and one day in making sure it’s all gone.

“The real plus for me has been the time management. It only takes an hour and a half per week to feed the main cowherd. And as any producer can tell you, getting on-farm help is always an issue. “It’s getting harder to find people to help all the time.”

Instead of Wayne asking Myles to give him a hand when there’s fencing to do, Myles now volunteers to do it by himself, laughs Black. And any rancher knows the value of a willing set of hands.

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For more information on grazing strategies, please contact one of the following PFRA offices:

Lethbridge Office Room 203, Federal Building 704 - 4th Avenue South LETHBRIDGE, Alberta T1J 0N8 Phone: (403) 327-4340 Fax: (403) 382-3198

Hanna Office 2nd Floor, Government of Canada Building 302 Centre Street, Box 428 HANNA, Alberta T0J 1P0 Phone: (403) 854-4448 Fax: (403) 854-4989

Red Deer Office #201, 4805 48 Ave,RED DEER, Alberta T4N 3T2Phone: (403) 340-4290Fax: (403) 341-7071

Medicine Hat Office 210, 1865 Dunmore Road S.E. MEDICINE HAT, Alberta T1A 1Z8 Phone: (403) 526-2429 Fax: (403) 526-0358

Westlock Office #204, 10619 - 100 Avenue WESTLOCK, Alberta T7P 2J4 Phone: (780) 349-3963 Fax: (780) 349-6186

Vegreville Office Suite 101 Professional Bldg. 4902 - 50th Street, Box 1079 VEGREVILLE, Alberta T9C 1S2 Phone: (780) 632-2919 Fax: (780) 632-2150

Peace River Office Green Valley Centre 9910 - 102nd Street, Box 7047 PEACE RIVER, Alberta T8S 1S7 Phone: (780) 624-3386 Fax: (780) 624-8123

Dawson Creek Office104, 1005 104 AvenueDAWSON CREEK, British Columbia V1G 2H9Phone: (250) 782-3116Fax: (250) 782-8156

The Western Forage Beef Group also offers technical support on its 1-800 number: 1-800-340-9178 or on its website: www.foragebeef.ca.

Alberta Forage Manual: Agdex 120/20-4 - 1992

Agricultural Research and Extension Council of Alberta (ARECA): #211, 2 Athabasca Ave.Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada T8A 4E3 T: 780-416-6046 F: 780-416-8915

Beneficial Management Practices: Environmental Manual for Alberta Cow/Calf producers: Agdex420/28-2 - 2004

Cattle Wintering Sites: Agdex 480/580-2

Fencing with Electricity: Agdex 724-6

Grazing Tame Pastures Effectively: Agdex 130/53-1 - 1998

Managing Cow/Calf Operations to Protect Water Quality: Agdex 576-4 - 2000

Perennial Forage Establishment in Alberta: Agdex 120/22-3 - 2005

Planning Farm Shelterbelts - PFRA Shelterbelt Centre Publication - 2003

Portable Windbreak Fences - Grazing & Pasture Technology Program - 2001

Quality Farm Dugouts: Agdex 716(B01) - 2002

Range and Pasture Management When Dealing With Drought: Agdex 130/14-1

Rangeland Health Assessment for Grassland, Forest & Tame Pastures, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development Public Lands - 2003

Swath Grazing in Western Canada: An Introduction: Agdex 420/56-2 - 2004

Shelter Your Livestock with Trees - PFRA Shelterbelt Centre Publication - 2006

Tame Pasture Scorecard Agdex130/10-1

Varieties of Perennial Hay and Pasture Crops for Alberta: Agdex 120/32 - 2006

Water Wells that last for Generations: Agdex 716(A10) - 2006

Western Forage Beef Group - Technical Support 1-800-340-9178 Website - www.foragebeef.ca

Winter Watering for Livestock - PFRA Publication - 2002

REfERENCES AND CREDITS

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