Reducing beef production costs through swath grazing forage blends during winter Lead Scientist – Dr. Obioha Durunna
Duration – 2021 to 2024
Background The competitiveness of the cow-calf and stocker operations is enhanced by adequate winter feeding and supplementation strategies. Feed costs could exceed 60% of variable costs in beef operations, especially when delivered to the animals. Therefore, plans that minimize extra costs will improve beef producers' bottom line. Extended grazing systems are associated with a reduced cost of production. Swath grazing is a method of extending grazing and can incorporate simple stands (monocultures) or diverse mixtures. Forage mixtures can perform different roles at harvest in delivering a complementary balance of nutrients to the animals, especially in the winter. Besides their nutritional benefits, weed resistance, improved soil health, and optimized water and light usage are other potential benefits derived from forage mixtures. The blend would also increase flexibility and reduce production risk for forage availability during winter. Objectives This 3-year project aims to (1) Evaluate whether a diverse forage mixture constructed to meet the nutritional requirements of growing steers will improve forage yield and availability, forage quality, intake, and growth performance in a winter swath grazing system. Can the forage blend strategy be an alternative to conventional cereal monocultures? (2): The study will determine the production costs and profitability of the simple and complex forage systems. (3) Update the adoption rate of swath and residue grazing in western Canada. In the long term, the results from this project will enable producers to make informed decisions on adopting the strategy that suits their operations and goals. Adopting the forage blend strategy could reduce the need for additional protein energy and other nutrient supplements, thereby reducing the cost of beef production during winter. (4) Evaluate technologies that would enhance animal management (determine/predict performance and control movement) Materials and Methods The trial is conducted on a thirty-acre site (divided into six paddocks) where forage blend (SWB) from Union Forage is being compared to SO1-oats (SOO). The paddocks (three each) were randomly assigned to either SWB or SOO. In the first year (2021), Soil samples were collected from random GPS locations from different soil profiles, including 0-3”, 3-6”, 6-12”, and 12-24” for soil quality and health (such as nitrates, carbon, and total organic carbon, infiltration, compaction, and bulk density). On June 2, 2021, May 31, 2022 and June 1, 2023, the entire plot was sprayed with Glyphosate only at 840 g ae/ac. The paddocks were seeded on June 4, 2021, June 7, 2022 and June 6, 2023. Emergence counts were done on day 10 (June 14, 2021, June 17, 2022 and June 16, 2023) and day 21 (June 25, 2021, June 28, 2022 and June 27, 2023) post-seeding. Other activities, including biomass samplings collected at the soft and hard dough stages, are shown in Table 1. In both years, swathing was done on all plots except about 30-ft strips in SWB paddocks (stockpiled, STP) to provide knowledge of potential additional growth capacity with the forage blends, especially with later rains. The regrowth from both treatments and the STP was sampled after a month of swathing to evaluate yield and quality. In both years, forty-two and sixty crossbred steers (seven per paddock in 2021 and 10 per paddock in 2022 and 2023) were randomly assigned into