Agenda—May 19th

10:00 a.m., Registration and Networking. 10:15 a.m., Walk and discuss Pasture Condition Index. What is a healthy pasture. 11:00 a.m., Presentation from Brian Pillsbury, “Maximizing Production on Your Pasture.”

Treating Pasture as a Crop, Optimizing Forage Production

Optimum pasture production is solely dependent on management. Just as one wouldn’t harvest a hay crop every week in the same field, you should not graze livestock repeatedly over and over until it gets very short. Close grazing or continuous grazing depletes the stored carbohydrates that are needed for both top growth and root growth. Depleted root systems make plants less drought tolerant. Allowing plants to have an adequate rest period and not overgrazing pastures keeps root systems healthy and productive. It is essential to maintain healthy root systems in order to produce healthy plants. The root system not only stores carbohydrates, but allows for the uptake of water and nutrients for plant functions, and anchors the plant to the ground as well.

By leaving 3-5 inches of forage on the ground, there is plenty of solar collector in the plants to make new carbohydrates needed for re-growth. A faster re-growth allows the livestock to come back into a pasture faster resulting in more rotations.

Join Brian Pillsbury-NRCS State Grazing Land Specialist in a demonstration on how to assess your pasture and ways to increase production on pastures.

The Spring Pasture walk is being held at the Bert and Trish Paris Farm, W3443 County Road W, Belleville, WI.

Bert Paris started farming in 1983 in Oregon, Wisconsin, after attending UW-River Falls. After renting a farm, Bert, along with his wife, Trish, were able to purchase their current farm in 1992. In 1993, he started to rotationally graze his cattle on pasture. He continues to pasture his cattle even during winter months.

Bert milks 80 cows. He started with Holsteins and has bred Jersey, Shorthorn, Ayrshire, Normandy and Red Angler. The herd is rotationally grazed on 130 acres. Bert typically keeps the cattle on pasture April 15th through December 1st. The cows are dried up in January-February, and calving starts the first of March.

Come learn and discuss pasture health and maximizing production of pastures with over 30 years of experience of intensively managing pastureland.