How a Grazing Plan Prevented a Wreck

“The pencil is mightier than the pen,”
Robert M. Pirsig, of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

“If I’d written my plan in pen, I would have been in trouble!”
Troy Bishopp, the Grass Whisperer

Every year, about this time, On Pasture starts reminding our community of the importance of having a plan for the upcoming grazing season. We get you to think about how a plan might help you by showing the benefits when things go perfectly, and when everything goes to hell. This is a story about the latter from Troy Bishopp, the Grass Whisperer who creates the grazing chart templates for us every year. It’s about a fall grazing season that was almost a wreck – and was saved by his grazing chart. Enjoy!

Back on September 10, 2018, I asked “Can You Be A Grazing Soothsayer?” and described how I was going to use my observations and my intuition to build my grazing plan through the fall. Then I proceeded to take my pencil and plan out my stockpile grazing activities through December 7^th on the trusty old grazing chart. You can see the pencil plan here:

October to December Grazing Chart

As the 61 head of 780 pound organic dairy heifers grazed over our 92 acres, I highlighted the actual grazing periods. If you remember I was going to try to lightly graze the first round of stockpile in hopes of regrowth and then have a good second grazing to get me to my goal.

First day of grazing stockpile

October 1st and we’re still looking ok.

The plan was altered almost immediately by something my plan couldn’t have predicted. On October 1^st it started to rain – cold rain. As Forrest Gump put it, “We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin’ rain, and big ol’ fat rain, rain that flew in sideways, and sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath”. We got a deluge of over 2.3 inches and had to move the heifers more quickly to prevent pugging and muddy feet over the pristine forage. Then Hurricane Florence rolled through 6 days later and we lost a few days of the plan. It rained 28 days out of the next 40 and we didn’t see a killing frost until an astonishing November 11^th (Oct. 10^th is normal). Northeast farmers know exactly what I’m talking about.

What I was leaving behind me which was not exactly ideal:

The forage was so lush, those darn cows took more than I anticipated (duh!) and the wet weather made for more waste. Even though it was wet, our forage plan was still in the ballpark. And after 15 or so days, you’re thinking it will probably dry out and be a nice fall. Nope. By the last scheduled grazing rotation, I was behind a week and it was getting colder and the forage left didn’t have much energy. So I was feeling and seeing the proverbial “wall”.

October 25th The day of my organic inspection with rain taking its toll on the land and my nerves:

On October 25^th, I had my organic inspection which couldn’t have come at a better time. Having another set of independent eyes looking over the plan and seeing it on the ground helped with decision making. Inspector Joshua and I had a great walk looking at the future grass we’d have left and he was very pleased with the pregnant dairy heifer’s body condition. It was this visit where I made the call to order 30 dry round bales as a backup plan cause around here you never know when the weather goes really rogue.

November 4th, still doing ok despite the rain:

By November 4^th, my grazing chart and measured inventory was telling me I was 7 to 10 days off the plan. The tools don’t lie! It was a good time to have a conversation with my grazing customer to alert him of my situation and set up a plan for loading out. He appreciated the heads-up and the real-time pictures so he could make trucking arrangements. It was on this day that I had to admit that I had failed to meet my objective. It also meant that I would have to tell you, the farmer/reader, I had this problem and how I was managing it.

On November 6^th, the sun finally came out and I was there on our pinnacle to take my best picture of the year. I saw how the plan worked given the difficulties. Extra feed was being delivered that day. I could see the end. I was at peace with my decision-making. I was ready to go out smiling.

On November 6th this scene helped me cope with all my decisions and believe that things would all work out:

Veteran’s day we saw our first snow. Heifers grazing through it is no problem:

With succulent forage left and the November 23^rd load out date planned, I decided to take Jim Gerrish’s flawless advice and use the opportunity to feed and fertilize the remaining paddocks with some rolled out hay as I moved the cows. That extra dry matter put some bloom on the heifers and heat in their bellies.

Then, November 23^rd they left for Pennsylvania to become the next organic dairy mothers. Here’s the last day of grazing before they loaded.

You could say I missed my grazing goal by 14 days and you’d be right. I can tell you this stockpile season, I lost $1,400 by having to have a back-up feed strategy, but that back up feed became future soil health. We can all imagine what it might have been IF it didn’t rain continuously, and given the rain, we might say my new grazing strategy may not have been the wisest thing.

But what if I had no plan, what would it have looked like? My grazing plan and my constant observations of what was happening in the pasture helped me make adjustments that were good for the grass and the heifers. It’s this experience that I’ll take with me when I try something a little different again. It’s the try that matters most.

The final grazing chart with its imperfections:

As we move into 2019, isn’t experience always the best teacher? Sharing these and other real stories is why we are connected through On Pasture. I welcome more sharing from others.

Happy New Year!

GW