Making it Work: Extending Alberta`s Grazing Season

Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada
Agriculture et
Agroalimentaire Canada
Prairie Farm Rehabilitation
Administration
Making it Work:
Administration du rétablissement agricole
des Prairies
EXTENDING
ALBERTA’S
GRAZING SEASON
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.
Introduction
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.
Legend
Grassland
Parkland
Boreal
Canadian Shield
Foothills
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.
Rocky Mountains
Winter Livestock Sites
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:
Grande Prairie
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Dave Berry
Valleyview
Athabasca
Tom Krawiec
Barrhead
Steve Kenyon
Vermilion
Glen Smith
Edmonton
Rocky Mountain House
Kim Nielsen Red Deer
Ron Israelson
Wayne Black
Provost
N
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.
Coronation
James Ford
Calgary
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
Chinook
Steve Haupt
Raymond Seven Persons
Deseret Ranches
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.
Steve Kenyon: Informed Decisions make Grazing a Business
Steve Kenyon is more than
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.
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 Ownership
Steve 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.
4
Management History
In 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.”
Current Management Strategies
Today 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
To set up for bale grazing, Kenyon spreads 400
bales across 10 acres.
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 Management
The 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.
“Lush green pastures are a resulting benefit of bale grazing,”
says Kenyon.
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.
5
De La Terre: Making an Art out of Bale Grazing
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 Ownership
De 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.
6
Management History
Krawiec, 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.
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.”
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 twoacre paddocks, which included, as Krawiec
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.”
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 midMarch 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.”
Current Management Strategies
In 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.”
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.
Krawiec sets the bales on end, 20 feet apart, so that
it’s easy to cut the twine off.
“Calves that are grazed and kept out of the corrals are so much
healthier,” says Krawiec.
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.”
“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.”
7
Glen Smith: Unconventional Changes Mean Greater Benefits
Glen Smith is not like most
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.”
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 Ownership
Smith 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
8
Current Livestock Management
Today, 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.
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
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
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,” says Smith.
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.”
“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.
overall improved herd health–lice infestations,
for example, have decreased.
Benefits of Best Management
Smith 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.”
“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.
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
“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.
Smith’s cows graze mainly seeded forages on his Vermilion area farm.
9
Steve Haupt: Moving Cattle to Stubble Field Revitalizes Seven Persons Creek
The Seven Persons Creek
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.”
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 Ownership
The 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.
10
Management History
While 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
Current Management Methods
Today 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.
“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 Management
Haupt 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.
This aerial shot shows where Haupt built his berm
along the northwest corner of Seven Persons Creek.
Haupt built a water trough from an old earthmover tire.
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.
“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
11
Ron Israelson: Long-Time Swath Grazer Finds the Right Balance
Ron Israelson has been
“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.
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 midSeptember so that their animals can graze most
of the winter months.
Location and Ownership
Israelson 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 History
Israelson 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
12
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 Methods
In 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 90acre area—30 which are seeded to corn, with
the remaining 60 acres in oats.
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.”
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 Management
Israelson 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.”
Israelson uses five gallon pails to hold fibreglass fence posts so that
he can easily move his electric fence.
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.”
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.
13
Dave Berry: Cardston Rancher Implements Learned Grazing Practices in the Peace Country
Having grown up on prime
southern Alberta ranchland,
Dave Berry knows what a
rotational grazing program is
all about.
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.”
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 Ownership
Berry 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 History
For 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
14
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.”
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.
Current Management Strategy
For 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.
“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 stepin 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.
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.
Benefits of Best Management
One 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.”
15
Ford Ranches: Falling into Swath Grazing Brings Unexpected Results
James Ford fell into swath
Current Management Methods
Today 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.
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 Ownership
Ford 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 History
Ford says the costs that his farm endured were
quite typical to other traditional cattle operations
in the province—high fuel bills, baler twine,
16
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.
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.”
“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
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 Management
So 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.
Ford says the biggest benefit for their ranch is the free time: time
saved from not hauling bales and constantly feeding animals.
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!”
“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.”
Ford uses a spring triticale crop for grazing because
it fits best with their eastern Alberta location.
17
Kim Nielsen: Rocky Mountain House Rancher believes Swath Grazing fits all Farm Sizes
Kim Nielsen likes to ensure
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.”
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 Ownership
Nielsen 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.
18
Management History
In 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.”
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
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
Nielsen says these T-bar bases have a low center of
gravity and are very stable for holding the fibreglass
fenceposts.
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
Nielsen’s theory he believes can be practiced: the more grazing
days you have, the lower your feed costs are.
you will surpass 300 grazing days per acre in
the Rocky Mountain House area. So to achieve
this, palatability is important to guarantee cleanup.” To further reduce input costs Nielsen has
switched to direct seeding where waste could
present a problem for the seeding operation.
Current Strategies
Today 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 springgraze stockpiled grass and fall rye re-growth.
Hay was only fed for 92 days from February,
19
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
Nielsen demonstrates the flexibility of his electric
fence on homemade T bar bases.
20
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.
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.
“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.
“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.
For water, Nielsen directs his animals to stock
waterers back at the corrals, and lately portable
Benefits of Best Management
As 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.
“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.”
Swath Grazing Allows Deseret Ranches to be Dollars Ahead
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.
Ken Jensen, Operations Manager, Deseret Ranches.
Location and Ownership
Deseret 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
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 History
The 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
Weldon Thomson, General Manager,
Deseret Ranches.
21
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 Strategies
Today 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.
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.
22
Deseret ranch built its own wire roller by using old
disk pans placed on a big spool.
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.”
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.
An electric fence separates an oat re-growth field on
the right, which at one time looked like the field on
the left.
Benefits of Best Management
One 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,
Deseret Ranches focuses its feeding strategies to limited grazing on
3,000 acres of oats.
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.”
23
Wayne Black: Planned Paddocks Make for Easier Grazing
It was the type of winter day
March and April, and the systems in place were
probably very typical of most mid-sized Alberta
cattle operations.
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 Ownership
Black 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,
24
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.”
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 History
Black 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
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.”
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
Black uses a sewer pump in a dugout to fill his
water trough.
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.”
Swath grazing on wide open spaces at Coronation.
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.”
25
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 Benefits
The 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.”
26
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.
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 3T2
Phone: (403) 340-4290
Fax: (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 Office
104, 1005 104 Avenue
DAWSON CREEK,
British Columbia V1G 2H9
Phone: (250) 782-3116
Fax: (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.
REFERENCES AND CREDITS
Alberta Forage Manual: Agdex 120/20-4 - 1992
Quality Farm Dugouts: Agdex 716(B01) - 2002
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
Range and Pasture Management When
Dealing With Drought: Agdex 130/14-1
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
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
Planning Farm Shelterbelts - PFRA Shelterbelt
Centre Publication - 2003
Western Forage Beef Group Technical Support 1-800-340-9178
Website - www.foragebeef.ca
Portable Windbreak Fences - Grazing &
Pasture Technology Program - 2001
Winter Watering for Livestock - PFRA
Publication - 2002
Written by: Ground Words Communications, Ardrossan, Alberta
Design by: Metrographics Design and Advertising, Calgary, Alberta