Great Lakes Dairy Sheep Symposium - the Department of Animal ...
Great Lakes Dairy Sheep Symposium - the Department of Animal ... Great Lakes Dairy Sheep Symposium - the Department of Animal ...
MAXIMIZING PRODUCTION ON PASTURE David Major Major Farm and Vermont Shepherd, Ltd. Putney, Vermont, USA The title of this talk is “Maximizing production on pasture,” but as I begin to think about how I pasture my sheep I realize I pay as much attention to the health and quality of the milk and cheese, the animals, and the grass and soils as I do to the production. So I am going to rename this talk, “Pasture systems for maximizing the health, quality and production of the farm and its products. Everything is a balance on the farm. When I made the morning pasture for the 176 ewes we are milking currently, I had to decide whether to make the area 30 X 300 feet or 300 X 300 feet or anything in between. The animals have their own needs - too little, and they'll quit producing; too much and they'll become sick with acidosis. And the pasture has its own needs - the more evenly and thorough the days grazing the better. Do the needs of the animals coincide with the needs of the pastures? Never exactly. So I try to strike a balance. I give the sheep a little lecture on the way out of the barn. Sheep, I say, I've given you a really good meal today, but you'd better finish in up or I'm not going to be able to give you such a good meal another day. Major farm is actually a couple of older farms, Major Farm and Patch Farm, now combined as one. It is approximately 250 acres. We milk 220 sheep, though usually not more than 200 at any one time. We make all our own hay and raise most of our own lambs. The numbers of sheep and lambs on the farm vary over the year from a minimum of 275 to a maximum of 700. The farms yearly production cycle is timed to take advantage of our pastures. 2/3rds of the ewes lamb in March, The remainder lamb in late May. The lambs nurse for one month after birth, and then they’re moved to pastures where they are moved daily. The ewes are milked almost the entire pasture season, from mid-April to mid-November. I will sketch out for you the nature of our pasture management for the different groups of ewes, then I will detail for you a few lessons I have learned over the years to keep up the health and production of the pastures and the sheep, what I have learned about the pastures’ effect on product quality, and a few ways to make the whole process work efficiently. The Milkers We give our milkers new pasture space every 12 hours, after every milking. This does not mean that they are moved to an entirely different spot every milking. Rather, I make their pasture larger and larger with every milking until about 3 days pass, and then I start on a new area. This allows lazy me to move the pipe and water trough only every three days, plus it gives me some flexibility in being able to compensate for my mistakes. On day one, I like to make the first pasture of a new area bigger than I think the milkers will need. Then I can make the 122
succeeding add on pastures smaller if need be and let the milkers finish their meals with the leftovers from the first pasture. The Lambs Our lambs we wean at 30 days. Even at the first spring weaning we try to make sure that the lambs have at least a few days grazing experience with their moms before the weaning. This reduces the weaning stress considerably, as the lambs then have some association between grazing, food and their mom. We move the lambs to a new pasture every day. In their case, we do not just expand a previous day’s pasture. Instead we give them an entirely new space. The reason for this is parasites. These young lambs are very susceptible to worms and coccidia; giving them a clean pasture every day reduces the parasite stress considerably. In addition, we try to put the lambs on either hayfield regrowth or pastures that have not been grazed since before the winter. Like all our sheep, the lambs have access to clean water 24 hrs a day. And we feed their grain supplement in plastic troughs not on the ground in order to reduce the threat of parasites and Johnnes disease. The Clean Up Crew We have one other group of sheep grazing. These we title ‘The Clean up Crew” because they do just that, cleaning up areas that the milkers or lambs do not graze thoroughly, grazing more distant pastures and rough pastures whose regrowth we will need for our late fall and early winter stock pile. The clean up crew consists primarily of the 45-50 yearlings we bring into the flock every year, plus any dry ewes we have kicked out of the milking crew. We do not breed our replacements to lamb at one year of age exactly for this reason; we need a clean up crew to properly manage the pastures. Pasture Health and Production My thoughts about the days or weeks work priorities usually begin with an assessment of the pastures. The productivity and quality of the pastures is so important to the productivity and health of the sheep as well as the production levels and quality of the cheese that my attention must go to the pastures first. Needless to say, pastures are a place where nutrients are cycled around and around with the help of the sun, rain, and sheep. Some pastures are endowed with more nutrients than others - deeper soils and greater fertility. But I’ve come to realize that in pastures as in people, what matters is not so much what you are endowed with, but what you make of it. I have a number of pastures with great soil, sun, and moisture, and I have a number of very steep, ledgy, generally infertile and northerly pastures: both are capable of equally excellent forage, only one in greater quantity. The trick is to cycle the few nutrients fast enough in the steep, ledgy pastures that the plants to get to the point where they are stressed and go to seed or go dormant in desperation. On a poorer pasture, you cannot let the sward height grow as high as you can on a fertile pasture, or the quality of the grass will be much lower. In practice, this means that the poorer pastures may need to be grazed at least as frequently as the fertile pastures. 123
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succeeding add on pastures smaller if need be and let <strong>the</strong> milkers finish <strong>the</strong>ir meals with <strong>the</strong><br />
leftovers from <strong>the</strong> first pasture.<br />
The Lambs<br />
Our lambs we wean at 30 days. Even at <strong>the</strong> first spring weaning we try to make sure that<br />
<strong>the</strong> lambs have at least a few days grazing experience with <strong>the</strong>ir moms before <strong>the</strong> weaning. This<br />
reduces <strong>the</strong> weaning stress considerably, as <strong>the</strong> lambs <strong>the</strong>n have some association between<br />
grazing, food and <strong>the</strong>ir mom. We move <strong>the</strong> lambs to a new pasture every day. In <strong>the</strong>ir case, we<br />
do not just expand a previous day’s pasture. Instead we give <strong>the</strong>m an entirely new space. The<br />
reason for this is parasites. These young lambs are very susceptible to worms and coccidia;<br />
giving <strong>the</strong>m a clean pasture every day reduces <strong>the</strong> parasite stress considerably. In addition, we<br />
try to put <strong>the</strong> lambs on ei<strong>the</strong>r hayfield regrowth or pastures that have not been grazed since<br />
before <strong>the</strong> winter. Like all our sheep, <strong>the</strong> lambs have access to clean water 24 hrs a day. And<br />
we feed <strong>the</strong>ir grain supplement in plastic troughs not on <strong>the</strong> ground in order to reduce <strong>the</strong> threat<br />
<strong>of</strong> parasites and Johnnes disease.<br />
The Clean Up Crew<br />
We have one o<strong>the</strong>r group <strong>of</strong> sheep grazing. These we title ‘The Clean up Crew” because<br />
<strong>the</strong>y do just that, cleaning up areas that <strong>the</strong> milkers or lambs do not graze thoroughly, grazing<br />
more distant pastures and rough pastures whose regrowth we will need for our late fall and early<br />
winter stock pile. The clean up crew consists primarily <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> 45-50 yearlings we bring into <strong>the</strong><br />
flock every year, plus any dry ewes we have kicked out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> milking crew. We do not breed<br />
our replacements to lamb at one year <strong>of</strong> age exactly for this reason; we need a clean up crew to<br />
properly manage <strong>the</strong> pastures.<br />
Pasture Health and Production<br />
My thoughts about <strong>the</strong> days or weeks work priorities usually begin with an assessment <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> pastures. The productivity and quality <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> pastures is so important to <strong>the</strong> productivity and<br />
health <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> sheep as well as <strong>the</strong> production levels and quality <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> cheese that my attention<br />
must go to <strong>the</strong> pastures first. Needless to say, pastures are a place where nutrients are cycled<br />
around and around with <strong>the</strong> help <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> sun, rain, and sheep. Some pastures are endowed with<br />
more nutrients than o<strong>the</strong>rs - deeper soils and greater fertility. But I’ve come to realize that in<br />
pastures as in people, what matters is not so much what you are endowed with, but what you<br />
make <strong>of</strong> it. I have a number <strong>of</strong> pastures with great soil, sun, and moisture, and I have a number<br />
<strong>of</strong> very steep, ledgy, generally infertile and nor<strong>the</strong>rly pastures: both are capable <strong>of</strong> equally<br />
excellent forage, only one in greater quantity. The trick is to cycle <strong>the</strong> few nutrients fast enough<br />
in <strong>the</strong> steep, ledgy pastures that <strong>the</strong> plants to get to <strong>the</strong> point where <strong>the</strong>y are stressed and go to<br />
seed or go dormant in desperation. On a poorer pasture, you cannot let <strong>the</strong> sward height grow as<br />
high as you can on a fertile pasture, or <strong>the</strong> quality <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> grass will be much lower. In practice,<br />
this means that <strong>the</strong> poorer pastures may need to be grazed at least as frequently as <strong>the</strong> fertile<br />
pastures.<br />
123