Jim Gerrish Grazing Workshop

Below are a few highlights from a recent grazing workshop I attended co-sponsored by the Kansas Rural Center featuring Jim Gerrish. Gerrish has been influential in revitalizing interest in rotational grazing, and is a well known instructor and practitioner on Management Intensive Grazing (MiG). Much of his thoughts on rotational grazing were not new to me, but I appreciated hearing him speak and thought he had some good perspectives on grazing agriculture.

Themes from the day:

1. Our goal as grazers is to maximize the grass “solar panel”
2. Managing cost rather than increased production will have a bigger impact on profit
3. Diversity leads to greater stability
4. Sustainability for ranching/farming means moving away from reliance on iron (equipment) and oil (fuel and fertilizer). We have zero control over the price of equipment and fuel, with costs likely to continue rising

MiG (Management Intensive Grazing) thought and concepts:

1. Poor rotational grazing can be worse than continuous grazing
2. Flexible approach to rotational grazing to deal with numerous variables
3. Manage forages to meet changing animal nutrient needs
4. Balance forage supply
5. Available forage allocated based on animal requirements

On the need to reduce winter hay feeding and maximize grazing:

· The main determinate of profitability is not herd size, but annual cow cost (feed costs, cow depreciation, and labor).
· Winter feeding costs are the single biggest expense for cow-calf operators.
· The cost of hay production is often higher than the cost of buying hay. Rarely is the true cost of hay production as low as $60/ton, and usually closer to $100/ton.
· The availability of hay and hay making equipment has determined the length of winter feeding, not forage availability. The average length of winter hay feeding is 130 days in Minnesota, Missouri, and Mississippi, proving it’s not length of grazing season, but availability of hay that determines winter feeding.