Cattle Health and Nutrition Archives

Building Immunity When It Matters Most

Posted on July 9, 2026 by Cattle- Web-Manager-2

Building Immunity When It Matters Most

By Jessica Graham

After birth, weaning is one of the most stressful events in a calf’s life. Separation from the cow, dietary changes, transportation, commingling with unfamiliar cattle, and environmental stressors all challenge a calf’s immune system. Unfortunately, this stress often coincides with the period when calves become most susceptible to respiratory disease and other health problems.

For this reason, developing a vaccination program before weaning reduce illness, improve performance, and increase the value of calves. While every operation should develop a herd-specific health plan, and consider which vaccines would benefit their operation the best.

The Core Vaccines Every Producer Should Consider

Veterinarians generally recommend three key vaccine categories for calves entering the weaning period. The first is a modified-live 5-way respiratory vaccine designed to protect against several of the most common viral pathogens involved in Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD). These vaccines typically provide protection against Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVD) Types I and II, Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR), Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus (BRSV), and Parainfluenza-3 (PI3). As you know, BRD hits quickly and takes its toll fast. These viruses represent some of the most significant health threats calves face during and after weaning. Vaccinating calves before weaning gives their immune systems time to develop protection before stress levels rise.

Another staple in a calf vaccination program is a 7-way or 8-way clostridial vaccine, commonly referred to as a blackleg vaccine. Clostridial bacteria are naturally present in the environment and can cause sudden, often fatal diseases such as blackleg, malignant edema, and enterotoxemia. Unlike some respiratory vaccines that can be affected by maternal antibodies, clostridial vaccines tend to work very effectively in young calves because they protect against toxins produced by the bacteria. Many veterinarians consider these vaccines among the most valuable and cost-effective tools available for preventing catastrophic losses. If you vaccinate in the beginning, it’s a lot cheaper of an investment thank losing a calf, especially in this market.

In addition to viral protection, many producers choose to vaccinate against bacterial pneumonia pathogens. Bacterial infections are often responsible for the severe lung damage and fatalities associated with pneumonia. Including bacterial pneumonia vaccines in a preconditioning program can provide another layer of protection, especially in herds with a history of respiratory disease challenges. They can cost you on growth potential and performance.

Timing Matters

One of the most important factors in a successful vaccination program is timing. Veterinarians generally recommend administering primary vaccinations or booster doses approximately three to four weeks before weaning. This schedule allows calves to develop a strong immune response before they experience the stress associated with separation from their dams.

When calves are vaccinated on the day of weaning, elevated cortisol levels caused by stress can suppress immune function and reduce vaccine effectiveness. By vaccinating ahead of time, producers allow calves to build immunity while they are still nursing and experiencing relatively low levels of stress. This simple management decision can make a significant difference in overall calf health and vaccine performance.

Some cattlemen are incorporating substances into their calf management programs to help reduce stress during challenging events such as weaning, transportation, vaccination, castration, and dehorning. These products mimic naturally occurring compounds produced by cows and are designed to help calves remain calmer during periods of transition. Research has shown that reducing stress may support improved feed intake, weight gain, health outcomes, and overall performance. While these products are not vaccines and do not provide disease protection, they can serve as a useful complement to reduce stress and help cattle cope with weaning and handling.

Understanding Maternal Antibodies

Newborn calves rely heavily on antibodies obtained through colostrum during the first few hours of life. This passive immunity provides critical early protection against disease but can also interfere with the calf’s response to certain vaccines. As maternal antibody levels decline over time, calves become more capable of developing their own immune responses.

The timing of this transition varies among calves depending on factors such as colostrum quality, intake, and absorption. Researchers generally find that calves begin responding more consistently to vaccines by approximately three months of age. Some viruses, particularly BRSV, are known for experiencing significant interference from maternal antibodies, which is one reason vaccination programs often need to be tailored to individual farms and operations.

Modified-Live Versus Killed Vaccines

Producers face the decision of whether to use modified-live or killed vaccines in their calf health programs. Modified-live vaccines contain weakened organisms that stimulate an immune response similar to natural infection without causing disease in healthy animals. Because the vaccine organisms replicate within the animal, they typically generate a stronger and longer-lasting immune response. Modified-live products often provide quicker protection, require fewer booster doses, and can be more economical than killed vaccines.

However, modified-live vaccines are not for every situation. Producers should use caution as some modified-live IBR vaccines have occasionally been associated with abortion events in susceptible cows. This is where consulting your vet makes a big difference. Veterinary guidance is especially important when selecting products.

Killed vaccines offer an excellent safety profile because they cannot replicate or cause disease. These products can be particularly useful in situations where modified-live vaccines may pose concerns. The tradeoff is that killed vaccines generally require a booster vaccination two to three weeks after the initial dose to achieve optimal protection. For operations that cannot reliably administer boosters, modified-live products may offer greater flexibility.

The Value of Intranasal Vaccines

Intranasal vaccines have become increasingly popular for respiratory disease prevention, especially in herds with a history of pneumonia problems in young calves. Unlike injectable products, intranasal vaccines work with the local immunity within the respiratory tract, which is the body’s first line of defense against many respiratory pathogens.

An additional advantage is their ability to bypass maternal antibody interference. Products such as Bovilis Nasalgen 3 can provide rapid protection against respiratory viruses and are especially useful when calves are at risk for conditions such as summer pneumonia associated with BRSV. While intranasal vaccines can be highly effective, they are generally most beneficial when incorporated into a comprehensive vaccination strategy rather than used as a stand-alone solution.

Preconditioning Pays

Vaccination represents only one part of a successful preconditioning program. Producers who invest in comprehensive calf preparation often realize substantial returns through improved health and stronger sale prices.

Beyond sale-day premiums, healthier calves typically require fewer treatments, experience lower death loss, maintain better feed efficiency, and achieve stronger overall performance throughout the production cycle. These benefits often provide returns that extend well beyond the initial investment in vaccination and management.

Build a Herd-Specific Plan

No vaccination program is universally perfect. Disease challenges, calving environments, management practices, and marketing goals vary considerably from one operation to another. The most successful programs are those that address the diseases most likely to affect a particular herd while ensuring calves are protected before stressful events occur.

Working closely with a veterinarian can help producers develop a vaccination strategy tailored to their specific needs. By combining respiratory protection, clostridial vaccination, bacterial pneumonia prevention when appropriate, and proper timing, producers can help calves navigate the weaning period successfully while positioning them for long-term health and productivity.

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Non-Bloating Legumes

Posted on June 17, 2026June 18, 2026 by Cattle- Web-Manager-2

Non-bloating Legumes

By Heather Smith Thomas

Legumes are often important in cattle diets because they are generally higher quality, with more protein and other nutrients than some grasses. The problem with one of the most common legumes grown for livestock feed—alfalfa—is the tendency to cause bloat, especially when grazed, and it can be quite risky under certain conditions. A lot of research has been done on non-bloating legumes and on trying to develop alfalfa varieties that are less risky when grazed.

Dr. Donald Miller has developed or co-developed 100 alfalfa varieties and 6 red clovers during his plant breeding career. He grew up in Texas on a farm and went to New Mexico State University. “I worked for alfalfa breeders in New Mexico and got my Masters and PhD while I was there. I was hired as an alfalfa breeder for the western U.S. and moved to Idaho in 1984 after I finished college, heading up an alfalfa program and a research facility in Nampa, and one in California near Kingsburg. The company, AgriPro North American Plant Breeders, was owned by Shell Oil. Then AgriPro became Cal West, and then Alforex. I was director of product development for Alforex—the alfalfa division of Corteva,” he says.

“Cattle producers can graze alfalfa but you have to know how to do it. One of my breeding programs was with so-called grazing-tolerant alfalfa, in conjunction with the University of Georgia. They couldn’t put up alfalfa as hay in that climate because they have too much rain. They wanted to use a legume and grazed the alfalfa rather than cut it as hay,” he says.

There is a management guide on grazing alfalfa. “The University of Kentucky just released a guide on that about a year ago. Ray Smith, an Extension educator in Kentucky, was trained in Georgia. I used to go to Argentina to look at their grazing-tolerant alfalfas, and they could successfully graze pure stands of alfalfa, but you have to know how. When you put cattle out there, the first thing they do is eat all the leaves and then start eating the stems. That creates a change in diet and can trigger bloat. We found that if you move the fence daily, so they have a consistent diet, it helps prevent problems,” he says.

“We really don’t have a non-bloating alfalfa, but we do know how to manage the cattle to reduce the risk. In Argentina they were doing it on a large scale, and we do have grazing-tolerant alfalfa that can survive in spite of hoof damage and crown rot. We developed lines that could survive those negative impacts,” says Miller.

“I have been acquiring some alfalfa varieties from New Mexico State University that were developed for drought tolerance. If you can water the first two cuttings and then have to turn the water off during mid-summer, the alfalfa goes dormant from lack of water. It looks like it is dead, but it can go several months without any irrigation at all. It is resilient and will come back after you add water to it,” he says.

Miller has also done some work with sainfoin, which is a non-bloating legume. “When I was at New Mexico State University we released a new sainfoin variety. Sainfoin has a big stem and lots of blooms and it’s a beautiful crop. It has a problem with crown rot; if you graze it the animals are stepping on those plants and damaging the crowns,” he says.

“The best results I’ve ever seen was when they planted the sainfoin up on beds, and when they turned the cattle out they walked in the furrows and not on the plants. On those beds there was also a little less water if you had a high water table or too much water out on the field, and this made for less disease in those plants.”

Sainfoin is non-bloating and will out-produce alfalfa on the first cut but in mid-summer it starts slowing down. “Some people are using it in Montana and Wyoming; the University of Montana released a new variety about 20 years ago and there have been some other new ones developed in Canada. It is a good non-bloating legume, and if there are any bees in the area they come to those flowers. The field is alive with bees!” It makes good honey!

Earl Creech (Professor and Extension Agronomist at Utah State University) has done some trials with birdsfoot trefoil, sainfoin and cicer milkvetch. “Birdsfoot trefoil grows really well in the intermountain West and does best in the hottest time of the year. Alfalfa grows better in the early and later part of the growing season but birdsfoot trefoil loves the heat. It doesn’t get very tall so it doesn’t do as well for haying, but it grows well in pastures,” he says.

“I think the key to birdsfoot trefoil is letting it go to seed. In our environment here in Northern Utah, you have to let it flower and not graze it during September-October until it can reseed itself. That’s how you get persistent stands. One of the complaints about birdsfoot trefoil is that the stands don’t last long but that’s only because people are grazing it too heavily late in the year and not allowing it to go to seed.”

Cicer milkvetch has the drawback of being very slow to establish. It usually takes two years to get it going, but once it is established it is very productive and grows very well—and grazing livestock really like it.

Sainfoin and cicer milkvetch don’t require quite as much water as some of the other forage crops. “They usually need some irrigation or rainfall during summer but they have more drought tolerance than birdsfoot trefoil that needs full irrigation or some rainfall throughout the growing season,” says Creech.

“We’ve done quite a bit of work with these legumes in mixtures and published some of those results. Several people with USDA were also involved with some of those publications. Basically, when you grow a 50-50 mix of grass and non-bloating legumes or grass with alfalfa you can actually get as much forage production as you would get by applying nitrogen fertilizer to a pure grass stand. In a year like this, where nitrogen fertilizer is very expensive, you can save that expense if it’s a mix—and still get excellent forage production. The legume supplies the necessary nitrogen,” he says.

Matt Yost, Extension Specialist at Utah State University, has also done some research on non-bloating legumes. One trial he worked on was trying to inter-seed sainfoin with alfalfa and grow them together as a way to try to reduce bloat. “We seeded them together and measured production for three years. We found extra production and a little bit of reduction in condensed tannins, which is one of the primary measures we look at for bloat risk,” he says.

“We saw that when we had sainfoin in the stand, that first year we saw some reduction in potential for bloat, but it didn’t persist over the three years, mainly because sainfoin could not compete well with the alfalfa. By year three we had a few sainfoin plants left but they’d become sparse in the stand; they didn’t last,” says Yost. “I don’t know if that system would work very well, planting them together, but sainfoin by itself can be a good forage for reducing bloat.”

This non-bloating legume has had a lot of study for livestock forage. Grant Lastiwka (originally a Forage/Livestock Business Specialist with Alberta Agriculture and now with Union Forage), has been studying various forages in grazing systems for a long time. “Eleven years ago we started working with a new sainfoin variety and asked producers grazing higher-legume pastures to keep their beef and pasture financial records. We also worked with several Applied Research and Forage Associations in seeding sainfoin-alfalfa mixtures in small plot trials,” he says.

After 3 years of data collection from these plots and producer data from regular and higher-legume mix pastures, the outcomes were favorable; most higher-legume pastures were significantly more productive and profitable than just grass pastures. “Several producers wanted to be part of the next step of this research; we had 12 sites (about 10 acres each) seeded in Alberta and one in British Columbia—with a mix of sainfoin, alfalfa and grasses,” says Lastiwka.

“We looked at new sainfoin cultivars and the different varieties’ ability to regrow, compared with alfalfa. Because sainfoin can set seed so easily, it has the ability to create a soil seedbank. There is opportunity for regeneration from seed,” he says. If a producer lets sainfoin go to seed now and then, there is less need to reseed a pasture.

The main problem with sainfoin is its large seed, almost seven times larger than alfalfa seed. “It has only about 30,000 seeds per pound versus 200,000 seeds per pound with alfalfa. When buying seed, wanting sainfoin to be a large part of a total mix, most producers balk at paying that much money for seed,” says Lastiwka.

“The seed industry puts percent of total seed weight of each component of a mixture on the bag label. If the label says 50% sainfoin, because of sainfoin’s large seed size, this translates into only about 20% of a stand would be sainfoin because those seeds are so large,” he explains.

If allowed to reseed itself, however, sainfoin will easily maintain or even increase in a stand of hay or pasture–if given long enough recovery to go to seed. “If regrowth is grazed, the grazing activity of cattle consuming and defecating viable seed can spread the seeds (or trample them into the soil) as another planting,” says Lastiwka. On his own farm he’s established sainfoin by feeding it to cattle in mineral mixes. The seed is still viable after going through the rumen.

Andrea Hanson, former Beef Extension Specialist (Alberta Agriculture and Forestry) and now with Lakeland College, was part of that project and worked with producers across Alberta. “The first year we established sainfoin as part of a high-legume pasture mix at 12 sites, and the second year those sites were grazed. Some producer cooperators had very good establishment the first year, while others did not—either because of two much or too little moisture, weeds, or other reasons,” she says.

“Grazing the 2nd year provided a variety of outcomes. Producers with forage establishment from the 1st year were able to graze effectively. Sainfoin reduces risk for bloat, even in pastures that also have alfalfa, because sainfoin contains tannins that bind excess plant protein. The tannins precipitate these excess proteins out of the rumen fluid, preventing creation of stable foam that forms in pasture bloat,” explains Hanson.

Many producers have had bad experiences with alfalfa and bloat but with sainfoin added to a pasture this risk is reduced. Grazing research has shown up to 98% reduction in bloat when sainfoin makes up at least 25% of a sainfoin/alfalfa stand.

“With weather unpredictability, having a diversified stand allows different plants to thrive in different conditions; we get more drought resistance. Legumes have a deep tap root and can penetrate deeper into the soil where there is more moisture. Poor-producing pastures with few or no legumes have risk of depletion earlier in the grazing season.” Without legumes you may have less pasture and less quality forage for cattle.

“The sainfoin we used for this project has a growth pattern like alfalfa and can withstand grazing better than previous varieties. A concern with sainfoin in the past is that it would be grazed out too quickly and then the risk for bloat is back again with the alfalfa that remains,” she explains. This new variety of sainfoin is better for grazing.

“Our focus in this project was to have 60% or more legumes and 40% other forage species. Cooperating producers chose whatever else they wanted to put with the legumes–grasses or more legumes like birdsfoot trefoil or alfalfa,” she says.

“From grazing experience, one of the most notable observations was importance of seed set for longevity of high-legume forage stands–the need for some recovery time and regrowth—for natural reseeding. The 2017 growing season was really dry in parts of Alberta until fall. One site was left un-grazed by the producer until fall, so there was seed set and germination. We have to remember when grazing it, to leave some, so the plants can produce seed,” she says.

Dr. Surendra Bhattarai, Assistant Professor, Forage Agronomy, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Wyoming, was doing research with sainfoin in Canada before taking his current position at the University of Wyoming in January, 2025, and has started some new trials. In one of his projects he included many kinds of forage legumes to compare their various benefits and drawbacks.

“I included sainfoin, cicer milkvetch, birdsfoot trefoil and alfalfa, looking at their production and their adaptability in our environment. Some of these things have already been studied but I want to look at different varieties. I am hopeful that we will have many different varieties of forage legumes established in Wyoming,” he says.

“I started with non-bloating legumes, such as sainfoin, cicer milkvetch, birdsfoot trefoil, comparing their yield with traditional alfalfa. Those non-bloating legumes have beneficial nutritive values, but their yield is not up to the mark that alfalfa growers are getting. We have the big challenge of harnessing their nutritive values while improving their yield and competitiveness with traditional alfalfa,” says Bhattarai.

Alfalfa varieties have become very advanced, with many different high-yielding and high-quality varieties now available, but there are very few forage scientists working on non-bloating legumes. “With my experience on non-bloating legumes I am interested in taking the sainfoin research forward. My project is in Wyoming but my main object is to provide a sustainable and alternative solution on producing legumes in areas where alfalfa production is limited,” he says.

Alfalfa production is challenged by the alfalfa weevil, which is a problematic pest for alfalfa growers. “Some of the literature from earlier research suggests that sainfoin is resistant to the alfalfa weevil. I want to look into the different agronomic aspects of sainfoin, and the adaptability of this and other non-bloating legumes so we could provide substitutes in regions where alfalfa productivity has been challenged.” Producers could use sainfoin and not compromise the quality of the forage.

He is not completely confident that sainfoin will be a future solution unless there can be support from producers and government for more research in sainfoin breeding. “If we can get enough support, there is a lot we can achieve. Sainfoin could be a very good alternative,” says Bhattarai.

“In addition to the non-bloating benefits of sainfoin, it has high palatability, anthelmintic benefits and reduced methane emission. Traditionally, the main challenge is lower yield and lower stand persistence, compared to alfalfa; it doesn’t have the swift regrowth.” Producers can’t get as many cuttings during a long growing season, compared to alfalfa that can produce 3 or more cuttings.

“This is why sainfoin has not gotten much attention in our climate and region in Wyoming, but if you go farther north, such as Montana and the Dakotas where you might only get two cuttings of alfalfa, this is a different situation. I spent a lot of my time in Canada and we had a one or two-cut system, even for alfalfa, and sainfoin is a good fit there. If forage scientists can improve the yield, regrowth and persistence of sainfoin, it would become highly valuable to more producers,” he says.

He did his MS and PhD work at the University of Saskatchewan on sainfoin and alfalfa, where he learned a lot about forage breeding and has been working with sainfoin for several years. “One of my collaborative research projects with my mentor Dr. Bill Biligetu from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada focused on reducing the cost of sainfoin cultivation. Sainfoin seed is very large, compared to alfalfa seed. Forage seed producers are reluctant to use sainfoin because the seed size is so big and it costs more for seed than it does for alfalfa seed. One of my research projects in Canada was looking to see if there is any way we can reduce the seed size so it would be lower cost for seed producers, so they could more easily incorporate sainfoin in their cultivation programs,” says Bhattarai.

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Compute and Track Your ‘Reserve Herd Days’ to Manage Forage Inventory and Grazing

Posted on June 17, 2026June 18, 2026 by Cattle- Web-Manager-2

Compute and Track Your ‘Reserve Herd Days’ to Manage Forage Inventory and Grazing

Knowing how to estimate forage inventories and actively manage grazing accordingly cuts down on hay feeding and protects both livestock and soil health.

If your grass totally stopped growing on a given day, how many more days could you sustain your herd on the forage you have standing in the pasture?

Hugh Aljoe refers to this calculation as ‘reserve herd days.’ The director of ranches, outreach and partnerships at Noble Research Institute says this is a valuable tally to track for anyone ranching on the drought-prone Plains, or for those who are simply trying to project dormant forage inventories into the winter.

“No matter where we are in the growing season, we’re tracking our reserve herd days,” Aljoe says. “No matter what the weather throws at us, we know whether or not we’ll have enough forage to get us through the winter. We always have a plan.”

That confidence in the face of drought conditions is the culmination of nearly 30 years of practice at the Noble Ranches. He points to two of his early mentors at Noble – R.L. Dalrymple and Charlie Griffith – who were masters at implementing and teaching the reserve herd day concept.

“They showed me this fuller picture, this idea of managing proactively, knowing all year long what you need to do to get to the next spring,” Aljoe says. “Then I really started to understand the value of our forage production throughout the year, that you can never have too much grass, and how to manage that production really effectively.”

Start by Crunching Your Numbers

The goals in Aljoe’s mind are clear: “I don’t want to have to pay for hay. I don’t want to have to produce hay. I want to graze as long as I can, because on the ranch, it’s typically easier and cheaper to take the cattle to the forage than it is to take the forage to the cattle.”

Supplemental feed is the largest direct cost in most ranch businesses. If one of your regenerative goals is to kick the hay habit, Aljoe says, a good place to start is by tracking reserve herd days. Following this principle requires three fairly simple figures: days, demand and supply.

DAYS: Keep a count of the number of days until your spring forage flush, then add 30 more. If it sounds simple, it is. But counting it out will keep you honest about your needs. Each environment will be different, Aljoe says, but he shares Noble’s strategy for southern Oklahoma’s seasonal norm as an example.

“At Noble, we want to be 30 days into spring before we’re ready to be grazing fresh grass,” he says. “Spring growth will be growing amidst last season’s growth during those 30 days of grazing the overwintered forage, so transition to the high-quality diet is gradual. By the time they finish with the overwintered forage, the rest of the pastures have had time to recover fully and are ready to be grazed.”

So, he counts backward from May 1, averaging 30 days per month, arriving at 180 necessary reserve herd days to get from Nov. 1, when native plants typically freeze or go dormant.

In order to have those 180 days reserved on Nov. 1, he knows that between May 1 and June 30, they better grow enough grass to provide somewhere between 240 to 270 grazing days’ worth of forage.

“So, I have to go from 30 reserve herd days on April 1 to accumulating 240 to 270 reserve herd days in early July,” Aljoe says. That puts a heavy expectation on the growth that occurs in that critical window. Monitoring the growth and regrowth that occurs in that window offers the key to the year-round grazing plan.

In a good rotational grazing program where there is a dozen or more pastures that the cattle are grazing through, one can estimate the number of days the cow herd could graze while maintaining the desired residual for each pasture. Total those days up and that is the number of your reserve herd days. Very simple if you are really into rotational grazing. However, most producers are not but the concept can still be applied by estimating forage demand and supply.

DEMAND: Aljoe suggests keeping the calculation of your livestock’s forage needs as simple as possible. Regardless of where she is in her cycle, a mature cow will need to eat 2.6-3% of her body weight in dry matter each day, so calculate conservatively at 3% to meet her at her greatest needs. For a 1,200-pound mature cow, that equals about 36 pounds of dry matter per day.

Be honest about the size of the cows you’re carrying, he cautions. The Southern Plains Experimental Range station in Harper County, Oklahoma, notes that over the past 60 years, mature cow size has increased an average of 7 pounds per year, with the average cow now weighing in at 1,350 pounds.

“The fact is, a lot of people’s cows are heavier than they think they are,” Aljoe says. “We might still have that 1,200-pound figure stuck in our heads, but they may well be bigger than that.” He suggests looking at your sale records from cull cows in recent years, tossing out the culls that ended up at the sale barn for poor condition, and average those who would offer a true representation of the herd.

For a 100-head herd of 1,350-pound cows, you’re looking at a demand of 40.5 pounds per cow per day, or 4,050 pounds of dry matter per day for the herd. (1,350 pound-cow x 0.03 = 40.5 pounds per day x 100 head = 4,050 pounds per day per 100-head herd).

SUPPLY: Your forage inventory calculation – the supply – can be as precise and complex as you desire. Get a grazing stick out or ask your local extension agent or rangeland conservationist to help conduct some clip-and-weigh inventories, if you want to check your numbers or fine-tune these figures.

But, Aljoe says, many ranchers can depend on their historical knowledge and trusted intuition to make these decisions, especially if they have been haying that ground in years past. The simplest way to calculate your inventory is to look at that pasture and think, ‘If I were to bale this today, what would I get from it?’

If you estimate you would harvest 2.5 bales per acre on that quarter section, and each round bale would weight 1,000 pounds, you have about 400,000 pounds of standing forage. (2.5 potential bales x 160 acres x 1,000 pounds = 400,000 pounds)

You don’t want to graze it to the ground, so make sure to run that total standing forage figure through the appropriate grazing utilization percentage. This is a quick estimate of how much of the forage you actually want to take in order to leave an appropriate amount of residue. For native pastures in the growing season, a safe estimate would be a 25% grazing efficiency, which would equal 100,000 pounds of grazeable forage inventory in the previous example.

This means your 100-head herd of 1,350-pound cows that needs a total of 4,050 pounds of dry matter per day has just shy of 25 reserve herd days standing in that pasture. (100,000 pounds grazeable forage inventory / 4,050 pounds of dry matter demand = 24.69 reserve herd days).

Success Starts in the Spring

A critical piece in all of these equations is using adaptive grazing to manage your residue and regrowth rate, Aljoe says, which changes throughout the year with rainfall and the season.

“We usually think about residue mainly going into the dormant season as ground cover,” Aljoe says. “But we really need to be thinking about it just as much in the active growing season. The residue you leave after a grazing event will determine how much and how rapidly that forage is going to recover.”

In peak growing season, the general rule of thumb has been ‘take half, leave half,’ but Aljoe says that requires more context.

“We’re supposed to be taking half of the leaf blade, not half the height of the entire plant. That’s a big, big difference.”

The portion of the leaves left after a grazing event during the active growing season are the powerhouse of the plant, fueling photosynthesis and regrowth. A grass like big bluestem boasts leaf structures 12 inches tall or more, but the bottom 4-to-6 inches of the plant is all leaf sheath on which the leaf blade grows. Taking half the plant would rob it of the leaves needed for rapid recovery.

If the goal is to accumulate 240-plus reserve herd days in that May-1-to-June-30 peak growing window, the approach must be to maximize regrowth rate while you graze.

“In our environment, I want to make a rapid rotation through all our pastures in peak growing season at least once, sometimes twice. If I’m really on top of it, we might get three grazing passes in some of those pastures during the growing season,” Aljoe says. Those peak season grazing events happen in quick succession on the Noble Ranches. The key is to “top graze” early in the spring with rapid moves and allow pastures to fully recover before re-grazing.

Aljoe says that compared to a continuous graze or simple rotation with a few pastures, he knows he can accumulate 30% to 40% more grazing days in the peak growing season if he is moving cattle on a daily basis. “I know not everyone wants to do that but stop and think about it: 30% to 40% more grazing days compared to even weekly moves. That’s huge!”

Think of it in terms of mowing your lawn – if you cut it high, you’re likely to need to re-cut more rapidly. If you shave it down close to the ground, it will take weeks to recover. The same is true in the pasture. The light, quick, ‘top-graze’ encourages re-growth, stacking on new grazing days behind each grazing event.

Monitor Forward for Most Accurate Assessments

This is where the idea of ‘monitoring forward’ comes into play, Aljoe says. After livestock move out of a paddock, the Noble team is monitoring regrowth rates.

“I want to make sure my grazing events two or three weeks ago had the outcome we intended, that the plants are fully recovering,” he says. “Then I can adjust my utilization rate accordingly.”

As recovery rates slow as the peak growing season tapers, Aljoe looks to shift from that super-light 25% utilization rate to a 50% or more utilization rate on dormant grasses. During the dormant season, we can graze most of the leaf blade material, but we must manage to keep plenty of after-graze material to cover the soil and protect the plant during winter dormancy.

“We’re varying our utilization rate depending on how fast and how rapidly our plants are growing, or if they’re growing at all. So, in the dormant season, utilization on the leaf area can be a bit more severe than we would allow during the growing season, because we’re not expecting that plant to recover until next spring.”

The key is to regularly monitor necessary reserve herd days against the actual forage inventory. The Noble team re-evaluates every two weeks. Especially during a drought, they check their bi-weekly inventories against key dates.

“I know that on June 1, I need to have about 140 grazing days already accumulated. If I’m only at 100, and it doesn’t look like we’re getting much more rain, I better start thinking about strategies to cut my demand,” Aljoe says. “If I hit July 1 and don’t have my 250 days accumulated, I know it’s time to start making decisions.”

Nothing feels like an emergency when you have a flexible plan in place, based on the current reality. That’s the kind of proactive management instilled by those early mentors, Aljoe says. Their decades of shared commitment to the principles have paid off as the native range has improved in forage production substantially.

NRCS soil surveys indicate some of the more productive soil types on Noble’s Coffey Ranch – where Aljoe started his career – should produce roughly 6,500 pounds of forage per acre in a favorable year.

“We go out there now, and we’re clipping and weighing forage production and measuring our grazing days, and we’re getting 8,000 to 9,000 pounds, in a drought year,” Aljoe says. While they keep a 30-day supply of hay on hand in case of extreme weather, the Coffey Ranch hasn’t fed hay for the past three years, even with drought conditions.

“It does take time,” he says, looking back to the almost 40 years of focused management that got them here on Coffey Ranch. He knows there’s still room for more improvement, too. It’s in the hard times, managed well, where they make the biggest leaps.

“When you have this kind of view across your pastures, you just don’t feel the same kind of pressure in the hard times,” Aljoe says. That doesn’t mean he takes the hard times lightly; he just knows the land is more resilient. “You know that what rains you do get are going to be effective; nothing runs off. You take good care of it, and the lands respond well.”

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