Grazing with organic cattle

Disclaimer: This text has been translated from Danish to English automatically, so please note that there may be errors in the translation.

Success with grazing can be achieved through planning, management and follow-up.

With good planning and management, you can achieve that:

• Approximately 50 % of the cows' feed needs come from the pasture during the grazing season.

• Grazing doesn't cost milk - even if the cows have a high yield.

• 500-1000 DKK in earnings per cow, as savings can be made on feed purchases.

Tools for planning and managing grazing

You can use the "Grazing plan" tool to plan your grazing programme. The grazing plan provides an overview of the amount of grass available during the grazing season.

Grazing plan - a tool for planning grazing
(Excel spreadsheet in Danush)

Grazing is calculated by entering your farm information in the yellow fields. You can document the grass percentage, forage percentage and hectares per cow in the 4 grazing periods that the season is divided into. In the yellow fields where farm information is entered, there is a guiding text in the red triangles in the right corner.

The feed level is calculated based on the breed and performance of the cows and is given as the average for the herd. The pasture curves are taken from "Handbook of Cattle Husbandry". Soil type and irrigation determine the yields in rotational grassland. However, you can overwrite the yields with your own values, and you can also change the sowing and binding dates. The latter changes the 4 grazing periods in the table.

The grassland management chart is another tool that you can use to plan field and paddock level grazing throughout the year. It can be printed out and posted in the barn or office so that relevant people around the farm can keep up to date with the plan.

Grassland management plan (pdf file for printing in Danish)

Grassland management

The grazing forecast is a valuable tool for grassland management as it provides an overview of the expected grass growth and feed value based on local climate data that you plot yourself. The grass growth is given as FEN per ha per day and the feed value as MJ NEL per kg dry matter, protein content and sugar content.

The organic grazing forecast (landbrugsInfo.dk, in Danish)

Grass growth can be measured with a plate meter

The plate meter can be a good way to record the daily or weekly grass supply in your fields. By measuring the height of the grass in the fields, the plate meter can give you an idea of what the grass supply is in the respective field in kg dry matter/ha. Based on this, you can manage your grazing in relation to which fields should be grazed when. If the field has a high grass growth, it may also be that mowing should be done instead. Thus, the tool can be a tool to ensure maximum grass growth and uptake.

Estimated grass uptake

If you want to calculate the grass intake from grazing, it is recommended to use an energy utilisation of 96% for both large breed and Jersey. The energy utilisation is based on the fact that the energy requirement for maintenance during grazing is higher than NorFor estimates.

You can read an in-depth description in the link here (landbrugsInfo.dk, the article requires login, in Danish)

Follow-up on grazing

You can use the Grazing Master tool to continuously follow up on your grazing. Together with feed checks 6-8 times during the season, the grazing master can help you get a good overview of the pasture's yield, the cows' grass intake and the residual amount (milk minus feed) achieved. This allows you to evaluate how successful the grazing has been and what should be changed for next season.

Grazing master - a tool for continuous follow-up on grazing
(Excel spreadsheet, landbrugsinfo.dk, in Danish)

See instructions for Grazing masts (landbrugsinfo.dk, in Danish)

Rules for grazing

During the grazing period from 15 April to 1 November, cattle must have access to grazing areas when conditions allow.

Deviations from the general grazing period:

• Young animals aged 6-12 months must have access to pasture from 1 May - 1 November.

• Calves aged 4-6 months must have access to pasture from 1 May - 1 September

• Calves under 4 months can be housed indoors during the grazing period

In your livestock production logbook, you must record grazing, including the date of turnout and turn-in, as well as the animals concerned.

The grazing area should be 0.1 to 0.2 hectares per animal, as this will normally fulfil the nutritional needs of dairy cows during the grazing period, depending on grass growth and quality. When using land with a lower yield than rotational grazing, such as permanent pasture, you should expect the grazing area to be larger than 0.2 ha per animal to fulfil the animals' nutritional needs and prevent overgrazing.

Read more about the rules for grazing in Guide to organic agricultural production (in Danish).

Contact your organic consultant for help with planning grazing on your farm.