The Cattle Follow the Forage

What we look for at the middle of the grazing season

As we approach the middle of the grazing season, people often ask me, “How are the cattle doing?”

I am always glad they ask. But on a 100% grassfed farm, I usually begin my answer with a gentle correction.

The first question is not how the cattle are doing. It is how the forage is doing.

The cattle depend entirely on what the land can grow for them. Their condition begins with the amount of forage in front of them, the stage of growth it has reached, and the time the pasture has been given to recover.

When the forage is doing well, the cattle have a strong foundation. When the pasture begins to fall behind, the plants will often show it before the herd does.

Sixteen Years of Building These Pastures

At Tyner Pond Farm in east-central Indiana, we have spent 16 years building and restoring these pastures.

I am proud of what is growing here. The fields are denser and more varied than they once were. Grasses, clovers, and other forage plants occupy different heights and carry different parts of the growing season.

That progress did not come from one planting or one good year. It has come from years of moving cattle, allowing recovery, watching the weather, and adjusting our decisions to what the ground is telling us.

After 16 years, I know these pastures well. But knowing them well has not made me think there is nothing left to learn. It has made me pay closer attention.

Every season is different. Rain arrives at a different time. Summer heat may come early or late. One paddock may recover quickly while another needs more time. The work of grazing is never finished because the pasture itself never stands still.

Midseason Is a Different Pasture

The field in this photograph is not the same pasture the cattle entered in early spring.

Spring growth is often quick and tender. As the season advances, grasses become taller and more mature. Clover begins to flower. Other plants become more noticeable as they fill the spaces between the grasses.

The pasture begins to work at several levels.

Tall plants meet the strongest sunlight and rain first. Below them, other leaves use the light that filters through. Closer to the ground, shorter plants and old plant material help cover the soil.

That cover is important. It shades the ground, slows the loss of moisture, and reduces the amount of bare soil exposed to summer heat.

The layers continue below the surface. Some plants have fibrous roots near the top of the soil. Others reach farther down for water and nutrients. They are not all drawing from the same depth or making their greatest demands at the same time.

A useful pasture is not necessarily a perfectly uniform field. It is often a community of plants doing different work.

A Green Field Does Not Tell the Whole Story

From a distance, a pasture can look green and still be short of usable forage.

That is why a grazier has to walk into the field.

We look at the height and density of the stand. We look at plant maturity, variety, moisture, and recovery. We consider whether the cattle can take a full mouthful with each bite or whether they will have to spend too much time searching through thin growth.

We also look beyond the next grazing.

A field may contain plenty of forage today, but the weather ahead still matters. Hot and dry conditions will slow recovery. Moderate temperatures and dependable moisture may allow a paddock to rebuild more quickly.

A fixed calendar cannot make those decisions for us. The pasture has to be read as it is, not as we expected it to be several weeks earlier.

Total Grazing Depends on Timing

At Tyner Pond Farm, we practice Total Grazing.

We place the cattle in a limited area for a brief, concentrated grazing period. Rather than allowing them to remain in one place and repeatedly select only their favorite plants, we move the herd through the stand and then move them on.

What follows is just as important as the grazing itself.

The paddock is given the recovery time it needs before cattle return. That period is not the same throughout the season. Rapid spring growth may allow a shorter recovery. Summer heat, reduced rainfall, or slower plant growth may require considerably more time.

Our goal is not to follow a simple formula about how much plant material must always remain. Our goal is to understand the condition of the stand, use it at the proper time, and then allow the plant community to rebuild.

That requires observation. The plants, weather, soil moisture, and season all take part in the decision.

Right Now, the Forage Is Doing Well

At this point in the grazing season, the forage is doing very well.

The red clover in the photograph rises above a dense mixture of grasses and lower-growing plants. Some plants are flowering. Others are still building leaves. Beneath them is a thick layer of forage and plant material covering the ground.

It is not a flat, uniform crop. It is a working pasture.

That pasture reflects 16 years of management, but it also reflects the conditions of this particular place and season. Rainfall, sunlight, soil, plant diversity, and adequate recovery have all contributed to what is standing there now.

Our responsibility is to bring the cattle to it at the right time and then get out of the way long enough for it to grow again.

Grassfed Beef Begins Before the Cattle Take a Bite

Most people encounter grassfed beef after the farm work has already been done.

They see a package of beef, but the beginning is much earlier. It begins with sunlight reaching a leaf. It continues with rain entering covered soil, roots drawing water and nutrients from different depths, and plants rebuilding after a grazing event.

The cattle are central to the farm, but they are part of a larger relationship between land, plants, animals, weather, and management.

So when someone asks how the cattle are doing, I certainly look across the herd.

But first, I look down at the pasture.

When the forage is abundant, varied, and properly recovered, the cattle have what they need to do well.

That is where grassfed beef begins.

Good food begins with a place.