Forages As burned up as pastures were last summer and fall, it is difficult to imagine that some day soon we will be faced with an overabundance of lush spring pasture. How we manage this period of high pasture productivity is critical. In a period of abundant growth, it might seem that we can get by with less management attention. However, our spring grazing management affects not only the degree to which we effectively utilize that growth, but also pasture performance for the remainder of the season.
Spring is when pasture growth in uncontrolled grazing situations gets most out of control.
With cool-season pastures, the supply of available pasture forage reaches its peak during the spring. Too often, rather than make management efforts to utilize this abundance of spring forage, we are content to spend excess time and money in early summer brush-hogging the overmature forage that was wasted in the spring. As a result, most pasture systems are understocked during spring. The resulting abundance of available forage allows grazing animals to fully express their selectivity. While rotational stocking gives us the higher stock densities that enable us to better control and utilize rapid spring growth, we can still end up wasting a lot of forage if we don't have a plan for managing it.