Aug 31, 2008 - 04:07:12 CDT
RURAL FLASHER - After years of working for his cows, Henry Meyer figured it was time his cows worked for him.He quit cutting hay and he quit feeding and watering them all winter long, much to his wife's initial distress.
Janet Meyer worried the cows wouldn't get enough nutrition, or water during the toughest months of the year.
Henry Meyer's plan to convert to winter grazing sounded good in theory, but it went against years of tradition of feeding hay starting sometime in late fall or early winter.
With her misgivings and his determination, they made the plunge. After a decade in the new style, they're making good money and having too much fun to quit now.
"The ranch went from barely making it in 1996 to very profitable," said Henry Meyer, a slim, jeans-wearing man, whose passion for the topic of winter grazing is matched to a decade of knowledge and experience.
Henry Meyer figures every cow operation west of the Missouri River could be run the same way, but it requires pitching most of the usual practices overboard.
For those willing to give up the idea that big is beautiful and that cows have to be fork-fed all winter, it could work.
Henry Meyer got ready for the transition by selling his entire herd of Simmentals and buying a smaller animal, a mix of Angus and Tarentaise, a French breed.
Then, he started using his pastures better, paying close attention to how long the animals were in a pasture and at what time of year, to promote good grass recovery and the growth of certain grasses.
Now, they run 450 head on 8,000 acres and an additional 200 bred heifers in the spring. They're gradually seeding all crop acres over to grass, keeping 120 acres under irrigation for barley to feed weaned calves and for any emergency feed.
It's been a decade since the Meyers fed hay to their cows in the winter. The flip side is that it's been that long since they've invested expensive fuel, time and labor in cutting, moving and stacking hay all summer and getting it out to the cows all winter.
By the way, bring on the snow, he says. "We love snow," he said. His pregnant cows eat it and are thus watered when they winter graze the tall, protein-rich grasses that grew during the warm summer months.
He said his thick, fleshy calves get top dollar at the livestock market and there's a growing demand for his modestly-sized bred heifers through Internet sales from other producers looking to get away from what he calls "monster cows."
Their smaller cows and calves are in sync with the year-round grazing operation.
"Ranches are going broke raising 600-pound calves. The big cattle in the United States were developed with a feed bucket and they (ranchers) can't survive on what the ranch produces," Meyer said.
Their cows are more efficient and their pregnancy rate tops the chart. And their grass diet makes them rich in Omega 3 oil that promotes good heart health, he said. Depending primarily on how cold it is, the Meyers provide a supplement to prevent weight loss before calving, but they do it for change per animal, not dollars.
When Henry Meyer drives over to a pasture across from their headquarters, he's pleased with the consistent size of the animals and the healthy grass they're eating.
"These cattle will be the envy of the country some day," Meyer predicts.
Kevin Sedivec is a rangeland specialist for North Dakota State University's extension program.
He said the Meyers' practice of year-round grazing is rare in North Dakota, though many producers now extend grazing - as opposed to feeding hay - through the end of January and into February.
Some form of winter grazing is possible in western North Dakota, though not in eastern North Dakota, because western rangeland contains enough warm season grass to keep the cows in protein even after a freeze. Eastern range is generally too deep in snow and produces mainly cool season grasses, he said.
Sedivec said his primary concern with year-round grazing is that it can gradually diminish the cool season grasses that should constitute 60 percent of a healthy pasture. The cool season grasses should be there to provide forage when cows are lactating new calves and Meyers' could see those grazed away in March and April, or month or two before calving begins on their ranch.
"You can start to see the death of those grasses," he said. "Ecologically, you have to be careful." He said he toured Meyers' two summers ago and found the grass balance shifting toward warm season grasses, which could be a problem, if it goes too far.
Henry Meyer feels otherwise. "I've got the best pastures in the county. They all get used in ways that improve them," he said. If anything, he said, the acres he's planted over to grass are too predominant in cool season grasses.
Sedivec said the upside of winter grazing is the reduced input costs and the Meyers said their profit margin has improved 25 percent, now that their cows are essentially employees, working for them.
Winter grazing can take various forms, said Michele Doyle, of the Morton County Natural Resource Conservation Service. Those are bale, swath, or winter grazing, or moving cows through a late-planted cover crop.
Generally, the practice attracts producers who "are interested in taking range management to a higher level. They need to have a finger on the pulse of their land," Sedivec said. NDSU is experimenting with cover crops and grazing this year.
He said the right cover crop, like turnips, radishes, or millet, planted after the traditional hay or crop harvest, can replenish the soil at the same time it provides nutritious forage for both cow and calf well into December.
He said cover crops are a hot topic as producers look for alternatives to the traditional and growing expense of making, storing and feeding hay.
Anyone looking to go to year-round grazing will have to be breed savvy and a vigilant grass manager.
"You can't just start, you have to grow into it," Sedivec said.
Henry Meyer said it wasn't easy to make the decision, but it's the best one he ever made.
And Janet Meyer, for her earlier misgivings, said she's comfortable now.
"All I could visualize was dead animals with no water. That hasn't happened and I guess it isn't going to happen," she said.
(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511 or lauren@;westriv.com.)
Rsmithranch wrote on Sep 10, 2008 2:12 PM:
Ben wrote on Sep 10, 2008 5:44 AM:
Henry Meyer wrote on Aug 31, 2008 6:30 PM:
Rancher wrote on Aug 31, 2008 9:15 AM:
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