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College Station, Texas
April 25, 2003
Cattle producers wanting to learn
how to make their operations more profitable by establishing an
intensive grazing system can access a new Web site offered by
Texas Cooperative Extension.
Located at
http://intensivegrazing.tamu.edu, producers can learn about
the benefits of rotational grazing, how to set up a system, how
to submit a soil sample for evaluation, submit questions, as
well as read articles about success stories from producers.
Producers visiting the Web site
can learn how to develop a pasture plan, identify forage quality
and quantity; learn how to establish paddocks, learn about stock
density and how to provide a water resource.
"Intensive grazing allows the
producer more control over the utilization of pastures," said
Dr. David Bade, Extension forage specialist. "By dividing
pastures into smaller units, he or she can increase stock
density on the pasture being grazed without increasing stocking
rates on the whole place."
Bade noted increasing stock
density will result in more even nutrient recycling and
increased utilization of forage, forcing young weeds and
stockpiled forages to be grazed more uniformly. "This will allow
for different herds to be grazed based on their nutrient
requirements, etc. It also results in gentler cattle because the
producer sees them more frequently," Bade said.
"Producers at the recent
Blackland Income Growth Conference in Waco requested an
educational resource," said Blair Fannin, who is an assistant
news editor with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and
initiated the project. "By offering this information on the Web,
producers at their convenience can access information about this
beneficial system 24 hours a day."
The site was designed by Tami
Hons, Web administrator with the department of soil and crop
sciences at Texas A&M University. Dr. Larry Redmon, Extension
forage specialist based in Overton, also provided resource
material.
"There are many fringe benefits
from a good rotational grazing system," Bade said.
Writer: Blair Fannin, (979)
845-2259, b-fannin@tamu.edu
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