Dairy farmer says mob grazing works great for his herd
By Heather Thorstensen
hthorstensen@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 08/12/2010 8:36 AM
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WEST UNION, Iowa— Mob grazing is helping David Baker's organic dairy operation near West Union.
"It seems to do a lot better on keeping the grass even and you get much more of a steady grass growth, or re-growth, in general. It also seems to help the soil and cows milk better off of it. And I think it also helps with weed control," he said.
Baker hosted a pasture walk July 28. A series of pasture walks are being held this year, an effort of Northeast Iowa Graziers and Great River Graziers. Pasture walks in northeast Iowa are supported by Iowa State University Extension, Natural Resources Conservation Service and Northeast Iowa Community Based Dairy Foundation.
Baker is in his third year of renting the farm from his uncle, Don Baker. Before he left, Don also grazed his organic dairy cows, but mob grazing is a new technique David brought to the farm.
God's Green Pasture has 150 tillable acres, 105 of which are mostly in pasture. Baker also rents two other pastures for heifers. He grows winter rye, corn and oats.
Cattle have access to new pasture in 12-hour intervals. They graze until the the grasses are two inches to three inches tall.
By encouraging the cows to intensely graze one area, Baker feels he's avoiding old pasture forages that the cows refuse.
Their diet is supplemented with 5.5 pounds of a 60 percent corn, 40 percent oats diet, plus mineral and salt. Cattle also have access to baylage when they come off pasture for milking.
Baker showed pasture walk participates a field with approximately 16-inch tall forages. After making baylage and a previous grazing, the field was in its third crop of the season. It had red clover, brome grasses, tall fescue and other grasses. Close to 25 days had passed since the cattle grazed it last.
"It'll be my next area," said Baker.
Visitors also saw the dairy herd. Baker sold some of his cattle last year.
"It was just an opportunity last year to take the best of the genetics with the way the market was and I got rid of high somatic cell cows and just kind of went through and picked out what I thought was the best genetics," he said.
Now he has 78 milking cows plus six still to calve. Major genetics in the herd is Dutch Belted, with some Milking Shorthorn, Holstein, and Jersey and Angus. The herd was accompanied in the fieldby an Ayrshire bull. Baker is leaning toward moving more into Ayrshire and Finnish Red genetics.
The group also saw Baker's harvested oats field. He had drilled in bromegrass with the oats this spring, then went over it and seeded grasses. He faced blown-down oats for the first time this year in addition to hail.
"The oats blew over and the weeds came through, it was quite a mess," he said.
He'd like to keep the field dual purpose so he can graze it and cut it off for a hay crop. He's decided to wait until spring to figure out exactly how to use the field next.
Baker lives at the farm with his wife, Maria, and their four children.