Dividing pastures is a good way to ration grazing. There is less trampling and desirable grazing can be mixed with less nutritious feed. Electrical fencing can be constructed around difficult terrain, making marginal areas available for pasturing. Cattle are scavengers; honeysuckle, blackberry briars, multiflora rose, and weeds often can provide excellent grazing.
Another advantage to rotational or divided grazing: it is much easier to look ahead and estimate when current supplies will be gone and consequently how much supplemental feed may be needed.
Use the plainer grasses now. Common bermuda and bahia should receive special grazing attention. These two grasses furnish excellent summer forage and respond very quickly to rainfall. Close grazing improves the quality of both grasses, which may be able to tolerate 3-4 dry cows per acre from now until frost.
Keep in mind that nutrient requirements among different classes of animals is not the same. For example, an average milking beef cow needs about twice as much protein as a dry cow, and about twenty percent more energy. That does not mean she will not eat more if she can get it. Dry cows can lose up to 100-125 pounds between weaning and calving with no adverse effects, provided her nutritional levels are immediately doubled at calving time. If it is possible to separate classes of animals, a lot of money can be saved on feed.
Put the Coastal in a bale. One of the best attributes of coastal bermudagrass is its ability to respond to fertilizer. With the recent rains, and six more weeks to grow, another one to two tons of hay might be cut -- with adequate fertilizer.
Several fields are being cut now, because of scattered rains during the last month or so. These fields are a little weak, and pushing them for hay production now may not leave them as winter-hardy as needed. From this standpoint, a good shot of potash with the nitrogen (in a one-to-one ratio) may help the grass harden for the winter.
Sprigging costs on coastal run $85 per acre or more. For top production and high quality, the grass requires heavy levels of fertilizer. In a drought year coastal is a high cost forage. It should be reserved for that period of the year when the lower cost grasses, weeds, and residues are not available.
Stockpile fescue for late fall and early winter grazing. Tall fescue is not a summer grass; it won't do much of a job of growing until the days get a little cooler. If the leaves are allowed to grow, the root system is also getting stronger. Even light grazing right now will seriously reduce its ability to recover from the recent dry weather.
In the upper part of the South, well fertilized tall fescue in good growing condition produces maybe 40 percent (2500-3000 lb/ac) of its growth after September 1. Annual maintenance costs are only about $35 per acre for the entire year.
Plant additional grazing. Rye, other small grains, and perhaps ryegrass, provide other sources of cool-season grazing. A seedbed should be prepared and planted by early to mid-September, allowing seedlings to emerge in time to produce excellent winter forage. Small grain grazing can fit right in with a double-cropping system, provided care is taken to prevent damage to fields through trampling during periods of wet weather.
Overseed, and do it early. Overseeding with small grains, clovers, and cool season grasses should be a high priority. Since seedbed preparation is avoided, operating costs are limited to a single trip over the field ($12 to 15/acre) plus seed, and some additional fertilizer. A high-penetration drill does a good job, but many farmers have obtained excellent stands with an ordinary grain drill if the soil has recently been softened by a good rain. After haying coastal (October 15) and after frost on common bermuda and bahia, these pastures can be overseeded to rye for late winter and early spring grazing.
Caution should be given here. Cows heavy with calf should not be grazed on rye and/or clover pastures. Grazing these forages prior to calving may result in added calving problems. The drought has caused serious problems, some of which will be with us well beyond next year. However, most farmers have received beneficial moisture, and with continued rains and good management, the challenge for the coming winter can be met.
Check pastures for toxic plants. Once feed supplies get short cattle will start eating what ever is left. Keep wilted wild cherry leaves totally out of reach. Ferns, night shade, mountain laurel, crotolaria, olcader, sickepod, horsenettle and many other plants that stay green in drought have toxic components. Know what your livestock will be eating and get rid of the dangers before they become a problem.
Check fences. Once the pastures start getting short the animals are going to start to look for alternate feed themselves if it is not provided.
Watch for varmints and snakes. As drought continues and water and feed start to decrease, the wildlife will start to converge on your resources.