Cool Season

Cattle Tales Livestock is a quarterly newsletter published by the University of Maryland Extension that focuses on bringing timely, relevant information to Maryland's livestock producers. Topics in this issue (May 2021, Edition 1) are: Body Condition Score is a Critical Management, Tool for Cow-Calf Producers, Determining your Pasture Stocking Rate, Getting your Herd Ready for the Breeding Season, Considerations for Improving Hay Quality, Culling considerations for beef cow-calf herd, Controlling Flies and Ticks in Your Livestock, Implanting Pre-weaned Calves, and When should I deworm my sheep/goats?

Fortunately or unfortunately, people are creatures of habit. Over the years, we’ve developed behaviors and habits that will stick with us for a lifetime. This applies to our daily routines and the choices we make, both good and bad. Whether it’s not getting enough sleep, skimping on the sunscreen, or neglecting to floss on a daily basis, we often find ourselves guilty of making the same mistakes again and again. Unfortunately, this same phenomenon also holds true when it comes to grazing livestock. As you make plans for the upcoming growing season, here are a few of the more common grazing mistakes that we often fall prey to. Let’s do our best to break that habit and avoid these mistakes moving forward.

With a new growing season comes new opportunities, one of which is the opportunity to do a better job with making hay. With spring being a busy time of year, hay-making is often one of the lower priorities on the long list of things to do, but this means that all too often much of the hay that is made is moderate to lower in quality. In many cases, making better quality hay can significantly reduce the need for supplemental feed purchases and help keep adequate condition on animals. Below are some practical considerations for improving the quality of your hay this year.

Winter cover crops can be a good forage source for dairy cattle. Harvesting in the early boot stage will generate a quality forage that can be incorporated into the lactating cow diet. Here we will compare the nutrient profile for various silages produced from winter annuals with the more traditional corn and alfalfa silages.