Twelve Aprils
Clemson University researchers say Tom Trantham is saving approximately 47 cents per cow per day by grazing. Trantham says his switch to grass based dairying is saving a whole lot more than that.
"That’s why I’m still in the dairy business," says Trantham. "I'd have never made it past 1991." Tom’s praise of the 56-acre, small paddock, rotational grazing system doesn’t end there. "It is so much easier now, it is almost sickening," he says. "I’ve enjoyed my farm more the last six years than I have the last ten."
If it is hard to imaging that small paddocks could earn such praises, consider the history of the eighty cow operation. He had a totally conventional dairy-- production at any cost. And production he got. From 1980 to 1986, his operation was usually in the state’s top ten. By 1985, he reached a 19,900 lb. RHA, for the number one spot. But the cost was staggering.
"At one time, I was milking 125 cows, eleven and a half hours a day, in an in-line, four stall, side opening parlor."
He also grew his own silage, which translated into endless stretches of sixteen hour days with no vacations. "I farmed beyond my abilities and facilities, trying to survive," he says.
Worst of all, the sacrifices didn’t pay. Trantham started the dairy from scratch in 1978 and was highly leveraged. The high production didn’t begin to offset his costs.
The low point came in the fall of 1985. His Farmers Home Administration operating loan didn’t go through and he was out of money and feed. In desperation, he turned his cows out to pasture. In the spring of 1986, he got the loan, but he had learned invaluable lessons in the meantime.
"Every time I grazed, milk production would go up," he says. He discovered that the biggest production boost was in April, when the cows grazed the tender new growth. "I said then, if a dairy farmer could have twelve Aprils a year, he could make it," states Trantham.
He gradually started working on the pastures on the 93-acre farm, trying to keep fresh, green growth in front of his cows year round. But he didn’t have a set plan. "I plowed and planted, and haphazardly played with it," he says.
In the spring of 1994, he had another breakthrough. With help from Clemson’s dairy science department, he obtained a three year grant from USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, as well as USDA and EPA’s joint Agriculture in Concert with the Environment (ACE) program. The grant has the uninspiring title of "Evaluation of a Low-Input, No-Till, No-Herbicide Continuous Grazing System for Dairy Cows."
Translated, this means that Trantham has Clemson diary scientists Jean Bertrand and Fred Pardue, as well as agronomist Bruce Pinkerton, working toward his goal of twelve Aprils a year.
Trantham and his team are using a variety of cool and warm season annuals and perennials, including a grazing type alfalfa to try to keep young, tender forage in front of his milk string at all times. And so, he discovered, by chance, young and tender is the key, at least with milk and production.
"Forage quality declines with maturity," states Pinkerton. "Crude protein goes down and digestible energy goes down." The agronomist says this not only holds true for an entire pasture, but for individual plants as well. The newly sprouted leaves on top are naturally higher quality than the older, more mature stems and leaves toward the bottom of the plant. Pinkerton says this is where grazing really shines. "Under light grazing, cattle will selectively remove the top material," he explains.
Their research on Trantham’s dairy backs this up. They sampled small grain and millet pastures for NDF, ADF, and crude protein, then compared those samples with what the cows actually ate. The forages had an NDF value of 60.1%, ADF was 32.1%, and crude protein was 19.9%. However, on the portion of the plants the cows actually consumed, the average NDF value was 56.3%, the ADF was 29.7%, and crude protein was 23.6%.
The grazed portion of one paddock of rye, ryegrass, and yuchii clover tested as high as 30% crude protein. Trantham comments, "Think about trying to buy 30% protein silage or hay--there is no way."
"This illustrates one of the unique advantages of grazing," say Bertrand. "If the cows had been fed the same crops as harvested feed, they would have had a much lower quality product, and would have had to expend energy digesting lower quality forage."
Trantham by no means wastes the lower quality, bottom portion of the plants. "We round bale it for the dry cows and heifers, and it is almost free feed."
The grazing system isn’t fool proof yet, though. Even with the diverse mix of forages, mother nature doesn’t allow Trantham to keep his Holsteins on quality grazing year round. During the first year and a half of the SARE-ACE project, his milk string grazed a total of 292 days out of 419.
Costs on the different paddocks and forages ranged from a negative return of 77 cents per cow per day, to a positive return of $1.20 per head per day, for an average savings of $9,606.80. Trantham says the numbers should improve as he and the researchers fine tune the grazing system, especially the timing of planting and the varieties and mixtures of forages they use. He also says these figures don’t begin to tell the whole story. "I retired $150,000 worth of silage equipment, and that doesn’t count the Harvestore lease for $477 a month." He also says the cost figures don’t reflect the savings from his input system of forage production.
For the last nine years, he has used the manure scraped daily from his free-stall barn, holding lot and feeding area to fuel forage growth. Since he has stopped growing silage, he has also been able to cut chemical use. Overall, he estimates his input costs have decreased 25 to 30 percent. "I’ve been able to meet my financial obligations."
Then, there is the stress, or lack of it, factor. "Sixteen hours a day versus ten or twelve...," says Trantham. "I almost feel like I am on vacation."
"I’m a happy dairyman again. It’s fun. I have time to observe my cows. I pick up more heats." And the cows are thriving. "The vet bill has been cut to almost nothing. Our vet comes once a month to pregnancy check."
Herdsman David Sanders is also benefiting. "He has been working on a dairy since he was 13. He is now 51. He says this is the happiest he has ever been on a dairy," Trantham says.
The trend toward healthier cows apparently holds true for other grass-based dairies. Texas A & M farm management specialist Joe Outlaw says he has seen vet and medical costs on grazing operations drop from an average of $60 to $12 per cow. And, even though production does tend to drop as producers depend more on grazing, Outlaw notes, "Output per cow is not too far off."
In Trantham’s case, his cows went from their high of 19,900 lbs. to 15,600 lbs. when he first started grazing. With help from the Clemson team, it was back up to 18,900 lbs. when the twelve weeks of drought and 100-degree temperatures hit in the summer of 1995. Then, it dipped to 18,566 lbs. but is inching back up.
Even after the drought, Trantham says grazing is the way to go. "During a drought, I’m out until the next rain. Before, if I lost my corn silage crop, I was out for twelve months." He takes care not to foul up the herd’s digestive system during the droughts or other times when grazing is nil. Year round, he feeds a TMR containing the purchased corn silage and a commercial concentrate. He also feeds the concentrate in the parlor during the two times milking. When his cows make the transition to and from grazing, he merely adjusts the amount of silage he feeds. And, when the cows are grazing, Bertrand says they actually only consume about 25% of their dry matter intake from pasture.
Droughts and learning experiences aside, the researcher and Trantham say grazing has a place in the country’s dairy industry.
"It appears that grazing dairies are viable economic units," agrees Texas A & M’s Outlaw. "Grazing may be one of the few hopes dairymen have to decrease costs significantly."
Betrand says, "I believe grazing is a way for the smaller farmers to make itBand the larger ones, too."
Trantham adds, "Some of this can apply to any part of the United States. You may not have twelve Aprils, but you can have six, eight, or ten." And, you may not have April growth as your lush growth, but then, that’s what research is all aboutBfinding what works for each farmer in his own locale.