Where to start to perform well on winter pastures

Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and part of Paraná have very privileged conditions for winter pastures, compared to the rest of the country. We are able to have pasture for a relatively long period of 120 days, pastures that are only intended for livestock for 150-180 days and extremely high quality pasture.

As producers, technicians and managers, we have an obligation to use this resource very well. And the first point to make the most of a winter pasture is to establish a good pasture and manage that pasture well.

The initial base, the foundation of a successful business during the winter, is a well-implemented and well-managed pasture so that we can subsequently define secondary points. Points that are also crucial, but depend on the first steps.

Where to start

First thing: have good pasture management.

And to have good management it is necessary to observe two points: what pasture I have available and how much is my demand, what cattle do I have to consume this forage void.

If what I have in animals and what I have in pasture don’t match, for example, if I have many more animals than the pasture available, which is the majority of conditions, then it is necessary to enhance the growth of pastures. Apply more fertilizer, produce more or extend the grazing period to close windows and cover forage demand.

If doing this still fails to cover the demand, then other strategies are worked on such as supplementation to supply or limiting the time of access to pasture to work well.

In this second point, looking at the animal categories, define which ones really need access to these winter pastures. Depending on the condition, there are categories that do not need it and those who are very demanding have preference to access these pastures. Younger categories such as calves or weaned calves, replacement heifers, primiparous heifers that are about to give birth or calves at the foot, are categories that have priorities for pastures. If I don’t have any of these categories, I look at the most demanding categories and offer them.

This is an excerpt from SIA’s live broadcast on “How to achieve maximum performance in winter pastures”, on the SIA YouTube Channel. Want to know more?

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIk1yUe2qMc