From the Barns: See for yourself

I am certainly happy August is behind us. I am not looking for a pity party here, because we all know in the business of agriculture that nature can make for a number of challenges. We had a total of 0.02 inches of rain for the month of August. So, our sorghum-sudangrass has responded, but less than the growth after the first graze.

About midmonth we were hit again in our reed canary grass paddocks with a big group of armyworms. I think we failed to notice their start on a Saturday and Sunday, so by the time we saw the damage on Monday morning, it looked pretty terrible. A half day later, after about 50 acres sprayed, there were still a few that didn’t seem to want to die and the regrowth over the next few days seemed slow.

The moderate drought we are back in has hastened the row crop maturation and held back everything else needing a drink. One blessing, though — despite the dry, temperatures have been very tolerable and one feels like working again.

Our project to see if custom grazing returns can equal or exceed returns from row crops continues. We are in our third rotation through the 65 acres of our fields that are usually in row crops. We planted the sorghum-sudangrass May 28 and have now grazed all the acres twice and about 40% of the acres so far the third time.

Observations that I can share at this point: 245 head of 7-weight steers can make a lot of footprints in small acreages; can leave a lot of cattle trails, even though in an area for a short time; can leave areas close to water or shade completely barren in a short time; and are still causing quite a bit of trample.

Also, our stand of forage is thinner after each graze and we are yet undecided about the need to clip any seed heads or shoots remaining that can be seed heads very soon. We have been feeding 6 to 8 pounds of distillers per day and affording access to dry round bales of grass hay to provide some better balance for the diet. The dry weather has afforded dry ground for the steers to clean up the distillers.

According to plan, a group of the largest steers will be sorted and shipped to a feedlot next week. I will be curious to see what effect that will look like on our remaining grazes. In order to add to our grazing potential, we are no-tilling cereal rye and kale into our sorghum-sudangrass stands right after we complete third rotation. Twenty-four of our 65 acres have been seeded as of Sept. 5.

The soil is very dry right now, but hoping for a rain to germinate. This could afford us with some late fall — as well as some early spring — grazing. We are not sure if we will be able to graze a fourth time, or if that will happen after a killing frost. We are inexperienced and still learning with this project.

I will host a pasture walk here on Wednesday, Sept. 17, from 5 to 7 p.m., for anyone interested in seeing firsthand what the project looks like and especially to see the steers and the forage stages. A light meal will be available if you make a reservation on the website at www.ilgrazinglands.org or by calling Jacob Hamilton at 217-770-7098 or myself at 309-337-0053.

While you are doing that, register for one of the Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition Grazing Schools — north at Cambridge Sept. 12- 13 and south at Waltonville Sept. 26- 27. Cost is only $50 and you get fed. Anyway, see you Sept. 17. Stay safe and sane.