Half the cost and a fraction of the work is how one central Alberta farm family describes the benefits of their swath grazing system. The system was developed over the past few years with help of a mentorship program co-ordinated by a recently revitalized, Alberta-wide agricultural association network.

Lyle Brown, who farms with his family members near Carstairs, says developing improved pasture and grazing systems, summer and winter for his 600-head beef herd has significantly reduced input and operational costs, as well as labor and wear and tear on equipment.

He credits the advice from the Sustainable Grazing Mentorship Program for reducing feed costs and at the same time, improving pasture efficiency and beef-herd performance.

“We’ve learned how to increase production efficiency while reducing costs,” says Brown, referring to the grazing mentorship program. Brown worked with Jim Stone, an instructor at Olds College, a farmer, and self-taught specialist in grazing and pasture management systems. Stone shared his knowledge and experience with the Brown family, long-time grain farmers who converted to a beef operation about eight years ago.

The mentorship program, coordinated through Agricultural Research and Extension Council of Alberta (ARECA) www.areca.ab.ca, works to connect both experienced graziers and novice producers with other producers or professional consultants who can provide solid, practical advice on good grass and pasture management systems.

Working with the Brown family, Stone established a rotational grazing system for steers during the summer months, and developed an efficient swath-grazing system that provides up to five months of winter feed for the 600-head cow herd.

Cost of the mentorship program, which has been used by nearly 40 producers in its first full year of operation, is shared by ARECA, as well as the beef sector of the federal Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Program for Canadian Agriculture (GHGMP) and the producer.

Improved pasture management and efficient winter feeding strategies can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from beef production systems in a number of ways. For more details on the mentorship program, see the full feature on the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association Web site at www.cattle.ca . Click on the Stewardship section and follow the links.

“In making the switch from a straight grain operation to a cow/calf operation we needed some direction on how to manage cattle and pastures as efficiently as possible,” says Brown. Swath grazing, for example, saves both money and time, while providing cattle with high-quality feed.

This winter, he is feeding about 600 cows over three separate quarter sections of swathed oats. Each group of 200 cows will “graze” from mid-November through to calving in mid-March. The feed was economical to produce and only takes about 15 minutes per group or about one hour a day to feed all 600 head, says Brown.

He estimates feeding costs to be about 50 cents per head per day, which is about half of what Alberta Agriculture economists calculate as conventional dry lot feeding costs.

The focus of the mentorship program is to connect livestock producers with a specialist who can provide advice on improved pasture and feeding management, explains Dee Ann Benard, executive director of ARECA.

“Improving pasture and overall feed efficiency is not only beneficial from a beef production standpoint,” says Benard. “The improved management also has several spin-off benefits which are good for the environment.”

Through ARECA, livestock producers looking for grazing management advice are matched with one of 14 mentors across the province. The mentor could be a producer, a professional consultant in their area, or a producer from elsewhere in the province with specific expertise, adds Benard. Along with encouraging more producers to make use of the program, ARECA is also interested in recruiting more mentors.

For more information on the grazing mentorship program, contact Lee Ann Benard of the ARECA office at (780) 992-0261, or by email at benard@look.ca

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For more information contact:
Lee Ann Benard
ARECA, Executive Director
Adrossan, AB
Phone: (780) 992-0261

Pat Walker, Beef Project Co-ordinator
Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Program
Calgary, AB
Phone: (403) 601-8991

(Editor’s Note: Photos to accompany the grazing mentorship feature are available by contacting Meristem Information Services at 403-543-7420 or by email at lee.hart@meristem.com  )