While it may not be a common New Year’s resolution, stepping up your pasture management might be an important one. After all, improved pasture management can lead to lots of other improvements on the farm, including improved profits. Winter is a great time to think about the grazing season to come and start making plans for what you want to achieve this year. What worked last year, and what didn’t? If you are thinking to make changes, how can those be accomplished? A good starting point is to write down some simple goals. Some examples might include:
- Bring in more species to increase pasture plant diversity
- Increase the length of your grazing season by a month (or more)
- Delay the feeding of stored forages until later in the fall
- Keep better records of the movement of animals on pasture
The next step is to plan how to meet these goals, and then of course try to implement them once the season begins.