A fourth generation dairy farmer, Mike Meier has been milking “forever.” Four years ago he was thinking of quitting. At that time, they were a confinement dairy. It took three men working all day to keep up. All the equipment used for feeding the cows was wearing out and too expensive to replace.
Mike talked to several people and decided to try rotational grazing before he quit. He still finds it hard to believe how much milk you can get on grass – he has peaked at 64 pounds last March – and how much grass you can get if you manage it right. With rotational grazing, “input costs almost disappear.” He fed ten pounds of grain per cow per day most of this year. In addition to reduced feed cost, the vet bills are much lower and the cull rate goes way down.
Mike lives with his wife, Janan, on a 240-acre farm located southwest of Monett, Mo., in Barry County.
The 160 acres on the dairy side of the farm is divided into cells of three to four acres. After milking, sometimes Mike has to move a fence, but usually just closes one gate and opens another. That way, when he is done milking he has time to devote to the Rhino Bed Lining business he has owned for 13 years.
Mike said the biggest challenge with his new system is managing the grass. He uses a plate meter to measure the forage in each cell every week and sends the reading to the University of Missouri extension office and they send a printout of how much dry matter is available. That way he can plan where the cows go 30 days ahead. When the grass is growing at its peak, Mike will take some cells out of the rotation and bale the excess to feed when the snow blows.
Making Time by Drying Off
Although Mike has always made time to go pheasant hunting, now, thanks to two years of work, and planning to get the cows synchronized to be dry at the same time, Mike can, this year, plan to hunt out of state. He has the cows bred to calve in February and is drying off the whole herd in December. “Probably the first time in 125 years that a cow wasn’t milked on this farm.”
“The best thing about going seasonal,” Mike said, “is, yeah, you put in some long days, but then you’re done with the breeding. Same thing with the calving and raising calves. The calves are put in groups of eight to ten and fed with 5-gallon nipple buckets. Another plus is having nice even groups of replacement heifers."
Getting the Water to Work
When going to a rotational grazing system, the water has got to be in place for any of it to work. Water needs to be within 800 feet of each cell. Mike has hydrants set up that serve two cells and a tank that can be moved as needed. When the water is farther away, all the cows go at once. When it’s closer, two or three go at a time.
Perimeter fences are permanent, but the fences within the pastures are poly-wire and step-in posts. Mike said, “In a matter of minutes this can be a 20-acre field again.” This makes no-tilling or baling a pretty easy job, he said. Solar fence chargers are utilized and put out plenty of charge.
“I’ll probably buy one load of premium alfalfa this year for when the cows freshen, just to make sure they get started good,” said Mike. He has 40 acres of stockpiled fescue for the cows during their dry period and it will be strip grazed. He’s planning to be milking 80 cows when he starts back up in February.
Since deciding not to replace all the feeding equipment, Mike gets by with much less machinery. “It spends a lot of time in the barn while the cows are hauling manure and feeding themselves.”
