Pasture management

By Tanner Marquardt

Student Intern

University of Minnesota Extension

PRESTON, MN — With the grazing season upon us, here are a few tips for good pasture management. Check your fencing to ensure it is in good condition with no openings or down fences for animals to escape. Also, check for things like broken or missing posts, broken boards for wooden fences or loose wire on the barbed or high tensile fences. Take the time to walk through your pasture and look for debris that should be removed, items like trash that has blown in, trees and branches that have fallen. It is also important to remove toxic weeds that have sprouted. Ingesting or touching some weeds can be harmful to people and livestock. If using herbicide always read and follow the label; grazing restrictions are especially important to note in pasture settings.

Now is also a good time to start mowing your pastures to help promote new growth; mowing also helps put nitrogen back into the soil. Mowing at the right time can also prevent weeds from seeding. After mowing livestock should be kept off the pasture until the grass reaches a height of 4-6 inches. You may also consider testing the soil in your pasture. Soil tests can help you to see if you need to spread manure or fertilizer on your pasture to restore potassium and phosphorus that was grazed off during the previous year.

For those of you who want to learn more about pasture management, the Fillmore County Extension office and I will be conducting a pasture management field day in August to talk about pasture management and some things you can do to better the quality of your pastures. Look for additional updates on this coming soon.

If you have questions about this or any other agriculture, horticulture or natural resources topic please reach out to the Fillmore or Houston County Extension office at (507) 765-3896 or (507) 725-5807.