Wet stock damaged paddocks

[karlosk]

Hi, we are farming in Victoria, Southeastern Australia. Primarily growing grass to feed beef cattle. Currently, we are having a very wet winter, which is leaving paddocks very wet, and due to grazing cattle, my paddocks are being damaged or pugged with hoof prints. Our paddocks are very flat with some runoff, and our topsoil is 4 inches deep. Once we have had 4 inches of rain or 100 mm this June for instance, our soils are supersaturated. Wondering what other countries that are used to having wet weather on the paddocks do to renovate the paddocks once you can get on with the tractor.

 

[dave78+]

We don't have much topsoil in the UK as it blew away in the wind. We don't have much water either because that is a thing of the past. However, we do have loads of people on this forum who have experienced wet weather in the past. I am sure they will respond to you once they awake and log-in. They have all gone to sleep now. Have another nice day!

 

[Tanker driver]

Put them in a shed

 

[karlosk]

Put them in a shed

Shedding isn’t practiced here. Shorter milder winters, and mainly pasture fed here.

 

[TelesnaAg]

Hi, we are farming in Victoria, Southeastern Australia. Primarily growing grass to feed beef cattle. Currently, we are having a very wet winter, which is leaving paddocks very wet, and due to grazing cattle, my paddocks are being damaged or pugged with hoof prints. Our paddocks are very flat with some runoff, and our topsoil is 4 inches deep. Once we have had 4 inches of rain or 100 mm this June for instance, our soils are supersaturated. Wondering what other countries that are used to having wet weather on the paddocks do to renovate the paddocks once you can get on with the tractor.

Welcome, and join the club, im at camperdown, i have a thread running about temporary shelter, not so much on cattle damaged paddocks.

I have 3 feet top soil in places so its a challenge. Ive only been here for 2 years, farm was run down old disused dairy farm, alot to donin short period of time.

I will be putting in feed pads this summer to help alleviate paddock damage.

Feeding close to shelter and water helps to reduce traffic.

Frequent moving if possible, hard when have fertiliser lockouts etc.

Gib acid helps growth in certain situations.

Towing a drag around paddock in autumn helps push in pug marks. The cattle over springbsummer do take some of the sting out of pugging.

Dense feed is a big one, hard this time of year, setting yourself up in autumn is key.

I have sometimes and may have to do again is lock cattle into feed pad trees area overnight with hay rings, and let graze during the day. Expanding laneyays is a good way to reduce cost as some of the base is already there etc.

Its a demoralising time of year especially if havent got farm set up to cope, its priority for me this summer with internal fencing.

Cheers, Ant

 

[TelesnaAg]

Hi, we are farming in Victoria, Southeastern Australia. Primarily growing grass to feed beef cattle. Currently, we are having a very wet winter, which is leaving paddocks very wet, and due to grazing cattle, my paddocks are being damaged or pugged with hoof prints. Our paddocks are very flat with some runoff, and our topsoil is 4 inches deep. Once we have had 4 inches of rain or 100 mm this June for instance, our soils are supersaturated. Wondering what other countries that are used to having wet weather on the paddocks do to renovate the paddocks once you can get on with the tractor.

For renovating i would do in autumn unless planting sunmer crop, main reason is cattle do knock it flat over spring and summer, this then allows for direct drilling, triple disc great Plains is king, this wont let growund turn to soup agaIn in following winter.

If do have to plow, then will have limited grazing availability until spring, if i have to do this i make sure the cattle are young stock and only light graze then remove.

If drainage needs doing and full blown plowing etc then spring option is best so you can get a summer crop in it to help stiffen it up before winter, then sow down with driect drill.

Not all drills are equal, if durect drilling independent opener is king.

Ant...

 

[karlosk]

Welcome, and join the club, im at camperdown, i have a thread running about temporary shelter, not so much on cattle damaged paddocks.

I have 3 feet top soil in places so its a challenge. Ive only been here for 2 years, farm was run down old disused dairy farm, alot to donin short period of time.

I will be putting in feed pads this summer to help alleviate paddock damage.

Feeding close to shelter and water helps to reduce traffic.

Frequent moving if possible, hard when have fertiliser lockouts etc.

Gib acid helps growth in certain situations.

Towing a drag around paddock in autumn helps push in pug marks. The cattle over springbsummer do take some of the sting out of pugging.

Dense feed is a big one, hard this time of year, setting yourself up in autumn is key.

I have sometimes and may have to do again is lock cattle into feed pad trees area overnight with hay rings, and let graze during the day. Expanding laneyays is a good way to reduce cost as some of the base is already there etc.

Its a demoralising time of year especially if havent got farm set up to cope, its priority for me this summer with internal fencing.

Cheers, Ant

Thanks were in the Shepparton area and don’t normally cop this much rain. I agree with you it certainly is a demoralising time of the year watching foot high clover being turned into mud. Also relying on the BOM and having it predict drier the normal winter due to forecasting El Nino doesn’t help either because we irrigated really late and leaving soil already saturated.

 

[TelesnaAg]

Thanks were in the Shepparton area and don’t normally cop this much rain. I agree with you it certainly is a demoralising time of the year watching foot high clover being turned into mud. Also relying on the BOM and having it predict drier the normal winter due to forecasting El Nino doesn’t help either because we irrigated really late and leaving soil already saturated.

Yep the dry winter promise caught us here a bit as well, tricky to manage.

I feed hay and straw in equal parts, cheap way to keep them full and restrict movement.

If it does go dry hay will be king so have to mange to keep things in a condition to cut in spring / summer.

All this with 50% drop in cattle price enough to test anyone.

If you have lanes try feed on those if possible.

Ant...

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I know quite a few who have sacrifice fields that they use every winter
They just harrow some cheaper seed in every spring to patch it up o
We used to grow Kale here , once it was eaten off we would out feed silage on them until the spring
They were drier fields mind

 

[TelesnaAg]

I have one atm thats due for reno in late spring. So have the cattle doing the burn off for me .

Ant...

 

[Derrick Hughes]

It's hard to give advice in the same county let anlone a different country
But we are in a high rainfall area
We chose 3 blocks of the driest land
3 year rotation Kale then 2 years Italain Ryegrass
So cattle outwintered on the Kale which protected the summer pastures from harm, in winter months

 

[Sid]

Hi, we are farming in Victoria, Southeastern Australia. Primarily growing grass to feed beef cattle. Currently, we are having a very wet winter, which is leaving paddocks very wet, and due to grazing cattle, my paddocks are being damaged or pugged with hoof prints. Our paddocks are very flat with some runoff, and our topsoil is 4 inches deep. Once we have had 4 inches of rain or 100 mm this June for instance, our soils are supersaturated. Wondering what other countries that are used to having wet weather on the paddocks do to renovate the paddocks once you can get on with the tractor.

We out wintered cattle on and off over the years.

Ideally we feed them on a sacrifice paddock, 50 cattle on 35 acres last time. Feeding them in lines across the field.

These would then either be ploughed for a complete restart or worked to a shallower depth with discs or a shallow cultivator.
The latter is a quicker and cheaper option but has left the land not as smooth as it could be for future operations.

Giving the cattle as large an area as possible does minimise the damage done

 

[puppet]

We will get 600mm over winter. You can see there is room for cows to lie away from feeding area. Scrape the topsoil back a bit to avoid so much mud.

Oh, I got it's head out later.

 

[karlosk]

We will get 600mm over winter. You can see there is room for cows to lie away from feeding area. Scrape the topsoil back a bit to avoid so much mud.

Oh, I got it's head out later.View attachment 1120808

 

[Caesar Cigar]

Hi, we are farming in Victoria, Southeastern Australia. Primarily growing grass to feed beef cattle. Currently, we are having a very wet winter, which is leaving paddocks very wet, and due to grazing cattle, my paddocks are being damaged or pugged with hoof prints. Our paddocks are very flat with some runoff, and our topsoil is 4 inches deep. Once we have had 4 inches of rain or 100 mm this June for instance, our soils are supersaturated. Wondering what other countries that are used to having wet weather on the paddocks do to renovate the paddocks once you can get on with the tractor.

Hi Karlosk,

I don’t have any experience of your issue,but a local grass fed beef farm uses electric fencing to keep the cows in small areas and moved daily. Maybe for next year you could try this during your wet season and save on some repair. Or it may focus the repair needed to a smaller more manageable area. It also seems to help with the cows eating all the grass available in the small patch instead of just grazing the tasty green bits and the lady farmer in question is very keen on pointing out the consistency of the pats! Tastes amazing as well! (Not the pats)

 

[ollie989898]

View attachment 1120852

Keep moving the fence. Daily or even twice daily (half the area given to them). What you have there can be rectified with harrowing and some more grass seed. Don't panic. If it really is terrible weather then put them into a single sacrifice paddock and then you know to reseed it later on when the weather allows. One totally fudged paddock is cheaper to address than multiple fudged paddocks.

 

[oil barron]

View attachment 1120852

Fences make mud. Just let them run.

 

[Dry Rot]

Use a back fence? Gives grass time to recover.

 

[Spencer]

View attachment 1120852

Funny how everything is relative…

 

[puppet]

View attachment 1120852

Not bad. That could be summer in Scotland. Keep moving that fence and grass will recover in 2 weeks