Maine Farmcast

On this episode of the Maine Farmcast, Dr. Glenda Pereira, Assistant Extension Professor and State Dairy Specialist for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, has a conversation with Dr. Jaime Garzon about how to get your pastures ready for overwintering. Dr. Jaime Garzon is an Assistant Extension Professor and Forage Educator at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. His extension program seeks to develop and conduct educational outreach and applied research with emphasis on forage production and regenerative pasture management.

Learn more about Dr. Jaime Garzon’s program:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jaime-Garzon-4

View Dr. Garzon’s video on Sustainable Pasture Management:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLToKPmh1Dc&t=386s

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Creators & Guests

Host
Colt Knight
Colt grew up in a coal mining family in West Virginia where they also operated a small family farm and show horse stable. During academic breaks and between schools, he worked in strip mines across the country. Colt earned his B.S. in Animal Science at the University of Kentucky, M.S. in Animal Science at Angelo State University, and his Ph.D. in Animal Science at the University of Arizona in 2006, 2012, and 2016, respectively. In the fall of 2016, he worked on a postdoc with Dr. Derek Bailey at New Mexico State University. Since 2017, Colt W. Knight works as an Assistant Professor of Extension for the University of Maine where he serves as the State Livestock Specialist. He teaches Introduction to Animal Science (AVS 145) and runs the Maine Grazing Behavior Lab. The core focus of the Grazing Behavior lab revolves around designing and manufacturing livestock tracking collars, engaging in applied grazing behavior research, and assisting other researchers with technology to interpret animal behavior. Dr. Knight’s research is broadly focused on selecting animals uniquely adapted to landscapes and promoting sustainable agriculture. Colt is the current chair for the Society of Range Management Livestock Foraging Behavior Committee, as well as, the North East Region Chair for the National Association of County Agricultural Agent’s Teaching and Educational Technology Committee. He also serves as an Associate Editor for the journal Ecological Processes. Colt is actively engaged in outreach and has delivered over 150 seminars on livestock production since starting his career at the University of Maine.
Host
Glenda Pereira
As the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Dairy Specialist, Dr. Pereira conducts applied research and develops educational programs for dairy and livestock producers across the state of Maine and New England. While the Holstein breed is near and dear to her heart, Dr. Pereira admires the Normande breed and her favorite dairy products are sour cream and ice cream.
Host
Rachel White
Rachel is a Sustainable Agriculture and Livestock Educator based out of Hancock county. Her objectives include education, research, and programming about agriculture in Washington and Hancock counties and with small ruminants and poultry across the state. She is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Maine researching risk of parasite transmission from wildlife to small ruminants and risk reduction methods, including pastured poultry. Her social science work looks at farmer and veterinarian knowledge, attitude, and practice for small ruminant health management and the challenges they encounter with this topic. Rachel is also involved with the University’s One Health and the Environment NRT program. She is plans to include a One Health framework into her programming to address human-animal-environmental health challenges in Maine’s agricultural community. On her farm, Rachel has Finn sheep, laying chickens, seasonal broilers, pigeons, horses, and various fruits.

What is Maine Farmcast?

The Maine Farmcast features weekly conversations with experts from across the country sharing insights and advice for both new and seasoned farmers running operations of any size. Hosted by three livestock specialists from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, the show brings you world-class expertise paired with practical advice about how to apply cutting-edge research to improve the efficiency and sustainability of your farming operation.

Glenda Pereira:

Welcome to The Maine Farmcast. This is your host, Dr. Glenda Pereira. On today's episode, we have our very own forage educator, Dr. Jaime Garzon. Dr. Jaime, would you please let our listeners know a little bit about yourself and where you are located in the state of Maine?

Jaime Garzon:

Well, hello, everyone. Thank you, Glenda, for inviting me today. As you say, my name is Jaime Garzon. I am from Colombia, so I'm Hispanic as you can realize with my name. I started in this position with forages almost 2 years ago, and I'm located in my main office is in Orono, in the main campus, but my work is statewide.

Jaime Garzon:

So I'm just visiting every farmer, every county here in the state, working with forages in general livestock.

Glenda Pereira:

Yes. So as Jaime mentioned, he is roughly he's been here for about 2 years. So for any listener who might benefit from, learning about improving your forage production on your farm in the state of Maine, be sure to reach out to Jaime, because he has a wealth of knowledge regarding improving pastures, hay fields, et cetera. And with that, Jaime, would you sort of give us a little bit about about your background, like your, what you studied in undergrad and for your master's and Ph.D.? And then from there, lead us into what we're gonna be talking about, which, is your expertise in pasture and forage management, and specifically as we're heading into the winter season, how farmers can prepare for that.

Glenda Pereira:

So

Jaime Garzon:

Well, sure. I'm starting my, like, my studies back in Colombia. I have a bachelor in animal sciences at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogota. In there, I just, actually I started my idea, like, my formation going to reproduction until I have the topic of applied reproduction, and I discovered that is not for me. So in that semester, I just changed it to forages and pasture management, and I went forward for for them.

Jaime Garzon:

I was working with also a greenhouse gases emissions from tropical grasses, and after that, I started a master in animal production also in the University of National de Colombia working with tropical grass. Finally, I did, internship here in United States related to my master in the North Florida Research and Education Center, and that was my connection to my formation from Colombia to United States. After that, I started my Ph.D. in agronomy at the University of Florida, where I finished it 2 years ago working also in tropical forests.

Glenda Pereira:

Great. And now you're here in the state of Maine, so you've joined us, and you're adapting well to our conditions. The winter is coming though.

Jaime Garzon:

Yeah. Well, that was something that it surprised me, it was like an adaptation. When I arrived it, luckily in 2022, when I arrived it, the Winter has a delay, so it gave me November just to prepare myself to understand what means to have to have cloth with layers, to understand what is a snow tire and just to start practicing the situation to how to drive in frozen roads. And after I had the winter, my first time dealing with the snow in my life, trying to explain to my family back in Colombia what the snow feels, because we only see snow in, like, American TV shows. And but, well, after that, I just even at the moment, it's still getting used to it's very cold for me, even when our last two winters, Mainers said that was, like, warm, was, like, comfortable for me was time freezing.

Jaime Garzon:

Yeah. But even so, I'm still get get getting used to that, of course, about that. Every year, I hope to be more prepared for the winter that is coming.

Glenda Pereira:

For today's topic, we're gonna be talking about, how to prepare our pastures and hay fields and forages for overwintering. Yeah. For the winter preparation for

Jaime Garzon:

pasture management, I will summarize the holding, I think, in 3 topics. The first one is having well, the grazing plan, having some prepared when you know that your pastures will have no more biomass because of the winter. The second one is the stockpiling, that is a very good strategy preparing some forages, some areas to grow a little more and be prepared for try to prolong, to extend the grazing season. The third, it could be the use of winter or fall crops that usually those are, grasses that can grow fast and they are adapted to winter conditions. And it's interesting to know that there's some cereals that happen with the winter rye, the triticale, or the wheat, those are grasses.

Jaime Garzon:

But but even even with that so have that choices for the preparation. And the last one is to have the frost seeding, that is specifically with clovers.

Glenda Pereira:

Great. So let's talk about the first one. So you mentioned that we wanna have a grazing plan. If we are utilizing grazing as a management method, we have good inventory. Right?

Glenda Pereira:

We know what our pastures have for forage. Are there pastures that need, you know, a little boost that need to be reseeded? Can we use those to our advantage with annuals like you mentioned? So putting annuals in, you know, in between going back to permanent pasture, that's a great way to prepare and utilize or extend even the grazing season. Anything else related to your grazing plan?

Jaime Garzon:

Yeah. With the grazing plan, I relay that with budgeting. It's having, like, usually, you have your budget for your farm, for your expenses. Well, it's kind of similar when you're talking about to know how much grass do you need for the animals that you have. So that is like there is some calculation, there is some specific table that you can use to relate the amount of animals and how much they will need to consume to have an intake of grasses related to how much your pastures are producing.

Jaime Garzon:

So when you relate both, you can realize, okay, maybe I will have enough forages until December, maybe until November, and if not, you can prepare in advance, for example, buying hay.

Glenda Pereira:

And then the second one you mentioned was stockpiling. I know a few farmers that use that as a management method here in the state of Maine, but maybe in other areas of the country or even in beef farms as well, they they utilize that maybe as a management strategy. Do you wanna elaborate on that?

Jaime Garzon:

Sure. Well, with the stockpiling, something that you need to remember is that stockpiling is not for any category, any type of animal. Because usually when you are you are stockpiling, you are extending the growth period of grass, and that means that the grass will accumulate more fibers in comparison to other soluble carbohydrates, energy, and soluble proteins. So because of that when you are stockpiling those areas should be dedicated for animals that will not require high nutrients on their diets. So for sure it will I will not recommend to stockpile for, dairy cows that are exactly, that are producing milk at the moment.

Jaime Garzon:

Usually the stockpiling is a good choice for beef cattle, for small ruminants, or even for dry cows, it's like the main recommendation. The idea with that is just to stop the grazing or, like, a part, one of the areas where you're grazing, like, paddocks, and remove the animals from there and wait and allow the grass to grow until when the fall starts. So, because of that, the grass will grow and you will have biomass available with other grasses that you have in your grazing plant are starting to go down. So, at that moment is when you can use it, usually the stockpiling should start approximately at well, there is some study that say that you can start stockpiling from the July until end of August, but actually, well, that was a study of Massachusetts, the University of Massachusetts, that they checked that when you start stockpiling to the mid July you will have more biomass for fall, maybe starting of winter, but you will have less quality. Of course, imagine if you have your pastures, your grazing system, and you will, remove those paddocks from your system, from your cow, from 1 month, maybe half a month before when you're planting, so of course you are losing some biomass that you can use.

Jaime Garzon:

That's why when you start stockpiling in those specific areas until end of August, maybe you will have less biomass to offer but will be better quality. And you can go without stockpiling almost until the when the frost killing starts. So, actually, when well, that depends on the region here in Maine, but that will could I won't take I will speak in here maybe mid middle of October, some in some place even when there's no starting to fall Right. Especially when you're near to the coast.

Glenda Pereira:

Yep. Yeah. So it's it's definitely a good consideration. And so stockpiling is a little bit different than extending our grazing season, and so you well, I guess it does help us extend our grazing season to some capacity. But relative to utilizing annuals, like you mentioned as one of the strategies, it's certainly different.

Glenda Pereira:

And then I just wanted to talk about this. I think you've already mentioned it a couple of times, but overgrazing can be a harmful strategy to our overwintering and then preparing for the springtime. Right?

Jaime Garzon:

Yeah. When you're talking about well, that's a good difference to having to know that difference between extending the grazing season, just continue the grazing and continue the passing of the animals for more time that should be allowed. I think that the only grass that you can have that situation and it will resist even the winter is the Kentucky bluegrass. That is the only one because we usually when you have a pasture that will establish it, that grass is very persistent. So, actually, that is the only one that if you want to extend a little more and go with the grazing in October, even 1st weeks of November, it will survive the winter, it will produce again in spring, but that is the only one.

Jaime Garzon:

For the others, when you're talking about the stockpiling in this case, you just stop the grazing in at the end of the summer, you start in the fall with no grazing at all. And for those, I will well, the main recommendation is to use tall fescue. It's like the the main one that everyone recommends. Be careful because the tall fescue, there are some varieties that can produce some toxic elements that could be problematic for for ruminants. That's why if you are going with that and having some tall fescue on on your grazing plan, that should be those varieties that are endophyte free.

Jaime Garzon:

Yep. And, actually, that that is the reason because those will persist more. There are some studies that also show that orchardgrass or timothy can be worked for stockpiling, but usually the performance is less than the tall fescue. So, well, that depends on the grasses that you have established on your pasture, of course. And later for the annuals or for the slow winter crops, that is a completely different management because those forages will grow very fast, they are adapted to the winter, and they will provide some protection to your pastures when the spring starts.

Jaime Garzon:

Because at the moment when the snow starts melting, you cannot have any management on your pastures because you cannot go with a tractor, you cannot go with any implement, and the weeds will start growing, it doesn't matter what you do. So if you at that moment have something that is established and will grow together in the pasture to compete against those weeds, that will be a good protection when the grazing season starts the next year.

Glenda Pereira:

Yeah. And then so come circling back to just what are the recommendations for not overgrazing in the sense of just, you you know, your permanent pasture? So obviously, for stockpiling, we wanna stop, you know, maybe in August some time, let that pasture rest, and then, you know, start grazing after your first frost. But for general overgrazing towards the end of, you know, the fall season, what do we wanna make sure we keep it at what height so that it has good regrowth, that those roots, are proliferating in the spring season?

Jaime Garzon:

Well, in general, not only for the starting of the winter, but in the whole growing season, I always recommend that to avoid overgrazing, you need to stop the grazing when your animals reach 4 inches stubble height. That means that you will go to your pasture, you will measure how much residue you have in that grass, and if you are having 5, 4 inches, that is the moment to change your animals. That will be the same, doesn't matter what part of the year. Of course, if you are going well, if you have a drought, for example, a very stressful situation, or start in the winter, maybe it should be good to go a little longer with that, so not 4 inches, maybe 5. That could be good because at the moment you are giving more time for those plants to make more carbohydrates for the same, for true photosynthesis, and accumulate those for the roots.

Jaime Garzon:

But, for sure, I think that one of the main things is try to stop grazing, I think at least 2 weeks before the first killing frost. Because at the moment you will have not much biomass above ground, because you want to avoid that because that will be impacted by the frost, later that will be covered by the snow, so that is a high humidity that can impact the leaves, And, at the moment you will also have a very good root development with a good amount of nutrients to provide a good amount of biomass when the spring starts. Another recommendation because of that is if you are preparing some stockpiling, I will really recommend you to fertilize. Just when you are planning that, the pasture will start to that process, just cut everything to cut or graze everything to 4 inches, provide nitrogen, could be manure, could be chemical fertilization, and a weight for the moment when the extending season starts. Doing that you not only are producing more biomass for that same year, so, for example, if you are doing that in August, you will have more biomass to give to your animals in October, but also they will impact in a good way the regrowth, the next point.

Jaime Garzon:

Because remember that when you are doing this stockpiling, you have removed nutrients that the plant can use for regrowth later. So if you're applying that nitrogen, from the beginning, that will help the regrowth in the spring, and that is good for going again weeds.

Glenda Pereira:

Right. And so this this ties into our next strategy, which is frost seeding as a potential strategy, if you need to reseed or provide more fertility, and additional nutrients to your pasture. Right? So one of the things that one of the, legumes that you can frost seed really well is clover. And so if folks are thinking about that, how do they frost seed properly?

Glenda Pereira:

Well, the frost

Jaime Garzon:

seed first of all, I would not recommend to do that in fall. I will say do do better than in the spring. The situation with this frost seeding is a practice that could result, but there is so many, like, chances on something that is a little luck with that. But even so, it's a good strategy, especially if you want to establish some clovers in established pasture. The clovers, it's a legume, and usually they have a slow growth, and because of that, you need to control the growth of the grass to try to give the clover an opportunity to establish.

Jaime Garzon:

So one of the practices is just go in that small window in the spring when you know that there is no more snow but the soil is frozen on the nights but is melting on the days. That interaction, that effect of having the frozen and the melting, it will create some cracks in the soil. And you will take advantage of those cracks for the seeds to go inside those cracks, having good humidity because the melting of that happening every day, and that is the opportunity for the Clover to get established. The situation with this is, as I said, there is a little lock in there because you never know how impact the Clover seed will have by the frozen and the melting every day, but for sure I will recommend only doing this practice with the clovers because previous studies show that trying to do this with grasses or with alfalfa, for example, the results are very variable. So you cannot say that for sure it will work?

Jaime Garzon:

No, the only one that probably will work is with the clover. And the situation is just take advantage of that small window, and here we are talking about maybe 1 week, maybe 2 weeks per year, each year. So you need to know your farm, you know your soil to detect the moment appropriate to apply this cover.

Glenda Pereira:

Yeah. Well, awesome. Do you mind just reiterating the four strategies that we discussed today? And, of course, if folks have more questions, please reach out to Jaime, and I'll put it in the show notes where you can find Jaime and where you can email and contact him.

Jaime Garzon:

Yeah. So the 4 practices that we talked about, the grazing plan, that is just to know how much grass do you you have, how much grass you need, and how much grass you need to buy. The second one was the stockpiling, so tall fescue mainly no one stopped the grazing, fertilize, and no one stopped the stockpiling grazing as well. The 3rd was the, winter crops or annual crops, so you can go with that with winter rye, winter wheat, or triticale. The tree that I will recommend, just remember to plant those maybe until end of September, you will have the chance of planting those, that will work until the snow starts to fall.

Jaime Garzon:

And probably they will give you another cut starting the next spring. And proceeding, do it with clovers and remember to catch that window of 2 weeks when the soil is cracking in the nights and melting in the mornings.

Glenda Pereira:

Well, awesome. Thank you so much, Jaime. That was, some good information. So thank you, and we'll have to have you back to discuss further forage management strategies. And with that, if you have questions, comments, or, you have potential topics of interest that we should discuss here on the Maine Farmcast, please reach out to extension dot farmcast at maine dot edu.

Glenda Pereira:

We'd love, to hear from you. Thanks so much. Thank you very much.