Kick the Hay Habit: A Practical Guide to Year-Around Grazing

by Jim Gerrish

With today’s management systems, the cost of making hay far exceeds its value to grazing businesses. Studies have shown that winter feed costs are the largest single factor limiting the profitability for most livestock operations. In virtually every area of the USA, year-around grazing—without hay—is possible, yet many graziers continue making hay.
Kick the Hay A Practical Guide To Year-Around Grazing by Jim Gerrish will show you how much it really costs to produce a ton of hay. He explains how to use nature as your guide for low-cost winter grazing; how to conduct a pasture inventory; how to select the optimal breeding and birthing seasons; how to custom design your own winter forage system; and how to make the transition from hay feeding to grazing.
Wouldn’t you rather spend your time monitoring pastures and moving livestock than making hay?
Both the beginner and the experienced grazier will benefit from Kick the Hay Habit . Gerrish shares his personal experiences as a grazier in Missouri and Idaho as well as insights he gained as a researcher at the University of Missouri’s Forage Systems Research Center. As a grazing consultant he has helped farmers and ranchers throughout North and South America.
Wouldn’t you rather Kick the Hay Habit, dump the heavy metal, and start collecting the profits?

Genres: Agriculture

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Danika Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once I got past the first few chapters where the author prattles on nostalgically and we came to the actual nitty gritty of the book, I found it fascinating and informative. I love that he spells out every detail of how to cost winter feeding and how to calculate how much your stock need to eat and how to make that happen. A surprisingly good read once it picked up.

[Christie Wessels · Rating 5 out of 5]

So helpful and inspiring. Can't wait to see how this winter goes! My goal is to see how much we can extend the grazing season with our stockpiled pastures, and therefore how little hay we can get away with using.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exactly what it advertises: a practical guide to year-around grazing. This is a worthwhile read for anyone with cattle.

I know these are nitpicky complaints, but I have two:

1) There was a ton of info in there that was irrelevant for my area of the country, which is sometimes interesting, but mostly annoying. Not sure how that could be improved but ima complain anyway.

2) There's a lot of good reference material in here, but the book isn't set up like a reference guide so I expect it'll be a chore to find it all later on. Some kind of appendices or a better table of contents would be helpful.

[Brad Belschner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like the title says, this is a practical guide to year-round grazing. If you have cows, then you should read this book. It's not a step-by-step guide; it's just some good ideas for extending the grazing season and--ideally--eliminating the use of hay. The advice is a little different for every region. (Note: This book is VERY practical. Therefore, farmers should find it interesting, whereas other people might find it boring. If you want entertainment, just read a Joel Salatin book.)