Top Bale Grazing Advice from Dakota Ranchers

We get together with ranchers Drew Anderson (Lemmon, SD), Bart Carmichael (faith, SD) and Harold and Jodie Gaugler (Grant Co., ND, also ranching near Thunder Hawk SD.) to discuss their experiences with bale grazing.

Special thanks to Drew Anderson and Jodie and Harold Gaugler for additional still images and explanations which were so crucial to this story.

Points of note in this video:

0:17 – meet Drew Anderson
0:40-meet Bart Carmichael
1:10 – meet the Gauglers
1:35 – Gaugler’s first year – bales, acres and cows
1:40 – change as a constant
2:45 – infrastructure water and fence
3:00 – the finer points of bale grazing – bale placement
3:30 - the finer points of bale grazing – setup
4:05 – what to do when you don’t have your posts out in time or you have too few posts
4:25 – Anderson’s use of metal step-posts instead of plastic posts (note that Gauglers use fiberglass posts)
4:40 – using bales as wind breaks
4:45- bale grazing into the wind in bad weather
5:55 – choice of bale if bale grazing on prairie land to avoid cool season invasive grasses
5:20 -improvements in soils and increased prairie diversity around bales
5:25 – Anderson frequency and convenience of moves with livestock that are accustomed to moving
5:45 – Carmichael moving frequency and time taken to move fence
6:15 – Gaugler cattle behavior in moves year-round
6:40 – common concerns dispelled – Gaugler and livestock abuse
7:35 - common concerns dispelled – Anderson and waste
8:30 – hay as fertilizer
8:45 – question about weeds
9:00 – bale grazing making economic sense of reduced hauling and labor costs when comparing bale grazing to rolling out of hay
10:30 – making sense economically – tractor depreciation
11:55 – a better ranch – improvement in soil and grass regrowth around bales
11:45 – improvement in hay production, manure and urine recycling and improved moisture around impact area
12:35 – increasing animal-days per acre
13:00 – changing perceptions about bale grazing in the last 10 years (since 2010)
13:20 – making bale grazing work for you

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