Quality Forage for Grass-Finishing Beef

  Swallow Hill Farm     Jul 21, 2015

In the summer of 2015 we no-till planted 40 acres of our farm to enable expansion of our grassfinished beef operation. 14 acres of Foxtail Millet was planted for hay and is now providing highly nutritious winter hay for our beef. Additionally, 6 acres of a "High Diversity Summer Mix" and 20 acres of a "Basic Summer Mix" were planted and grazed by our beef. We are working with the Hanover-Caroline Soil and Water Conservation District to improve our soil, improve our livestock production practices and to protect Virginia's waterways.

From these seeds, we grew many tons of fresh forage to put a good finish on our grassfed beef cattle. Such highly nutritious forages are helpful in improving the marbling flavor of our grass-finished beef. Our fields were strip grazed by our entire herd. The best very best of the forage was fed to beef finishing in October. The steers finishing in the spring have also had preferred access.

Tags: beef, cover crops, flavorful, forage, grass finishing, grassfed beef, grazing, hay, marbling, multi-species cover crops, no-till, pasture-raised beef, planting, rotational grazing, tractors