Beyond Green: The Truth about Winter Forage

By Cheryl Williams-Cosner

The fall of 2023 had unusually favorable grazing for our area. But in January, like most of the rest of the US, we had 0 F or lower temperatures for over a week.

Until this arctic blast, most of our alfalfa aftermath was still relatively green. But once the cold hit, our pasture turned an unappetizing shade of tan and crunched under our feet as we walked across the field.

But looks can be deceiving.

We considered bringing the sheep flock back to the base ranch and feeding alfalfa haylage but decided to get some data before making that call. Leaving this graze would have meant three days of set up and hauling and the added expense of haylage.

Based on the appearance of the alfalfa post-freezing, I assumed we would find the nutrient content acceptable, but I was particularly concerned about the TDN (energy) level for our pregnant ewes.

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We pulled an alfalfa sample and sent it off to the feed testing lab.

The results? A forage test of our winter-worn alfalfa aftermath was impressive. This sample tested at 27% crude protein, 67% total digestible nutrients and a relative feed value of 167 on a dry matter basis.

For context, let's look at what a ewe's feed requirements are at late stage pregnancy.

"As an example, a 154-pound ewe will eat about 4.5 pounds of feed per day of a late gestation diet. For a 130%–180% lamb crop, she would need a diet with 65% total digestible nutrients and 11.3% crude protein." ​https://extension.oregonstate.edu/animals-livestock/sheep-goats/nutrition-lambing​

This feed test quickly told me that we had no reason to stop grazing for fear of inadequate feed quality.

Twenty percent of our flock is growing, pregnant ewe lambs that will have lambs as yearlings. Their nutritional requirements are higher than mature ewes since their bodies are developing. And since they are pregnant, they need additional energy and protein to grow baby lambs. This class of sheep was top of mind when deciding the best way to manage the flock.

Had we skipped testing this field, we would have overlooked a very good feed source for an additional two weeks of grazing. This $40 forage test saved us over $1,800 in hay costs.

We have been winter grazing since 2008, and in that time, we have forage tested many fields to determine if the feed is providing adequate nutrition for our ewes.

Factors such as plant species, soil health, and even weather conditions can affect the color of forage without necessarily impacting its nutrient content. Forage that appears bleached and brown readily possesses the nutritional profile that sheep require.

Vitamin A is likely lacking in winter graze since the forage is no longer green. However, the ruminant liver can store vitamin A for three to six months, providing daily doses of the vitamin if sheep are grazing deficient or have subpar pastures.

The protein level in this alfalfa field is very high and will require ewes to use additional energy to excrete the excess urea. Very high crude protein is not always a good thing. Without adequate energy, sheep performance may be compromised. (Another newsletter article for another day.)

As graziers, it is easy to look at green fields as "good" feed and at yellow or brown fields as "poor" feed. But feed color does not always reflect feed value.

Knowing the nutritional levels of your feed is key to maintaining the health of your flock or herd and can ultimately save money on the feed bill.

Cheryl Williams-Cosner, in partnership with her husband Robert Cosner, raise cattle and sheep near Weston, Oregon and in Walla Walla, Washington. She also operates the Sheep School, and educational enterprise that provides graziers with tools and information they need to build a thriving, profitable flock through understandable, research-based information. This knowledge is delivered through articles, videos and courses on nutrition, grazing management and sheep health.

More Succession Planning Stories from Oregon Ag Trust

By Tim Copeland

Our friends at the Oregon Agricultural Trust have just released two more videos in addition to the one we featured in February’s issue of Roots News. on succession planning for farmers and ranchers. The Stories from the Field videos share real-life stories and perspectives from farmers and ranchers, and insights from service providers.  

Videos on Retirement, Land Access, General Easements, and Donating an Easement are displayed below. Additional videos will be released every Tuesday through March 12. 

Let's Plan for a Transition

Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River

By Don Schwerin

I grew up with the dams. I was graduating from Walla Walla High School when the dams on the Snake were being built. My dad, a farmer, was trained in engineering. He left me with an appreciation of the dams as engineering successes. I am still awed by the massive structures.

Another thing my father left me was the importance of commitment. My father has passed now but he would be distressed by my generation’s shortfall in meeting our commitments to ensure the salmon runs on the Snake. These commitments go back to the 1855 treaties and to the more recent Endangered Species Act in 1973.

No one in particular is to blame for the failure of the salmon to thrive. The Corps of Engineers has tinkered with the operation of the dams to make them more friendly to the salmon. We have come a long way from the idea that the turbines were chewing up baby salmon. The Corps has met every metric for smolt survival, but still. ... We now speculate that the pools themselves are responsible for the poor survival rate. And we now concede that deteriorating ocean conditions are probably the most important determinant of salmon survival. Dealing with the dams, though, seems easier than moving the temperature dial for the Northern Pacific Ocean.

Courts, not politics, are going to decide whether we have met our commitments to treaty and law. Even the recent settlement between the Federal government and the tribes was to settle a legal dispute, not a political decision. No amount of pounding our chests and proclaiming our commitment to keeping the dams intact or, for that matter, breaching them is going to make much difference in the long run.

My guess, and it is a guess, is that we have maybe 10 years before the courts command the breaching of the Lower Snake River dams. We have the choice of continuing to make indignant protestations, or set about making plans for a smooth transition, so smooth that if and when the breaching is to happen, we are indifferent — if we can look past our sense of loss.

This transition needs to solve at least three different problems. These are called “services” the dams provide. Power — electricity — is an obvious “service” that needs to be met. Irrigators in Franklin County and Walla Walla County rely on the pool behind Ice Harbor. This is a “service.” We need to keep them growing crops. The third “service” is moving grain grown in the Palouse to the export terminals in Portland and Kalama. We need to figure out how to replace the barges without wildly increasing the cost to wheat growers.

We can turn to a couple of different ways to meet these “services.”

We need to assure that we have wind, solar, storage and maybe nuclear, power sufficient to replace the hydropower. Our test is simple. No blackouts. Private money is the answer here. There is money in electricity. There is enough profit in electricity to attract the necessary investment to make us whole. We need to guide solar and wind development and make sure that we have the necessary grid capacity but otherwise the power problem will take care of itself. Private dollars will drive the solutions.

For irrigators the answer is Federal compensation…you take it, you pay for it. If Ice Harbor no longer holds the river back irrigators will be left high and dry. Water will still flow in the Snake. It will just be farther out. The irrigation intakes from behind Ice Harbor Dam need to be extended farther into the river and the pumps beefed up to handle the longer draw. The Federal Government pays this bill.

Replacing the barges means investment in rail, a pretty easy choice if burning diesel and rebuilding highways is the alternative. State government is the player here, but with help from Federal investment.

Rail investment takes a little more description, and the description comes in two packages.

The first package is to retrofit the ports along the Snake. These ports have a rail line that runs through their parking lots. They don’t use it. Ports of Lewiston, Almota, Central Ferry, and Lyons Ferry need to turn around and fill rail cars instead of barges and provide rail-siding space in their back lots. The Great Northwest Railroad runs along the north shore of the Snake from Lewiston to Pasco. This existing rail has the capacity to replace the grain shipped via barge to Pasco. The rail is there and the train runs. It is ready to go. This first step is quick and easy. It does not change how grain reaches the river. Once at the river, it just moves by rail instead of barge in case Tidewater is no longer on the river.

Growers can see this solution every time they drive across rail tracks on their way to the river. They are right to complain, though, that every time they have had to rely on Burlington Northern/Santa Fe (BNSF) or Union Pacific (UP) to haul their grain that they forfeit their profit margin to these monopolies. Growers rely on barges not only to move their crop but to keep BNSF and UP honest.

A second package would help keep competition alive. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) owns short line rail in the Palouse but has neglected it. By rebuilding a couple of short sections of track and reclaiming a longer stretch of unused line, WSDOT can create an alternate route for independent rail operators to move grain all the way through the Palouse without relying on BNSF or UP. There are two major grain shuttles in the Palouse that accumulate grain from smaller elevators to load onto rail. These are at McCoy near Rosalie and at Endicott. They are currently locked to either BNSF or UP. With a little effort, WSDOT could make way for eager independent operators to move grain from Rosalie to Pasco without using either BNSF or UP. McCoy and Endicott could choose BNSF, UP, or an independent, depending on price and service.

This WSDOT corridor would replace the competition between the barges and the mainline railroads (BNSF and UP). Growers for the first time would have a real choice of how to move their grain. We can leave it to the market to figure out what works best and cheapest. If it turns out that the WSDOT corridor wins, it can steal business from that rail line that runs through the Snake River canyon. That would move trucks off public highways including State Highway 127, the twisty road from Dusty to Lyons Ferry, not a bad idea.

I have sketched out a couple of thoughts about how to replace the “services” the dams provide. A transition from the Lower Snake River dams — if that is what the courts determine — can come with dollars, some private, some public. Solutions take dollars and these dollars flow into our communities. This means jobs and customers. If we go about this willy-nilly then we will leave dollars on the table. We will survive, at least most of us. Most everyone will be angry.

If we are smart, we begin now. Just in case. Let’s make the best deal we can. We can be both happier and better off.

Don Schwerin is a wheat farmer from Dixie, Washington, near Walla Walla. He is a contributor to the Capital Pless.