Saturday, March 22, 2025
Jared McCoy, of Portis, was the guest speaker for the Farmer to Farmer program held on Friday, Feb. 28, at the First Bank of Beloit Community room.
McCoy presented an informational talk on a Winter Stockpile Feed program, that he has been using on just 200 acres of land, for 15 years now. He is a third generation farmer/rancher, and believes in this system.
“I’ve finally found the right hybrid traits, and methods for this system to work well, pay well, and all “side effects” are positive,” said McCoy.
The regenerative AG program helps to broaden minds and concepts, of grazing cattle more easily in the winter months by using cover crops and paddocks that will feed an average of 25 cows per acre. It saves money on using less equipment,
“A lot of acres are tied up with people who will not or cannot try new things,” McCoy said. “I tried something new on 1/3 of my acres from 2011 to 2015. With this method, I have better luck exploiting the traits available to us today and crops that take advantage of different seasons than I’ve had with high diversity.”
The number of acres needed to grass feed a cow depends on the cow's weight, the quality of the pasture, and the amount of precipitation. For example, a 1,000 lb. cow might need 0.27 acres on an irrigated pasture, but 8 acres on poor-quality pasture.
All of the manure and urine from the cattle just add more nutrients into the soil for the next plantings – therefore, this method being a regenerative Ag program.
With this method, it has seen $100 an acre savings in feeding cattle.
Paddock grazing is a rotational grazing system that involves dividing a pasture into smaller sections called paddocks. Livestock are then moved between the paddocks in a planned sequence. And all grazed paddocks are allowed to rest so forage plants can recover.
Paddocks are small fenced areas, typically used for turnout and exercise with little vegetation for grazing and high concentrations of manure opposed.
Stockpiles are just left in the field for the cattle to strip graze on.
“I don’t even feel like I am planting cover crops, but more like I am planting grazing crops,” said McCoy.
Benefits of paddock grazing include:
• Improves pasture health: Rotational grazing improves soil, plant, and animal health with the regenerative process of all natural fertilizer from the cattle themselves, cycling back into the soil. No waste. Breaks the bacteria cycle. Eliminates problems with nitrates.
• Reduces soil erosion: Resting grazed paddocks allows forage plants to recover and deepen their root systems, which boosts soil biomass and fertilizes the ground
• Manages forage: Rotational grazing allows producers to better manage forage in a pasture for the long term.
• Eliminates harvest cost – $100/acre at minimum
• Provides a ready-made windbreak with the un-grazed feed with moves south to north. Works well during calving season, being able to find calves more easily in small paddocks.
• Drastically reduces machinery cost
McCoy offers “Four Hundreds” with this Winter Stockpile Feed program and includes:
• Save $100/acre harvest cost
• 100 cow days/acre
• 100 percent ground cover at that rate
• 100 percent regenerative
To see more about McCoy’s method, go to his Facebook group at “Portis Feed and Seed.” McCoy says he is all about helping others through this process.
“This process makes all areas of ground fair game,” McCoy said. “Every piece of ground is usable.”
