Four Eyes Are Better Than Two

By Bill Roberts

For many years, I have heard seasoned farmers say, “The eye of the stockman fattens the cattle.” That means that despite all the nutrient requirement tables, feed analysis sheets, and mathematical equations available to calculate rations, it still takes the knowledgeable eye of the stockman to gauge and adjust for optimal growth in livestock. I have accepted this cliché as true and wise. However, observations and revelations over the last few years have changed my paradigm. I have replaced the old cliché with a new one, “Four eyes are better than two,”

This thought has ripened over the past 4½ years while building two herds of Red Devon cattle and a herd of South Poll cattle in grass fed and grass finished management programs. We started out on a clay loam grassland farm south of Somerville, TN. One third of the farm was in 99% fescue pasture and two thirds in weeds and volunteer grasses. Each year, soil fertility and permeability improved by controlled grazing, mulching, returning green manure to the soil, liming, broadcast and no-till seeding to diversify grasses and legumes in the sward.

Mineralization was achieved economically by an advanced mineral mix fed free choice to the cattle who distributed it to the pasture. In just over 4 years, we achieved 10 grazing cells ranging in size from ten to eighty acres with a healthy mix of grasses (fescue, orchard grass, blue grass, bluestems and switch grass), legumes (red clover and white clover) and a variety of forbs. An assortment of woody shrubs and trees adorned the drainage areas for soil retention. The pastures became a smorgasbord for the cattle.

My two eyes noticed that the condition of the cattle even during stressed times of the year was improved with each passing year reflecting the increase in soil fertility and nutrition available in the forage. It was interesting that calves from successive identical matings improved each year as well. The nutrition available to the cattle allowed a fuller expression of the genotype. Recent study and new relationships with some wise folks have broadened my understanding of what my two eyes were showing me.

It turns out there was another pair of eyes at work. Part of the equation of the improved health and performance in our cattle was their ability to seek out with their eyes (and extra sensory tongue) a better balanced diet when afforded the opportunity to do so.

Diversity is a term often used in developing quality pastures. Allan Nation, Jim Gerrish and many others have written volumes about the benefits of blending grasses with legumes and forbs to improve sward quality. The realities that I am awakening to are the mechanics the cattle employ to best utilize this expanded dietary banquet. Mentors like Dr. Fred Provenza, Dr. Richard Holliday and Jim Helfter are pioneers in the knowledge of herbivore behaviors that seek out and evaluate plants and substances that satisfy nutritional needs and balance diet for optimum health. This ability to locate, evaluate and balance their diet is a complex mix of learned behaviors from mothers and other herd members and biofeedback mechanisms set within their being by the Creator.

My intent in this article is not to delve too deeply into these mechanisms. Rather it is to report on it in hopes that you, the reader, are interested and motivated as I am to learn more. One bit of information I will pass along: It has always been a puzzle to me how the herbivore keeps from dying from the toxins known to exist in many of their forage choices. Terpenes, tannins, alkaloids and cyanogenic glycosides are known toxins that abound in many of the herbivores’ forage choices around the country. When given a monoculture pasture choice of high toxin content forage such as endophyte infected fescue, ill health and possible death can result. When given a mixed pasture choice, the eyes (and extra sensory tongue) of an herbivore will seek out and ingest forages that provide balance and possibly can even nullify the effects of toxins prevalent in some of their dietary choices. I am convinced more than ever that nice, neat monoculture pastures may look good but are contrary to sound management.

The “four eyes are better than two” concept has improved my management significantly. Rather than accept that my “super-duper mineral mix” is the best I can do to achieve optimal health in my cattle, I can use a free choice mineral smorgasbord. The cattle can seek out what they need, when they need it and transfer the information back to me by speaking through the quantity of each mineral choice’s volume depleted from the free choice feed bins. The cattle literally are helping me help them to optimize their health and develop their genetic potential. I am expanding artificially what nature does in an environment not altered by man’s limited thinking and pasture management.

This knowledge has come in extremely handy this winter. I moved my cattle from the much-improved environment in west Tennessee to winter pasture in central Tennessee, closer to home. The new farm is quite undeveloped. Weeds and shrubs abound that are unfamiliar to the spring and fall calves. I left the spring calves on the cows to allow the mommas to “show the way” to their young what to eat and when. I am utilizing the learned behavior mechanisms to help the calves adjust to the new environment. Some of the older cows had “been there done that” and were leaders in adjusting the whole herd. My new free choice mineral system has helped the transition significantly as well. Even though the grass available for winter grazing is limited and the hay quality is less than the west Tennessee location, the cattle have adjusted well and look great.

There is much to learn in this area of forage behavior and nutritional interaction. Free choice of each mineral for selection by the animal is a concept foreign to many producers. However, I have seen the benefits first hand of employing the concepts and I am motivated to learn more. I am now convinced that “four eyes are better than two.”