As we approach the end of the year, I think this is a great time to reflect on the past year to see what went right and what went wrong. As managers of forage, our fields are always teaching us something. With the end of the year here, now is the time to look back at the lessons, the good, the bad, the muddy and the dry.
With reflection, the first thing that comes into my mind right now is this winter. As I am writing this, we are preparing for our next round of snow. For some reflection, ask yourself, were you prepared for the first snowstorm of the season? I passed some cars that were in a corn field that were not.
Now, if that snowstorm caught you off guard, it might be time to think about whether your infrastructure is ready for the winter, items such as water, fencing, feeding stockpiled forage and feeding hay.
As this winter is just starting, I want to focus more on what has already happened this year and not on what is to come. This year was a rough year for pastures across the state of Ohio. We were wet, and then we went to dry, and depending on where you are in the state right now, you could still be in some drought conditions.
Grass condition. When you reflect on the year, start off with something simple like “How was the grass this year?” and from there you could go with a checklist approach. Some things to look at are the following: did the paddocks recover fully? If not, what time of year and what weather conditions were there? Did the cool-season grasses hold up through the summer slump? If it was not to your liking, what grasses did better, or was it just whole spots in the field? Did you notice changes in what species were there, like more clovers, more grasses, more volunteers or more weeds?
If your pastures struggled this year, some influential factors that could have led you there in addition to it just being wet and dry, are other weather factors like the drought from last year, grazing pressure, fertility or timing. These answers can help guide you to your plan for 2026.
Now, if you had no problems with pastures, let’s move on to another topic.
Hay quality. The next topic of 2025 that I want to briefly touch on, just because I know a lot of my colleagues have been touching on this subject, is hay quality. Back in August of this year, we pushed to get people to test their hay because this year was looking similar to 2019, another year when it was wet and it took people a long time to get their first cutting hay made, just like this year did as well.
In 2019, hay quality was bad, and this year, on the hay samples that we had, the quality did not look great either. You could have the quantity this year and think that you are okay, but you may not be.
If you do not know what you have in quality of your hay, a few dollars spent now could save you later down the road. Just a quick reminder that feed cost can account for up to 75% of the cost of keeping a ruminant animal. By testing your hay, you will be able to know if you will need to supplement when you are feeding this winter. As you look back, ask yourself what were the factors that you can control when making hay for the quality, as well as which ones Mother Nature controlled for you.
Other considerations. Now, there are many other things that you could reflect on from this past year, like animal performance. Did your livestock meet their target weights? Do they have the body condition that you want them to have?
Another key thing to reflect on should be your record-keeping. I know we all could do better with our record-keeping. Having good records can do wonders.
Maybe you need to sell a couple of cows; having records could make that decision easier, and maybe the ones that you sell are ones that you didn’t realize needed to go.
You may also want to reflect on your personal stress and farm stress. I know this is not a topic most people want to talk about. But it should be because I know there is a lot of it out there; you’ve got to take care of yourself first to be able to take care of your farm. You also need to look at it from all angles, like the emotional, financial and others.
As you reflect on the year, do not forget to look at the positives. Write down at least one thing that you did great this year, like the clover finally came in strong this year, the fence that you fixed or a great crop of calves. Those wins do matter.
Reflection won’t change that past, but it can help shape the future by sharpening our management for years to come. So, take some time this winter and write down about the good, the bad, the muddy and the dry of this past year.
