Top Reasons to Drag Pastures
FERTLIZATION
Redistribution of manure, when available, increases the fertilizing value and therefore is more cost effective than the purchase of chemical fertilizer. When livestock grazes off a pasture approximately 80-90% of the nutrients from the plants are returned to the soil through their manure and urine. Manure has natural fertilization, when dragging is a standard process, it breaks the manure down into smaller fragments which not only allows it to decompose at a quicker rate, but it also allows more surface area coverage of the manure around the pasture. Dragging not only increases the forage production by the redistribution of the natural fertilizer, but it also increases the soil fertility. Because of these benefits, it helps with the natural fertilization of the fields, not only should you have more hay for production, but also more grazing time each season depending on your intent for that pasture.
SEED GERMINATION
Seed germination is also a possibility when you drag your pastures over areas that you feed your previous year's hay over. Germination of these seeds is not guaranteed, however, dragging your fields will increase your production of germinating grass or hay seed for future years forage. Drags should have weight to them so that they may break up any manure piles, but they should not be especially heavy as they will tear up your pastures current forage.
UNIFORM GRAZING
Dispersing manure will help lead to more uniform grazing patterns on pastures, which can help with your scheduling of any pasture rotations. While rotational grazing does predict a more even distribution of manure within the field, it is not guaranteed. To ensure that fields remain in the optimum growth stage, it is good practice to drag your pastures at least twice a year between rotations. When starting up a rotational grazing program, it may be necessary to drag your fields more frequently until manure is more evenly distributed within the pasture. When rotational grazing is utilized, it should not effect the cattle's eating habits, as the fields have time to rest between grazing. Livestock are also more likely to graze more evenly when the manure is evenly distributed through the field with the dragging process as they will avoid large deposit areas of excrement.
PARASITE CONTROL
Dragging pastures exposes fly larvae and parasite eggs to the sunlight which creates a difficult environment for the larvae to mature and hatch and in most cases kills them off. Although no substantial research is available, it is thought to be most beneficial to drag in the fall before winter so that the pastures will have access to nitrogen fertilizer. It in turn would also be beneficial to drag after winter, again to allow nitrogen fertilizer to reach the forage. However, dragging during the summer also allows the benefit of parasite reduction in pastures.
