Mother Earth News- Rotational Grazing for Pastured Livestock

[wvdexters]

This month's issue of Mother Earth News has a great article on rotational grazing.  Joel Salatin discusses how he pastures his own cattle/chickens, and how it can be done for both large and small herds;  Focusing on the benefits of small 1-day strip grazing vs. the larger 1-week pasture areas.  There is a lot of good information here and being pasture challenged "The Law of the Second Bite Principle" really has had me thinking.   Hans, it sounds a great deal like what you and Sheril are doing.   

I can't find a link but you can read the article at www.motherearthnews.com/.  Click on the current issue picture in the upper right column; and the article (in blue) is listed under The Pitchfork Pulpit. 

[lonecowhand]

Thanks Karrie, I read that when, like Gene , I couldn't find the other article. (grass fed Beef) That's a good article!

There is also a very long in-depth "sticky" thread on the Homesteading Today site, under Cattle: 'Any Ideas for Converting to Rotational Grazing"

It's 165 pages, so it's not a quick read, but maybe a couple rainy days read. Really good hands on info, tho. Pros and cons of different products, and concepts.

[cascade]

We do 1/2 day grazing strips.... we move the electric line 2 times per day in grass season.  In the winter, we give them fresh hay two times per day.    1/2 day feedings minimizes wastage.    We do this for our Dexters, Icelandic Sheep, and American Guinea Hogs too.   

[Deleted]

I know moving more often is best but I dont have the time for that. I move about once a week on my main razing area and about every 2 to 3 days for my milkers that stay at my house.

[Blessings Farms]

Mike some questions I saw Hans method and it helped me understand
but I also would have problems with a move every day.
After the initial start is it difficult to judge area needed ?
Do you do any stock pile ?
Do you also have hay available ?
Know many variables but approx. how many acre per cow ?
In the past week I have driven at least 4 hr. ea. direction from
home and in all the years involved in livestock until read Salatin
and posts on rotational grazing never noticed all the over grazed
pastures and with spring here they are very obvious.

[lakeportfarms]

Your stocking rate is going to depend on the frequency of moves. More moves, fewer acres per animal. Rotational grazing should be done with a move every 3 days or fewer to really get the best results.
It is ok to have the grass grazed down very low late in the year when the grass has stopped growing. It may delay putting them back on in the spring a little bit, but once the grass starts really growing you'll find it difficult to keep ahead of it in the spring anyway. Your first two or three moves through the pasture for the grazing season are the most critical ones to get right and not let it get grazed too low.

I wish you could have visited when we were actually moving them through the pasture, and you'd see how with the inexpensive reels we use we can afford to set up one weeks worth of moves in advance and then it only requires 15-20 minutes per move or less to get them on new grass including walking out to the pasture. Always err on the side of leaving more grass in an area than you think you should and you should be alright.

[Deleted]

while I know hans is right. the more often you move the more benefit you get. Just not enough hours in the day here to manage it all. I still get incredible results with weekly moves. I have 2 separate herds on 3 different disconnected properties. On one property there is to separate groups to move a bull group and a cow/calf group. some steers could be in ether group just depends on where I decide to put them. So that makes 4 herds to move. The group that stays at my house I milk so every morning I milk and then they get moved to pasture for the day and pulled back in at night. Its not just moving the animals its moving the fence and the water. Plus the wife and I both work full time jobs. When hay time comes I take a week or 2 off of work and run a marathon haying sun up to sun down every day until it is done.
Ok got a little off topic there.


After the initial start is it difficult to judge area needed ?
no I aim for weekly moves but if they need to move sooner then they do. I dont go longer than a week.
Do you do any stock pile ?
not really at this time I do have a lot more land than I have animals. So as needed they do go out on the hay fields as needed after the growing season but before the weather turns bad. I pull all animals in about December usually.
Do you also have hay available ?not while they are grazing but in the winter. The exception is at my home where the milkers are I stock heavy on that small amount of land. In late summer when it gets dry. I have to pull animals and put them on hay to give a longer recovery after a rotation. Then they go back into rotation when it is ready.
Know many variables but approx. how many acre per cow ? Are you talking total acres per cow or cows per acre in each rotational padock
total cows per acre easy 2 cows per acre. At My home I may run 3-5 per acre but as I said if we hit drought and we have the last several years I have to pull them for a while mid summer. better to pull and feed hay then push it and damage your grass.
cows per padock size that is harder for me to say I dont measure it out I just guess and adjust as needed. nothing set in stone. I would say maybe 10-20 per acre

[wvdexters]

We've been thinking about this and trying to come up with the best plan for our situation. Basically on the side of a hill, some wooded areas, and grass that is still fairly hit and miss in some areas. (It will be many yrs yet before the soil is built up enough to really grow top pasture here.)

We are thinking about a hybrid-type plan. A series of small divided pasture areas basically shaped like a horse shoe, with an old farm road in the center. Each area probably good for a few days to a wk or so; and laid out depending on the lay of the ground and the access to water. We could then use the temp electric line to break up the pasture areas and to keep them moving; especially in the larger areas. I have access to two wells but there's really only a few places flat enough to set up to water. (It was great for sled riding when our son was little).

Still a work in progress, but I think we are on the right track. It should work pretty well. Question Hans - what type of electric fence do you use? I know you do the step in posts. Some seem to like the ribbon type and other people say to go with the other.



Yes, Lone Cowhand that sticky thread is quite a big one. I've read parts of it, but haven't tackled the whole thing yet.

[genebo]

Before you spend a dime on implementing rotational grazing you should contact these people:

www.wvca.us/AgEP.cfm

They will provide you with lots of information about how to do it in West Virginia, and will cost-share to help you do it. They cost-share projects that haven't been started, yet. They can't help you pay for things you have already done.

The Virginia conservation district near here helped me get started. They impressed me with the amount and quality of advice they gave me. Oh, and the money, too. They paid 75% of each project they deemed useful that I then did. They even let me list a reasonable amount for my own labor while doing the project.

The most important thing they did for me was to help me solve how to provide water to all the paddocks when rotational grazing. I ended up renting a trencher and putting in 2000 feet of water pipe to accomplish it. Then to put in rotational grazing fence, buying seed, lime and fertilizer to improve the pasture. The amount I spent on all the projects came to just about 75% of the total after I added the charge for my labor and the use of my tractor. They reimbursed me 75% of the total, meaning I got all of that done for no out-of-pocket final expense. I ended up with just "sweat-equity" in it.

I had to agree to maintain the grass and the fencing for 4 years, and allow them to come visit me once a year to make sure I was. I looked forward to their visits, because they were so full of help. One of the agents became a close friend.

[wvdexters]

Great tip!! Thanks Gene.

[Blessings Farms]

Does and one know who to contact in Ohio for rotational ? All anyone
here seems interested in is confinment or old time grazing methods even
the grass fed dont seem to do rotational. With spring there are so many
pastures starting to green some and they look like a mud spoted mess.

[Deleted]

It probably really depends on where you are. My impression is that our local NRCS would not have a clue about rotational grazing. It was always a chore just trying to get answers as to how to fill out our forms for our base acre payments. They just dont seem to understand it themselves. Now that the government has ended payments for that we really dont have any involvement with them. Thats alright the headaches of their paper work were really not worth the payments.


Yes water is the biggest issue.  That is still a work in progress here. We have some goals where we want to end up. We do a little each year. Just decide where the biggest need is first. What would really help save the most time. Last year I ran line and put in 3 hydrants and 2 auto waters at our home farm for winter lots. That saved us so much time this last winter not having to deal with water. This summer I have a 12 acre hay field on the other side of a creak that has no water on it. I am planing on running water across and putting 3 hydrants spread out. I have identified one area that I can drive a trencher down and across the creak if it dries up enough in the late summer which it usually does. Their will be some water but just a trickle. Probably have to use the tractor and a chain to actually pull the trencher through and up the other side. While it would not be a problem to drive the trencher through I am doubting I can get enough traction to dig while driving it through.

In areas where we dont have water yet I use a 200 gallon tank in the back of my truck. I also have a 350 gallon that is on a trailer. 

[lakeportfarms]

Karrie, we use the Gallagher Turbo wire now. We used a lesser grade wire by Parmak I think which works pretty well, and still have it on some of the reels, but at all cost avoid the really cheap stuff like Zareba at Tractor Supply. It will last you a season at best. The wire is much easier to use than the tape, and the cows see it just fine. We also like the white over the orange/black color for the wire for better visibility (more for us than the cows).

If you're dividing larger pastures into medium size pastures permanently, then I would recommend for sure using hi-tensile, just one or two wires at most at around 30 and 48" heights. The larger cows won't go through it, and the calves will duck it but that's OK. It doesn't really matter if it's perfect height or not, and you can space your posts up to 100' apart if you don't have a large variation in elevations (if it's all uphill/downhill it's basically the same as level, right?) So work your pasture layout to follow the land well, and also provide some shade if you can. You can move the cows from pasture to pasture without even using gates if you have enough of a spread between posts, just take a piece of 2" PVC with a "V" cut in one end, put it under the wires and then prop it to provide enough height for the cows to pass underneath. The hi-tensile gives enough slack to let you do this.

As far as water, I think most of you have seen our Igloo cooler with the quick connect and auto waterer on it? We can just roll it around, though we still are heavily dependent on hoses. We're working on that slowly but surely.

[lonecowhand]

Genebo, That's a good deal for you in your generous State. Nothing like that out here, West of the Pecos!

I just looked at the California Conservation District, Ha ha! No Cost Share Projects out here, but you CAN voluntarily put your land into permanent agricultural conservancy!

Take them up on that offer, Karrie!

[wvdexters]

Thanks for the info Hans. And the warning on the Zareba; we will definitely avoid that brand. One thing we don't have to worry about is providing enough shade. We still have too many trees, and are still working on thinning a few areas.

Question about the hi tensile wire. I know it does really well for long level(ish) runs, but what about in areas where the angle of the slope keeps changing? It was the rolling that caused us problems in the past. The slope is always changing, so it keeps things interesting. We have to keep our posts pretty close together and keep the wire somewhat to the roll of the ground or the cows can walk under some areas and step over others. And with all the different posts and elevations we had problems getting a good tight pull.

It would be ideal if we could get it to work.

[lakeportfarms]

Karrie, if you have rolling terrain there is no way around it, you have to use more posts. The biggest problem are the dips, as the tension on the wire tends to want to lift the post out of the ground. However, on the rises, you can use less expensive and easier to install composite posts to provide the proper spacing between the wires and the ground.

www.kencove.com/fence/122_PasturePro+Composite+Fence+Posts_resource.php

Kencove has a great selection of fencing products, highly recommended.

You don't have to get the hi-tensile really tight, in fact we have ours sagging a bit, especially at this time of the year when the ground softens up. The cows know very well to avoid it including bulls that are nose to nose, though we try to avoid that scenario with our pasture layout.

[Deleted]

our farm store use to have some cheaper polywire no name on i can remember. It was 6 wire stainless and seams pretty good have used it for several years now. They got bought out by a chain. The products changed and the price went up more of a pet/horse store now. We dont go there anymore. will have to find a new source when we need more. I didnt know parmac had wire but there fencers are the best and reasonably priced. after having several other fencers I will use nothing else. I am going to buy another one and build my own solar system that runs a 110 fencer a large solar panel inverters and a marine battery. Maybe over kill but am tired of cleaning out weeds and grass from 1000s of feet of electric.
Even our barb wire tends to pull fence post up in the valleys. I have thought about putting an earth anchor in the bottom of some of the steeper valleys to hold the fence down.