Started rotational grazing

[Chapin81]

They are trampling a lot of grass. Here is what it looks like after being moved. I am reducing the area Everyday just a bit. Right now we are using about 1 hectare. This is after 24 hour period. I would like to eventually move them 2-4 times a day with in the same area or less. I posted Before about the temp electric wire and so far they are behaving, no ones jumping or charging the fence.

What do you guys think??

 

[Katpau]

Looks good to me. You left enough vegetation so the roots should still be in good shape. I see you have a lot of dead grass mixed in with the green. It looks like it has been dry or maybe too cold for grass growth? Where are you located?
I would expect that grass to grow back fast with a little rain and warmth. All of that trampled vegetation is really good for the soil. How many animals were you grazing on this piece and are these beef or dairy cows? How long is your grazing season? Do you feed hay in a sacrifice area or paddock for a portion of the year?

Sorry about all of the questions. We discuss rotational grazing often in my Forage group, but few of us do more than rotate between larger pastures every few days to weeks. I only know of one ranch doing anything as intensive as you are describing and they are running sheep. I do know of an organic dairy that does something similar, but those animals are handled twice a day or more for milking anyway. I am interested in hearing how this goes with beef cattle. Moving 2-4 times per day seems like a lot more work than I have the time for, but it is an interesting idea for someone on a smaller acreage.

 

[Chapin81]

Looks good to me. You left enough vegetation so the roots should still be in good shape. I see you have a lot of dead grass mixed in with the green. It looks like it has been dry or maybe too cold for grass growth? Where are you located?
I would expect that grass to grow back fast with a little rain and warmth. All of that trampled vegetation is really good for the soil. How many animals were you grazing on this piece and are these beef or dairy cows? How long is your grazing season? Do you feed hay in a sacrifice area or paddock for a portion of the year?

Sorry about all of the questions. We discuss rotational grazing often in my Forage group, but few of us do more than rotate between larger pastures every few days to weeks. I only know of one ranch doing anything as intensive as you are describing and they are running sheep. I do know of an organic dairy that does something similar, but those animals are handled twice a day or more for milking anyway. I am interested in hearing how this goes with beef cattle. Moving 2-4 times per day seems like a lot more work than I have the time for, but it is an interesting idea for someone on a smaller acreage.

Hi katpau, we are located in Guatemala on the northwest part of of the country my dad started in the place in 2003. Our summers are usually from March until mid May. We don't feed hay, all the cattle are out in the pastures. We do provide them with mineral salts. The grass that is in the picture looks dry but it's due to the mud we have right now because we had a lot of rain in the last few weeks, our weather is usually between 75f when it's cool and 105f when it's hot! The area that we move them into every 24 hours is about 700x120 with A total 120 head zebu/brahman cows, heifers,calf's, this is our first time working cattle with a hot wire. I have another herd with 105 heifers but have not started working them on a hot wire, and another 30 head of weaned steers. so far the cows getting used to the hot wire, they stopped jumping or charging at it. I've seen some vids online where they move cattle 10 times a day in a smaller area than mine and equals to 2.8 acres. Can you share the link for the forum that discusses rotational grazing, this is new to us and we started it because we want to increase our capacity. Letting the cattle roam freely doesn't work for us. The last Years have shown that.

 

[MurraysMutts]

120 head on 2.8 acres?

How does that work??
I gotta be missing something here

 

[DCA farm]

120 head on 2.8 acres?

How does that work??
I gotta be missing something here

Probably a larger ranch putting cows on small areas and be moving then 1-2 times a day. I would assume the sane way Greg Judy and joe Salatin run their cattle. I'd love to be able to move mine that way but I'm not hone enough to do it

 

[MurraysMutts]

Sounds like a dang full time job just moving em round all day long. Interesting...

 

[Chapin81]

120 head on 2.8 acres?

How does that work??
I gotta be missing something here

I'm learning the concept.
So you take a small area closed off with electric fence let them graze and every hour you move them to a new area or fresh grass, the concept is to the let the grazed grass rest for a long enough period of recovery, for example some of the grasses we have need a 28-35 day recovery period before being grazed again. I've seen in Uruguay one YouTube user has an area 23x35 meters move them 10x a day it's almost an hectare and he's got 307 cows/calf's grazing.
Here's the vid attached it's in Spanish shows you the movement he does.
https://youtu.be/9eF9HRKXgUs

This is my version more land and less cows move them every 24 hours, we started on Monday of this past week.
https://youtu.be/wRPMU0yLUmI

 

[Chapin81]

120 head on 2.8 acres?

How does that work??
I gotta be missing something here

Probably a larger ranch putting cows on small areas and be moving then 1-2 times a day. I would assume the sane way Greg Judy and joe Salatin run their cattle. I'd love to be able to move mine that way but I'm not hone enough to do it

The videos I've seen with Greg Judy I think he's using larger paddocks not sure cause I just started watching his vids about 2 weeks ago. There's another guy by the last name of Wallace who says you can have over 400,000lbs live weight on 2.8 acres or so by moving them multiple times per day, the more moves per day the more pounds per acres.
The 307head by the way wasn't 2.8 acres made abono boo on that it's actually 8000 and change sq meters which is close to a hectare which 10,000 sq meters. Unless my maths wrong.

 

[kenny thomas]

Your doing great but a word of caution. Going from a wide open range to moving several times a day doesn't happen overnight. Do it a little at a time and adjust it to what works for your operation.
Every time the cows get new grass they will eat a few mouthfuls but eventually it's not worth the time and energy.
Do what you think is best for the cows and also work with genetics that match your management.

 

[Chapin81]

Your doing great but a word of caution. Going from a wide open range to moving several times a day doesn't happen overnight. Do it a little at a time and adjust it to what works for your operation.
Every time the cows get new grass they will eat a few mouthfuls but eventually it's not worth the time and energy.
Do what you think is best for the cows and also work with genetics that match your management.

Thanks kenny will do!

 

[Katpau]

Can you share the link for the forum that discusses rotational grazing, this is new to us and we started it because we want to increase our capacity. Letting the cattle roam freely doesn't work for us. The last Years have shown that.

Sorry it took so long to get back to you. It's been a busy day.
Our Forage group is not a forum. It is a group of local ranchers who get together about once a month and discuss what we are doing with forages on our ranches. We usually do a pasture walk at one of those ranches. We discuss our successes and failures. There are several groups throughout the state of Oregon and they are led by our facilitator, Dr Woody Lane. Most of us do a modest form of rotational grazing where the animals are moved onto fresh pasture every few days to weeks, depending on the size of the pasture. The rancher that does intensive rotational grazing with sheep is located near the coast where moisture is more abundant and the temperatures are pretty consistent year around. He can graze 365 days per year, like you, but those of us on the interior have hot dry summers and cool rainy winters. We are forced to feed 4 to 5 months of the year. I'm not sure of his exact protocol, but I believe he put something like 500 lambs on maybe a 1/4 acre (.1 hectares) for less than a day. He would also pour out a feed mixture right on the ground. They had a portion of their pasture set up in a coil pattern that looked like a giant snail and they would move them along the coil a short distance at a time.

I saw their paddocks when the system first began and again a year later. The amount of forage had increased quite impressively. The grain part, I'm sure was like adding fertilizer to the soil, since the sheep always missed eating a portion and then pushed it into the soil with their feet. These lambs were harvested at 6 months. I doubt this would be profitable with cattle, and the amount of labor was substantial. They are direct marketing these lambs, so they don't give up profits to the middle man.

 

[Chapin81]

Can you share the link for the forum that discusses rotational grazing, this is new to us and we started it because we want to increase our capacity. Letting the cattle roam freely doesn't work for us. The last Years have shown that.

Sorry it took so long to get back to you. It's been a busy day.
Our Forage group is not a forum. It is a group of local ranchers who get together about once a month and discuss what we are doing with forages on our ranches. We usually do a pasture walk at one of those ranches. We discuss our successes and failures. There are several groups throughout the state of Oregon and they are led by our facilitator, Dr Woody Lane. Most of us do a modest form of rotational grazing where the animals are moved onto fresh pasture every few days to weeks, depending on the size of the pasture. The rancher that does intensive rotational grazing with sheep is located near the coast where moisture is more abundant and the temperatures are pretty consistent year around. He can graze 365 days per year, like you, but those of us on the interior have hot dry summers and cool rainy winters. We are forced to feed 4 to 5 months of the year. I'm not sure of his exact protocol, but I believe he put something like 500 lambs on maybe a 1/4 acre (.1 hectares) for less than a day. He would also pour out a feed mixture right on the ground. They had a portion of their pasture set up in a coil pattern that looked like a giant snail and they would move them along the coil a short distance at a time.

I saw their paddocks when the system first began and again a year later. The amount of forage had increased quite impressively. The grain part, I'm sure was like adding fertilizer to the soil, since the sheep always missed eating a portion and then pushed it into the soil with their feet. These lambs were harvested at 6 months. I doubt this would be profitable with cattle, and the amount of labor was substantial. They are direct marketing these lambs, so they don't give up profits to the middle man.

Thanks for sharing! I'm hoping for grass all year round after this. Last year was a disappointment/disaster due to our summer months, increasing capacity is also a goal and also sell our own product through our own butcher store in the near future( the beef quality sucks down there unless you go to a steakhouse) I unfortunately have to deal with middlemen all the time and the rate we get paid right now are Q6.00 Quetzales which is their currency per pound. Take that amount into US dollars it's $0.79 per pound. That's if the steer is about between 600-900 lbs anything heavier than that payrate per lb is maybe $0.10 less.

 

[Dave]

On a good healthy stand of grass 12" with a plan to graze to 6" a ball park figure is 40,000 pounds of cows per acre per day. That is a good starting point but the reality of rotational grazing is both an art and a science. But it is not an exact science and making it work on your individual farm is where the art is involved.

 

[anewcomer]

Been studying grazing management for over 40 years. Wouldn't pretend to know what to advise. Climate, forage varieties, breeds, end goals all will impact your program. You will learn a lot by trial and error, but there is a lot of information available now on the web. Art not science is correct, but you've got to understand what you're trying to accomplish.

 

[Chapin81]

On a good healthy stand of grass 12" with a plan to graze to 6" a ball park figure is 40,000 pounds of cows per acre per day. That is a good starting point but the reality of rotational grazing is both an art and a science. But it is not an exact science and making it work on your individual farm is where the art is involved.

Thanks for the input, Hopefully this is the beginning of something positive. And thanks for the heads up I understand that this is all trial and error and new territory for us, not all farms will achieve the same results.

 

[ClinchValley86]

Started moving daily last year, twice a day this year. Worked so well we quit making hay on our place this year. Looks like we will feed hay 60 to 75 days this year.

Definitely trial by error. And definitely an art. But requires a good understanding of natural processes.

Water is our bottleneck. Going to hopefully add more water sites/hookups this winter.

We are currently at a cow calf pair per 1.75 acres. But think in a year or two could be at 1 to 1 no problem.

Havent fertilized since last year and havent sprayed in 2 years i think. Very few weeds. As in almost none. Johnson grass is growing everywhere when there was almost none a couple years ago. Clovers and lespedeza are beginning to make up a considerable portion of the stand. Definitely the way to go in my opinion. Almost input free.

When you get your system figured out, it onky takes an hour to move them 2 times a day, total. I have 5 reals with a quarter mile of poly. And 3 reals with an 8th. And 100 posts. This is hilly east tn.

 

[ClinchValley86]

Regenerative grazing group on facebook is a good one. People are strong opinioned and sometimes snooty but lots of knowledge on there.

 

[kenny thomas]

Started moving daily last year, twice a day this year. Worked so well we quit making hay on our place this year. Looks like we will feed hay 60 to 75 days this year.

Definitely trial by error. And definitely an art. But requires a good understanding of natural processes.

Water is our bottleneck. Going to hopefully add more water sites/hookups this winter.

We are currently at a cow calf pair per 1.75 acres. But think in a year or two could be at 1 to 1 no problem.

Havent fertilized since last year and havent sprayed in 2 years i think. Very few weeds. As in almost none. Johnson grass is growing everywhere when there was almost none a couple years ago. Clovers and lespedeza are beginning to make up a considerable portion of the stand. Definitely the way to go in my opinion. Almost input free.

When you get your system figured out, it onky takes an hour to move them 2 times a day, total. I have 5 reals with a quarter mile of poly. And 3 reals with an 8th. And 100 posts. This is hilly east tn.

How much did this change your stocking rate if any? I'm understocked but got lots of grass for the winter. Been buying a few cows

 

[anewcomer]

Clinch, well thought out program. Water is a problem, but as you have seen, will pay big. Your rest periods must be good, as the Johnson grass is showing up. Good job on eliminating inputs like fertilizer and herbicides. PM if you would like to talk.

 

[Chapin81]

Here's a pic 22 days after grazing, I think it's looking good. What do you guys think.