Making Sense of Many Systems of Rotational Grazing
Making Sense of the Many Systems of Rotational Grazing
Five minutes exploring the grazing literature is enough to be horribly confused about the many systems of livestock rotation. Each model has fervent devotees, and none is inherently right. The meaningful question is what level of rotation makes sense for your farm and life. That answer will almost certainly vary, by the day or over decades – to account for a weekend away, a poorly growing area, a desire to increase profitability, a problem with pink eye, kids to be kept busy, or any other of dozens of factors. Understanding the models as a continuum with trade-offs can be helpful in getting beyond the terminology and to the right decisions for you.
The main rotational grazing systems are distinct in two major ways. First, how tightly packed the animals are, defined as stocking density in animal units (AU) or pounds per acre (for ease, we are defining one animal unit as 1000 lbs, so 14 AU per acre equals 14,000 lbs/acre). Second, how often the cattle are moved, or, related how long they are in or out of a given field. The stocking density directly shapes how often the cattle must be moved, or rotated, to ensure they have sufficient nutrition.
Visually, the most basic continuum looks like this:
Increasing Stocking Density, increasing Frequency of Moves
At the core, each defined grazing system tweaks stocking density and rotation frequency. There are other differences, too, which we’ll explore in a moment.
Grazing Systems
Deciding where you want to be on these continuums and which system or systems suit you requires thinking hard about your goals and your limits.
Thinking about time commitments
For those working off the farm or otherwise very busy, perhaps the realistic option is to build permanent paddocks once and move the cattle quickly before and after work? Could you on weekends move them more frequently? Will being in the field mean being alone or can it be family time? Are others available to help? Does it make sense for you to invest in batt latches so livestock can move to an ungrazed field without assistance?
Every farming operation takes a lot of time. Sometimes it’s in bursts, when you’re planting, harvesting, cutting hay, calving, or fixing machinery. You make time for these demands because you have to. Intensifying rotation reduces these sporadic and intensive time demands while requiring more regular engagement with your animals and land. Doing a good job at more intensive rotational grazing means paying close attention to your soils, the forages, livestock performance, indicator species (earthworms, spiders, dung beetles, cricket and grasshoppers, pollinator insects, etc.), plant species diversity, wildlife and bird species diversity, and profitability. It’s the trade-off of fixing machinery less and being out in the fields more that makes us argue that this is a more enjoyable form of agriculture.
Those new to rotational grazing may assume that fence building and moving cattle will be difficult or time consuming. Experienced graziers take anywhere from a couple of hours to a day to set their fences. Livestock quickly become trained so that most moves take between five and fifteen minutes.
Visit infrastructure to learn more about fencing and watering systems.
Changes to expect as rotations intensify:
TO THE LAND
Increased:
forage biomass
soil organic matter
soil aggregation
soil microbial populations
water infiltration
water quality
plant species diversity and complexity
plant brix and nutritive value
pollinator insects, birds and wildlife
Reduced:
fertilizer needs
need for mechanical or chemical weed and brush control
soil erosion and harmful runoff
drought and flood impact
TO THE LIVESTOCK
Increased:
utilization of forage on a year-round basis
performance
consistency in manure & urine application
stocking rates over time (as biomass increases)
ability to support multi-species grazing
Reduced:
external and internal parasites
common disease issues
need for antibiotic treatment
need for administered hormone treatment
supplementation – hay and/or other feedstuffs
livestock costs of production (COP)
TO YOUR LIFESTYLE
Increased:
investment in fencing and watering systems
time spent interacting with the livestock and observing them and the land
observational skills
net return per acre
enjoyment (in our humble opinions)
ability to capture available market premiums
Reduced:
need for equipment, fertilizer, supplemental feed and hay
labor needed for operating equipment, maintaining equipment, haying and feeding
By: The Pasture Project
