For many who use rotational grazing, planned frequent movements of livestock on pasture, the goal is to use livestock as a tool to improve the soil and the forage diversity of the farms they manage. Regarding rotation grazing management in general, Hall’s advice is to learn the basics and then try to customize them to your ranch — always keeping the need for flexibility in mind. Improved herd health: Although often an unintended, improved herd health is a common side effect of rotational grazing. Temporary electric fence can be inexpensive and easy to move, partly because no gates are needed. Cornstalk grazing: What supplementation is needed? The Wildland Vegetation program incorporates due consideration for the forage needs of deer and other wildlife, erosion control, and a desire for protection of sensitive environments. One of the most desirable attributes of this system is that a producer can design it to fit their needs. Pastures and paddock setups can also make a difference in what’s most feasible. “The first is when grass comes out of dormancy in spring, or after being harvested short. The Wallaces currently run 40 cows, 230 ewes and 40 nannies on several hundred acres that are cross-fenced into small paddocks for rotational grazing. These pieces of land are usually described as marginal. The pipes are tall enough to pass over the fence, as long as you don’t have the fence where the wheels have to go across,” he says. “In a pasture being grazed continuously, without rotation, cattle keep re-grazing the short spots, seeking out Phase 1 grass. Beef producers and researchers alike have long known that rotational grazing is best for pasture health. Designing and spacing watering tanks can keep grazing animals away from stream and increase grazing utilization of the pasture. “This means we must be flexible and do some things that maybe weren’t planned,” Hall says. Management also needs to be applied that will maintain adequate leaf area for capturing sunlight and provide sufficient rest between grazing events for the plants in the pasture to recover. For example, in a continuous grazing scenario, organic matter distribution may be sporadic as higher levels of organic matter would be found in areas of shade or a water source as animals may have a preference for these types of environments. Electric netting allows our shepherds to quickly subdivide pastures. The main benefits of rotational grazing stem from a focus on plant growth phase. Rotational grazing allows a producer to be more in control of the timing and intensity of forage grazed by cattle. If you leave animals on a piece of land for too long, they’ll eat down … Your local Extension or Natural Resources Conservation Service folks can provide advice on establishing and maintaining pastures, but how you manage them will determine the ongoing health and quality of those pastures. When moving animals more frequently, the grazier sets eyes on each animal much more often than in less intensively managed systems. In practice, animals move from paddock to paddock mirroring the natural herding behaviour of animals. Overgrazing can happen whenever cattle are allowed to return to the same plants, keeping them grazed down into Phase 1. This is stressful for plants because they don’t have enough leaf area to support maintenance,” he says. Cattle can be moved just by putting a couple of tall sticks or pieces of PVC pipe in the fence line for a few moments, to raise the electric wire enough for cattle to go under it and into the next paddock. Because goats eat things like woody brush, forbs, and problem weeds, they can take care of those plants while your cattle will prefer to graze legumes and common grasses. Copyright © 2021. This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Livestock grazing is conducted under a license system based upon accepted principles of range management. “One of the problems in thinking about rotational grazing is the tendency to think one size fits all, and that there’s a particular way to set up pastures and move cows,” says Hall. How many cattle can a rotational system accommodate? The ideal pasture has fertile soil and a variety of nutritious forage plants, grazed at the proper phases of growth. Those will change from year to year, as Mother Nature dictates. Holistic planned grazing forms just one part of a wider holistic management framework. Grazing Benefits Regenerative grazing is a principle-driven agricultural practice of building soil health by managing livestock on perennial and annual forages, and in a way that supports human and ecosystem health, farm profitability, and community and food system resilience. refers to the allowance of a group of grazing livestock to selectively choose what forage they eat in a large pasture for the duration of the growing season. Calving later is one way to shift the energy demand to the time of year you have the best grass,” Gerrish says. Lines and paragraphs break automatically. Rotational grazing also allows for an even distribution of manure and organic matter being placed back onto the land. Contributors include members of the OSU Beef Team and beef cattle specialists and economists from across the U.S. Fall Plant Control of cressleaf groundsel; Prevent the sea of yellow in the spring, Management Considerations for Warm-Season Perennials, Winter Application of Manure; Remember Setbacks, Visit our ‘One-stop Shop’ to View Agriculture and Natural Resources Programs. Rotational grazing systems are generally the most efficient way to get the best use of pastures and maximum beef production per acre, as well as being healthier for the land and plants. Cattle prefer grass in Phase 1 because it’s tender, succulent and high in nutritional quality. The Pembertons see several benefits of rotational grazing, such as pasture rest, time for regrowth and soil conservation. Grass was so plentiful in 2018 that cattle grazed until Christmas, Brian says. Their land is a mixture of mid-tall grass prairie, former cropland and abandoned cattle feedlots. “You can also put up permanent single-strand, high-tensile fence 2 feet tall that you don’t have to move, says Gerrish. “If the irrigation system breaks down and takes a few days to fix, or it doesn’t rain, or whatever, we may have to be willing to feed hay at a time of year we hate to feed hay, just to give those pastures enough time to recover,” he explains. This is something each individual producer must determine, regarding available labor,” says Hall. In its simplest form, rotational grazing is described as moving grazing livestock from one paddock to another, allowing time for the previously grazed pasture to regrow prior to the next grazing event. This week, students Matt Blose, Marissa Friel, Courtney Hale, and Maureen Hirzel provide us with a brief outline of the benefits of rotational grazing by providing insight on how to start and some important considerations you need to ask yourself prior to jumping into this type of management scheme. Another benefit of rotational grazing is that cattle become gentler with regular human contact during moves to fresh paddocks. Will you be investing in a water line or will you be hauling water to your flock? Another benefit of rotational grazing is that cattle become gentler with regular human contact during moves to fresh paddocks. A gentle herd first begins in the “wintering lot” where cattle are “bucket broke.” The Pembertons buy 450- to 600-pound black Angus heifers from private treaties. To maximize and optimize the use of this precious asset many farmers/ranchers are turning to rotational grazing. Informa Markets, a trading division of Informa PLC. In turn, there will be an increase in animal gain as these animals will be consuming highly palatable and digestible forages. There are numerous benefits to multi-species grazing, especially for those who start out with rural or mountain properties (rather than pastures) that have marginal grazing land in need of improvement. Keep in mind that rotational grazing is simply an organized method of managing grazing livestock. Collecting soil samples on an annual basis would also be beneficial, especially when considering to plant or inter-seed new forages into your pastures. Rotational Grazing Benefits: South Dakota Producer Perceptions. Editor’s note: In talking with longtime BEEF readers, a top concern is helping people new to the business understand the art as well as the science of raising cattle. You must be cautious as you monitor the growth and regrowth of your pastures. 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