more cow stuff, I’m in it for the long run

Most information available about rotational grazing usually deals with huge acreages and large herds of cattle.  Daunting information for someone with a small herd of cattle or a few sheep or goats.  The logistics of getting power to the fence, water to the stock, and the idea of building fence every day puts people off.  It is too different, the vast choice of supplies is mind boggling, and while somewhat scientific, it requires that the stockman be present in mind and body to really understand the entire biological process, which many times flies in the face of spread sheets.

I have been writing this series of posts to show that you don’t need hundreds of cattle, sheep, and poultry, or a huge landbase to rotationally graze the stock you have.  You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on a permanent water system, or buy expensive electric fencing supplies, or fancy pasture seeds to get started.  You just need to start.  Ruminants have been grazing for millenia, without all that.  If you decide you like moving your animals, you can add refinements later.

Just graze what you have, good timing of grazing (disturbance) and adequate rest will push your pasture plants forward in succession, too much disturbance (for instance continuous grazing and impact even with different species ) without rest will push your pasture backwards in succession making your land less productive in the long run.  A good example for forward succession would be ruminants, then poultry to fertilize and scratch through manure.  Ideally it would be ruminants one day, poultry for 2 -3 days, then rest for as long as you can, somewhere in the ballpark of 60- 90 days before you put animals on that land again.  The whole idea of rest is abhorrent to most, the land and forage is being “wasted” if it isn’t continually harvested.   It helps to look at your land and pasture like a savings account, saving your grass through rest and stockpiling it, isn’t wasting it, squandering it with a bite here and there is.

This strip the cows have been in this week, was grazed once in early May, the grass was tender new spring growth, so the cows had access to the entire strip for one day.  Now in July, the grass is well rested, and recovered.  They have grazed the same acreage for 8 days, but in much smaller paddocks, approximately 5000- 6000 square feet.

Today was the last day for the strip.  Here is where you see if you allotted enough for one days grazing or not.  When I drive into the field, I want to see the cows interested in my activities, but I also want to see some at rest, nursing and not bawling their heads off, because I shorted them.  Their reactions show me if I am on the right track with my paddock size.  If I didn’t judge the grass correctly and shorted them, I can correct that the next day, likewise if I gave them too much, I can make the next paddock smaller.

Depending where I am in the rotation, it may take me 15 minutes to build fence, move cows, water and minerals or if I have to build a strip fence that will be the foundation for a weeks grazing, it may take me an hour.  If I had more cows it still wouldn’t take much longer, I have to be there anyway, it doesn’t take the cows long to walk into the next paddock.  I do have to fill my water tank though beforehand, so that means I have to keep an eye on that, but that is a multi-tasking sort of thing.

During the hot weather, I move the cows in late afternoon, they can fill up and ruminate in the cool of the night.  If the grass is ample enough, they can eat their fill in about 4 hours or so.   You don’t want to see a ruminant grazing all day – if you do your grass is too short.  And if you’re in a situation where drought is affecting your pasture, pull off your stock to a sacrifice area and feed hay.  Giving them access to stressed pasture is really costing you in the long run.

My routine is to take down the back fence and rebuild it ahead of the cows, it becomes the front fence.  The back fence is important to prevent the second bite.  The second bite is when livestock have access to the recently grazed grass that begins growing.  By allowing your stock to access to that tender grass, the grass plant is weakened and you can lose 40% of your grass growing potential in a season.  That is a lot of grass or hay to have to feed.

At each new paddock the cattle always travel to the very end to see where fence is and check things out.

After ascertaining where the new fence perimeter is, they fall to grazing without delay.

Back fence formerly the front fence.

Since this is the last paddock of this strip, I won’t move the water trough(s) ahead.  While the trough is filling I will carry the mineral box to the new back fence (formerly the front fence.)  I like to place the minerals near the back fence instead of the front fence because every once in a while a beef ensues over minerals (like a political argument at the water cooler for us) and someone may get shoved through the fence.  The way it works with livestock if someone gets pushed out into the old, grazed manured paddock no one cares (but me.)  But, if someone gets rammed into the the adjacent grass that hasn’t been grazed yet, all heck breaks loose and the stock will brave the fence and get out, because someone is getting something good (new grass.)  Not the end of the world but it sure wreaks havoc with the grazing rotation. 😉

The watering set-up I am using is pretty low-tech.  A 300 gallon tote with a valve, several different size lengths of 2½” PVC pipe,  and pipe wrench to open and close the valve because the tabs are long since gone.

I can get creative with trough placement with these two pipe lengths – the short piece has 90 degree elbow on one end, and a coupler on the other end.  Usually my vehicle stays outside the fence, to deliver the water I park either perpendicular or parallel to the fence, and depending on the terrain, sometimes I need the two pipes together for length or I can use the 90 degree end for sideways water delivery.

This poor boy water system works fine; it is an inexpensive way to get started, it’s portable, and gives me more bang for my buck on manure placement.  This works well for us, utilizes our water supply perfectly, and would be a good place to start if you’re not sure you really want to install a more permanent water system, or know quite were to place it.  If you can afford a more fixed system, and have flat fields by all means go for it.

Loose minerals, available free choice.

I like the hands-on of rotational grazing, and the improvements we have made to our pastures by managing the whole.  During the grazing season the cows are harvesting their own feed, and we make the surplus into hay for winter feeding.  By keeping the cows in during the winter feeding period, we can can gather enough manure in a deep bedding system for fertilizing the paddocks we cut for hay.

Look at your farm as an entire organism, each part helping and enhancing the next and believe me it will look different to you.