Grazing rotations

By dividing your pasture into smaller pastures and rotating through them, you can improve the quality and quantity of grazing available, if done right.

Before the age of Man and Agriculture and fences, wild animals roamed. The herds stayed in tight groups because of potential predators, and they were always on the move, looking for fresh grass. By mimicking nature and putting our animals in a tight group and moving them, we provide several benefits:
1. The grass has time to recover. Animals love fresh re-growth. They will eat the fresh stuff before the stale stuff. Right now our days are long, and grass can grow just about half inch a day, sometimes more. By moving our animals regularly, we avoid grazing the same plant again, while it is recovering from the first graze.
2. We avoid potential parasite problems - especially with the sheep and goats. For parasites to survive they need to hatch out on grass and be consumed by the host species. By keeping our animals moving, we leave the parasites behind, reducing infestation.
3. by grazing a tight herd, whatever doesn't get eaten, gets trampled into the ground. The trampled grass decomposes and feeds the microbes in the soil, providing organic matter for healthier soil. Healthy soil can grow more grass. The trampled stuff also acts like a mulch, keeping moisture in.
4. moving to fresh ground is instinctual, and the animals love it.
5. Its fun! :)

There are more in-depth benefits, but basically we want our pasture to be fully recovered before it is grazed again.

I use Gallagher Smartfence system to divide pastures. Right now I am grazing an area that lacks a permanent perimeter fence. The Smartfence is electrified, and once the animals learn to respect it, it works really well.

Can you tell where the electric fence was? 

Because this area hasn't been grazed in many years, I used a really small paddock and let the animals take most of the grass (not leaving much litter) to stimulate the grass to grow. Although it looks bare, it was only grazed for a day, so no overgrazing. It is also now littered with goat and horse droppings and urine, which is excellent fertilizer.

Another example, grass was grazed for a day on the right.

This is a picture of a paddock that was grazed and is recovering. 

You can still see the line down the middle where the fence was. 

animals enjoying fresh grass

Coming out through an alley to fresh grass.

The Smartfence. There is cropland to the left of the fence, and the goats are cleaning up a stony hill where I want to put up a perimeter fence. It's easier to fence if the grass is short and you can see potential obstacles!

A peaceful early evening graze.

Finding Balance

I love work. Especially when I am working on stuff I am passionate about! This may seem strange to people stuck in a job that they do not like, but when you are doing something you truly love, it doesn't feel like work.
When you are stuck in a job you do not enjoy, it seems that then you need distractions to 'get away from it all'. City folks need a boat and a camper or a cabin to get away to the lake to rejuvenate. My rejuvenation comes from spending time working with my animals, and working in my yard. But - one still needs balance.
The problem with ranching and working part-time is that there is always more work than time to do it in. Especially when like me, you are just starting up. There are fences to build, shelters to repair and build, corrals and pens to build, cleanup to be done, new animals that need to be tagged and vaccinated, the yard needs work, the vegetable garden needs work, the house needs work, and then there are the day-to-day mundane tasks like laundry, dishes, cleaning.... and pretty soon, there is no time for relaxing.

So every once in a while its time to ignore the pile of dishes and the grass that needs cutting, and go do something else. I went to a 2 day herding clinic with my dog Spice at Dog Tale Ranch. It took a bit of organization to get away for 2 days - someone needs to milk the milking goat 2x a day and care for her, animals and water system needs checking 1x a day, eggs need to be collected from the laying hens, and the dogs and cats need feeding. Its hard for both me and Larry to go away at the same time, so often I would stay home so he could attend a conference, and visa versa. In this case Larry opted to stay home and take care of things for me.

Training a herding dog is one of my goals. I searched long and hard to find a Belgian Shepherd with herding breeding. I wanted to Belgian because I love the breed, so along came Spice, or Elevation Spice it Up.
I had a great time camping with my dog, learning about pressure and release on dogs - which is a familiar concept to me with horses. One of the terms used in herding is 'finding balance' - where the dog learns to be opposite the handler, with the sheep between them. My dog is extremely talented and her instinct told her immediately where balance was. She found balance easily. Dogs live in the moment - if they feel like taking a nap, they do so. If they are thirsty, they have a drink. If they feel like playing, they do so.
We need to learn to live in the moment a bit more. Sometimes it is hard - things still need to get done, and we have such a short summer season to get it done in. It is easy for me to get lost in the work, but finding the balance between work and play - is something I have to work on.

Spice on the way to herding - are we there yet?

Spice camping

I look forward to having a few more fun days and going to Sheep Camp at Dog Tale Ranch in August.