Do you ROTATIONALLY GRAZE your livestock? and if not, why?

[Bossfarmer]

As im often told on here there are numerous benefits to rotationally grazing livestock so is everyone doing it? and if not why? what are the downsides im not hearing about as when i drive across the country i rarely see it!

 

[Skintagain]

Laziness

 

[Bossfarmer]

Laziness

you dont think the reward is worth the effort?

 

[rusty]

Rotationally graze cows, in calf heifers and beef stores. Dairy calves away on rented ground set stocked due to only being one water trough on the block and poor fencing and layout .

 

[shearerlad]

I suspect the reasons being capital expenditure on fencing and water and the time to put infrastructure in place and the time to shift stock every 3 or so days.
All of this, of course, is recouped very quickly with grass growth and output per acre

 

[Skintagain]

you dont think the reward is worth the effort?

I do yes. It is time consuming and a lot of people simply can’t be arsed to do it.

If all paddocks have water it’s easier. All depends on individual circumstances too. Random grazing all over shop is a pita

 

[lazy farmer]

you dont think the reward is worth the effort?

Oh my goodness. And you were thinking of milking cows.

 

[Bossfarmer]

do the fields have to be divided in 6? i could run electric trrough the middle of 2 adjoining fields and try in with 4 paddocks? 6 is a lot more fencing/water pipes and moving

 

[Bossfarmer]

Oh my goodness. And you were thinking of milking cows.

mabye the reward would be higher with dairy cattle than sucklers though?

 

[shearerlad]

mabye the reward would be higher with dairy cattle than sucklers though?

The reward may be easier to measure with dairy, but I’d imagine it would be similar in both

 

[rusty]

To set up a dairy grazing platform with water troughs, tracks and electric fencing would be in the the ball park region of £200 acre. It does help if you can get catchment sensitive Farming grants for some of these costs.
With my in calf dairy heifers I move them every 5 to 7 days and use an electric fence to split some of the bigger fields in half.
I have stone walls with permanent electric fenced top wiring on most of them. This makes rotational grazing much easier and saves the walls Bette rather also.

 

[Henarar]

As im often told on here there are numerous benefits to rotationally grazing livestock so is everyone doing it? and if not why? what are the downsides im not hearing about as when i drive across the country i rarely see it!

Small fields here means there is not much choice but to keep moving them about, unless we put 4 cows in each field, could just leave the gates open but that is just silly and makes a mess of the gateways

 

[digger64]

mabye the reward would be higher with dairy cattle than sucklers though?

alot simpler and cheaper with sucklers or dry stock , also makes the cattle an absolute doddle to move around generally and work with .

 

[Agrispeed]

Portable trough, solar fencer and decent geared reels and you can move stock once a day as fast as you would be trying to find them if they had the run of the place, easy to spot poorer animals and you know exactly how much they have eaten etc.

I used to set up 8 cells in less than quarter of an hour and it only needs a water trough being mowed twice and then just move the corners every day so cattle can reach it. Easy.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

I suspect the reasons being capital expenditure on fencing and water and the time to put infrastructure in place and the time to shift stock every 3 or so days.
All of this, of course, is recouped very quickly with grass growth and output per acre

I was really surprised at the cost of putting the infrastructure in and even more surprised at how much work it was, having said that good job I did.

 

[Jdunn55]

I forced dad to let me do it 2 years ago, he kicked and screamed all the way, had to use bit of shitty electric wire and crappy posts because he was dammed if he was spending any money on it. I persisted and last year I went and bought a quad, new posts, Gallagher geared reels (dont waste your time with any other) and new wire. I shift my sucklers, heifers and steers daily. Takes about 15 minutes per group once I get in the spring of it. Wouldnt ever not do it, it's easy once you know how and the reward is well worth it. I ticked my sucklers at 3-4 cows to an acre last year (once I had some rain)

As above, sucklers and youngstock are easy as you havent got to worry about tracks yo get them in for milking. I just create a bit of a path for them to get back to the water trough in each field and that way I'm only tearing up a small strip along a hedge

 

[Bullring]

I started last year with a group of sucklers, great for grass growth as their in each paddock about 4 days but I get fed up with roaring when ever I go past cause their bored where they are and want moving onto the next. Doesn’t take them long to become unsettled even if they have grass.

 

[Agrispeed]

I forced dad to let me do it 2 years ago, he kicked and screamed all the way, had to use bit of shitty electric wire and crappy posts because he was dammed if he was spending any money on it. I persisted and last year I went and bought a quad, new posts, Gallagher geared reels (dont waste your time with any other) and new wire. I shift my sucklers, heifers and steers daily. Takes about 15 minutes per group once I get in the spring of it. Wouldnt ever not do it, it's easy once you know how and the reward is well worth it. I ticked my sucklers at 3-4 cows to an acre last year (once I had some rain)

As above, sucklers and youngstock are easy as you havent got to worry about tracks yo get them in for milking. I just create a bit of a path for them to get back to the water trough in each field and that way I'm only tearing up a small strip along a hedge

Exactly how I started.

Kiwitech (James Daniels, near launceston ) can supply an excellent portable trough. I connected camlock couplers to all the water troughs and have floats that either fit or lengths of blue pipe I can drag around and connect into the troughs. Saves a bit of work making the tracks to the troughs, especially in the shoulders of the year when it can get a bit soupy.

 

[Jdunn55]

Exactly how I started.

Kiwitech (James Daniels, near launceston ) can supply an excellent portable trough. I connected camlock couplers to all the water troughs and have floats that either fit or lengths of blue pipe I can drag around and connect into the troughs. Saves a bit of work making the tracks to the troughs, especially in the shoulders of the year when it can get a bit soupy.

I'm hoping this year I can get stewardship funding to put proper tracks in as I want to extend the grazing season into November-decemeber anyway and the best way I can see is to use tracks but thankyou anyway

 

[lazy farmer]

The reward may be easier to measure with dairy, but I’d imagine it would be similar in both

I find that notion incredible unless your land was either free to buy or free to rent