First foray into rotational grazing. Question.

Oldmacdonald

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Scotland
THe literature seems to suggest ideally move between 8 paddocks on 3 day shifts.

Can I make 4 larger paddocks instead on 6 day shifts? Would make it simpler for my first try at it!
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Better than set stocking, but ideally the stock want to be off before the first grazed grass plants put up a leaf. They do so from root reserves, and that leaf is needed to photosynthesise. Taking it off straightaway depletes root reserves and delays that regrowth.

For maximum effect you want to be on 12 or 24 hour shifts, like the dairy guys, but 3 days is a good compromise.

That’s the theory anyway…
 

Samcowman

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cornwall
THe literature seems to suggest ideally move between 8 paddocks on 3 day shifts.

Can I make 4 larger paddocks instead on 6 day shifts? Would make it simpler for my first try at it!
Yes that would be fine to a starter. 6 days in each would only give you 18 days recovery. Would be better at 7 or 8 or longer to give the other paddocks enough time to recover fully.
as Neilo said you will still be overgrazing because the animals will search out the sweeter young shoots from the already grazed plants over the plants they didn’t like to start with.
but it’ll still be better than set stocking.
 

Bob the beef

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Scot Borders
Any kind of rotation/rest is better than set stocking. I started by just splitting fields in half until I got a feel for it. Now subdividing fields into smaller and smaller sections. Gets quite addictive when you see what you can achieve with very little investment. Don’t get overly hung up on the literature, work out what suits you and your land . Electric supply and water will be the biggest headaches. And remember don’t make work for yourself. If you need to lift and move electric fences every day settle for a longer rotation
 

topground

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North Somerset.
Trying my version here which involves mains electric fencing moved daily and back fenced. The location of the water troughs means the grazing radiates from troughs on boundaries. Hasn’t cost a fortune but I am not sure how it will stand up in a drought. Young stock grazing for a month now with a hay available as back up while I get a feel for how much they need for a days grazing.
Waiting for the complaints about fences across a footpath although I have made provision provided those using the path can step over a wire 300mm off the ground.
 

scholland

Member
Location
ze3
3 days a fair bit better than 6.

Don't get to hung up on days per shift, grass growth isn't uniform so it will vary through the season.
Much better to be guided by pre and post grazing covers imo.

And have a back up plan for times when there's to much grass or to little!
 

Samcowman

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cornwall
Trying my version here which involves mains electric fencing moved daily and back fenced. The location of the water troughs means the grazing radiates from troughs on boundaries. Hasn’t cost a fortune but I am not sure how it will stand up in a drought. Young stock grazing for a month now with a hay available as back up while I get a feel for how much they need for a days grazing.
Waiting for the complaints about fences across a footpath although I have made provision provided those using the path can step over a wire 300mm off the ground.
In a drought it will pay off as long as you hold your nerve and don’t let them run everything. But because the grass growth will be slow you would need to move them a lot slower.
you can either feed hay out in every paddock spreading the imported fertility around. Or choose one, preferably your poorest performing one and just park them there until the first paddock has recovered. I parked a group in 2018 and it worked really well the only problem was getting in the gate!!
 

BRBX

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
nottingham
I did go to a rotational grazing day organised by foyles and there was a welsh guy that really knew his stuff and he had an equation to work land to grass growth to stocking rate to no. of paddocks , i will try and find it
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
if you want to see the benefits of rotational grazing, use a back fence, and strip grazing. You will then see how quickly the grass grows behind them. Go one step further, and you will realise its the 'better' grasses, that grow the fastest. So if the cattle are running back, over the 'grazed' bit, they nibble off those good grasses, weakening them, which allows crap grasses to take over. Which in turn, reduces the life of a ley.
Its all about recovery time, the longer recovery time a plant has, within reason, the stronger that plant will be, and your ley will last longer.
You can improve old/pp grass, quite easily, very tight controlled grazing, with a back fence, gives those better grasses chance to increase.
 
I did go to a rotational grazing day organised by foyles and there was a welsh guy that really knew his stuff and he had an equation to work land to grass growth to stocking rate to no. of paddocks , i will try and find it
Please do post it up if you find it, it would be like the answer to the meaning of life, the universe and everything! (42)
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
On another note it is said that Rygrass that heads produces 3 times more tillers , this surprised me as I was always told that heading would weaken Ryegass
it may, but it doesn't promote root development, which leads to r/g dying off in very dry periods, shallow roots. Giving recovery time helps root development.
Rye grass seems to have been bred, to perform perfectly in little plots, here other grasses have proved to be more reliable. Its fine in a 'normal' year, with plenty of moisture, our ground dry's out, we prefer reliability. And to be honest, those 'other' grass leys, with low inclusion of r/g are not far behind in production.
 

BRBX

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
nottingham
Please do post it up if you find it, it would be like the answer to the meaning of life, the universe and everything! (42)
It was last year and i did scribble it, for 100 head/ 30 day cycle
grass length pre grazing height of coke can - after grazing height of tennis ball = ave. cover
2500kg/ha - 1500kg = 1000kg
bodyweight X % gain = demand
300kg X 3% = 9kg
demand # per head factor = demand per head
9 # 0.1000 = 90m2
No. in mob X demand per head = area per day
100 X 90m2 = 9000m2 0.9ha
rotation length X area per day = total area
30 days X 0.9ha 27ha
so 100 300kg cattle would need 10 X 2.7ha paddocks over a 30 day cycle.
this was in round figures he put up , 1kg / day may be pushing it but the principal is there , % gain can be what ever .
I will see if i can get hold of the guy and clarify
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
So the old rule of 21 days is dead ,strip grazing with a back fence ,
Showing my age now
it sort of worked, and was the forerunner of todays systems. Prior to that, the usual method was strip grazing, and no back fence, could take a couple of weeks, or more to get across a field, and the cows would be back grazing all the time ..................
 

Kevtherev

Member
Location
Welshpool Powys
it may, but it doesn't promote root development, which leads to r/g dying off in very dry periods, shallow roots. Giving recovery time helps root development.
Rye grass seems to have been bred, to perform perfectly in little plots, here other grasses have proved to be more reliable. Its fine in a 'normal' year, with plenty of moisture, our ground dry's out, we prefer reliability. And to be honest, those 'other' grass leys, with low inclusion of r/g are not far behind in production.
Always find this pic useful
6941E035-0488-4CCF-974B-7F9F9EB1C061.jpeg
 
It was last year and i did scribble it, for 100 head/ 30 day cycle
grass length pre grazing height of coke can - after grazing height of tennis ball = ave. cover
2500kg/ha - 1500kg = 1000kg
bodyweight X % gain = demand
300kg X 3% = 9kg
demand # per head factor = demand per head
9 # 0.1000 = 90m2
No. in mob X demand per head = area per day
100 X 90m2 = 9000m2 0.9ha
rotation length X area per day = total area
30 days X 0.9ha 27ha
so 100 300kg cattle would need 10 X 2.7ha paddocks over a 30 day cycle.
this was in round figures he put up , 1kg / day may be pushing it but the principal is there , % gain can be what ever .
I will see if i can get hold of the guy and clarify
Most of that makes sense, (prob all of it) we are working off 3% of bodyweight for DM consumption per day across all stock, but do we think that it is possible put the desired weight gain into the equation and arrive at a demand figure?
 

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