Rotational/ paddock grazing stocking rates

[Guiggs]

Been reading up a bit on this as its something I'm looking at trying has anybody got any first hand knowledge?

The numbers I've read suggest up to 250 sheep on 52acres, one article has a farmer running 170 ewes on 7 x 2 acre fields on 2 day moves...that just sounds unbelievable, presumably those numbers would have to be decreased or more land used once grass slows and stops.
I have a block of 40 acres split into small fields I'd like to experiment on but I dont know if I dare put so many sheep on it!

 

[unlacedgecko]

Been reading up a bit on this as its something I'm looking at trying has anybody got any first hand knowledge?

The numbers I've read suggest up to 250 sheep on 52acres, one article has a farmer running 170 ewes on 7 x 2 acre fields on 2 day moves...that just sounds unbelievable, presumably those numbers would have to be decreased or more land used once grass slows and stops.
I have a block of 40 acres split into small fields I'd like to experiment on but I dont know if I dare put so many sheep on it!

For tack sheep, I try and feed 3% of live weight in dry matter per day.

Rough rule of thumb, I think sheep (depending on stock class) will struggle to utilise effectively more than 1000kg/DM per ha. I adjust paddock size accordingly. Fields area measure is excellent for this.

As grass growth slows you will need to de-stock or supplementary feed.

 

[neilo]

Surely there is grass and grass? Fresh reseeds with short term ryegrass varieties will throw up an awful lot more feed than ancient pp, even under rotational grazing.

I suspect that, even with such new (& there’s a cost) leys, that stocking rate will only be maintained during peak growing season. After that, you would need to reduce stock numbers, or bring more acres into the rotation.

 

[unlacedgecko]

The numbers I've read suggest up to 250 sheep on 52acres, one article has a farmer running 170 ewes on 7 x 2 acre fields on 2 day moves...

170 ewes at 65kg is 11,050kg. 3% is 331.5kg per day of dry matter. Or roughly 1/3 of a ha. So that means the paddock size of 2ha is about right.

But I don't think the rest of 14 days is long enough. During summer growth 18 days is the minimum rest I've seen quoted, but most aim for 21 days or more. Obviously this will depend on season and grass growth rates.

 

[@dlm]

Surely there is grass and grass? Fresh reseeds with short term ryegrass varieties will throw up an awful lot more feed than ancient pp, even under rotational grazing.

I suspect that, even with such new (& there’s a cost) leys, that stocking rate will only be maintained during peak growing season. After that, you would need to reduce stock numbers, or bring more acres into the rotation.

Indeed as @neilo says there are costs with new or young leys, that’s my way of farming but also with stocking density there is ground condition to consider. For last two years in the summer our leys have performed particularly badly as simply not a drop of rain. Sheep performed well with no worm burden at all, but last 6 weeks of continuous rain the ground is soft and struggles to carry volume of sheep even when grass available. Appreciate not wet like you boys in the north get, but young leys are soft with disturbing the soil, so much different when wet conditions compared to pp

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Been reading up a bit on this as its something I'm looking at trying has anybody got any first hand knowledge?

The numbers I've read suggest up to 250 sheep on 52acres, one article has a farmer running 170 ewes on 7 x 2 acre fields on 2 day moves...that just sounds unbelievable, presumably those numbers would have to be decreased or more land used once grass slows and stops.
I have a block of 40 acres split into small fields I'd like to experiment on but I dont know if I dare put so many sheep on it!

Our place ran 480 ewes on 104 acres so you aren't far off, it was in 7 or 8 paddocks in those days ('76 thru to 1991).
We run around 60 bulls and about 350 sheep (on average) on it now, and wintered 80 in-calf heifers on silage made in the surplus,

At the moment we're running 630 sheep all counted,
9 heifers, 10 milk calves, 51 bulls and a goat as we just sold 10 bulls we need more stock

For max profit with least work, we need to focus on stocking rate and not doing too much stuff that doesn't need doing.

The only thing needing done is move the stock
.. this largely prevents the health of the system making work for you. We move once or twice a day, just gone onto single-wire fences as the grass is getting up.

The main things to forget:
"Grass should be kept short"
"Grass can't go to seed"
"It's better to spread them out and leave them there longer"
"You need new grass/ you need fertiliser/ you must worm your livestock"
"They could last another day in there"

and you'll fly

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Indeed as @neilo says there are costs with new or young leys, that’s my way of farming but also with stocking density there is ground condition to consider. For last two years in the summer our leys have performed particularly badly as simply not a drop of rain. Sheep performed well with no worm burden at all, but last 6 weeks of continuous rain the ground is soft and struggles to carry volume of sheep even when grass available. Appreciate not wet like you boys in the north get, but young leys are soft with disturbing the soil, so much different when wet conditions compared to pp

Yep, 100%, there would be a double cost to young grass in our system: both the establishment and opportunity cost as well as the reduction in SR

Pasture is still only getting going for the first 50 years, seedling vigour masks this in many instances but there's no way we could outwinter 300kg of cattle to the acre on young grass.
People scoff at 'old grasses' but they are an absolute production powerhouse if managed right.

 

[John Chance]

We're managing to get almost exactly 1 LSU per acre with cattle and sheep which I reckon is 7 ewes per acre, but that's over the year and includes the silage land producing forage for winter. It's like all the grass was eaten by the livestock and the don't eat anything else. Mixture of PP and TG. 200kg N per year. Are you asking about year round ? Your 40 acres would be 40 x 7 = 280 ewes. Load it up. Measure your grass and predict. Add Nitrogen or sell stock if you are forecasting a shortage of grass.