Sheep rotational grazing

[$Sheep]

@$Sheep any hints regarding mob size, whole farm rotation and how early to start after lambing?

Apologies about the late reply – a tad busy

I think many of the other posts have provided some very useful commentary about methods to manage the ewe with lambs at foot. There is never one method in preference to another, except to say the method to adopt is the one that is most successful in achieving lambs of good weight with some ready to draft and ewes in top order at weaning. Ideally we are all looking for better efficiency and lower costs and this will be relative to your set up and available resources. What is your most limiting factor and so consider how to correct this considering cost – benefit.

Sheep work can be very demanding and so to minimise this we will work hard to ensure our management takes this into account. Bringing in ewes and lambs into a set of yards is always a mission for all concerned – man, dogs and sheep. The key point is to get them in and out as quick as possible without too much stress and time away from grazing. After mobbing up ewes and lambs from different lambing paddocks once tailing has been completed the ewe mob size varies depending if they are singles or twins as wanting no more than 500 lambs per mob. If yard work is required we want the mob back out in the paddock with heads down grazing within 4 – 5 hours from early morning muster, yard work and then return. This time limit effectively restricts mob size as to what throughput we can achieve. The main yards have a full set of handling equipment whereas the satellite yards are smaller basic set ups with shared portable equipment. Any yard work is undertaken by a minimum of 2 shepherds as this ensures a smoother workflow. Everything goes more slickly with good planning, knowing in advance when the rotation will be close to a set of yards, all equipment readied for work, all consumables purchased and on hand. Lastly but very important is that the fences and yards are in a good state of repair.

The lead up to weaning is in my reckoning the most exciting time of the farming calendar. The weather is getting more friendly, hopefully there is good grass of high quality underfoot and the sheep are performing to expectation. The previous year has been work undertaken just for this time so hopefully all is going well.

 

[Global ovine]

. The previous year has been work undertaken just for this time so hopefully all is going well.

Setting up for the lamb rearing season is the most important management strategy in the calendar year, as it is this period up to weaning when the profit is made. Too little pasture at lambing usually results in lowered weaning weights and thinner ewes, but too much pasture in late spring/summer results in poorer post weaning growth that has to be compensated with more time and probably supplementation.
Rotational grazing is the best method to continuously give the farmer a gauge on where pasture supplies are heading.

 

[Northumberland]

Apologies about the late reply – a tad busy

I think many of the other posts have provided some very useful commentary about methods to manage the ewe with lambs at foot. There is never one method in preference to another, except to say the method to adopt is the one that is most successful in achieving lambs of good weight with some ready to draft and ewes in top order at weaning. Ideally we are all looking for better efficiency and lower costs and this will be relative to your set up and available resources. What is your most limiting factor and so consider how to correct this considering cost – benefit.

Sheep work can be very demanding and so to minimise this we will work hard to ensure our management takes this into account. Bringing in ewes and lambs into a set of yards is always a mission for all concerned – man, dogs and sheep. The key point is to get them in and out as quick as possible without too much stress and time away from grazing. After mobbing up ewes and lambs from different lambing paddocks once tailing has been completed the ewe mob size varies depending if they are singles or twins as wanting no more than 500 lambs per mob. If yard work is required we want the mob back out in the paddock with heads down grazing within 4 – 5 hours from early morning muster, yard work and then return. This time limit effectively restricts mob size as to what throughput we can achieve. The main yards have a full set of handling equipment whereas the satellite yards are smaller basic set ups with shared portable equipment. Any yard work is undertaken by a minimum of 2 shepherds as this ensures a smoother workflow. Everything goes more slickly with good planning, knowing in advance when the rotation will be close to a set of yards, all equipment readied for work, all consumables purchased and on hand. Lastly but very important is that the fences and yards are in a good state of repair.

The lead up to weaning is in my reckoning the most exciting time of the farming calendar. The weather is getting more friendly, hopefully there is good grass of high quality underfoot and the sheep are performing to expectation. The previous year has been work undertaken just for this time so hopefully all is going well.

I thought you would want as big a mob as can be worked in a day to save on fencing cost and gathering time.

 

[cotswoldcs]

I thought you would want as big a mob as can be worked in a day to save on fencing cost and gathering time.

I don't like the idea of some sheep being in for a day. A busy morning or afternoon sounds better to me. However, it depends on the operation. You can worm 500 lambs in a few hours but dagging the ewes would take me a lot longer. Oh and don't you start @Tim W ...

 

[Tim W]

I don't like the idea of some sheep being in for a day. A busy morning or afternoon sounds better to me. However, it depends on the operation. You can worm 500 lambs in a few hours but dagging the ewes would take me a lot longer. Oh and don't you start @Tim W ...

Can't you dag them before lambing?
When we kept plenty of woolly things (before I saw the light) we found that was the easiest thing

 

[exmoor dave]

Can't you dag them before lambing?
When we kept plenty of woolly things (before I saw the light) we found that was the easiest thing

I dag mine 3-4weeks before lambing,
Works well with the April lambing ewes.

But the feb ewes are going to need doing again before shearing.
Sudden grass growth has = some mucky ewes.

Considering I'm lied on the floor writing this with a very possible slipped disc..... docking 400 big suffolk ewes doesn't sound very appealing!

 

[unlacedgecko]

I dag mine 3-4weeks before lambing,
Works well with the April lambing ewes.

But the feb ewes are going to need doing again before shearing.
Sudden grass growth has = some mucky ewes.

Considering I'm lied on the floor writing this with a very possible slipped disc..... docking 400 big suffolk ewes doesn't sound very appealing!

You need a contractor! Drop me a PM

 

[exmoor dave]

You need a contractor! Drop me a PM

Cut price if you get to use my toy?

 

[unlacedgecko]

Cut price if you get to use my toy?

Absof**kinglutely

 

[neilo]

Cut price if you get to use my toy?

Is your famous 'restraining' toy that your pimping out? Or another device that enables you to immobilise your prey?

 

[CopperBeech]

@Six Dogs etc . . . .

We shall see. Currently penning up between 60 and 150 ewes to tail each cell. Will be shearing / foot bathing / ovivacing / click treating lambs in same day on the 1500 mob in June. . . . so I will let you know.

 

[Northumberland]

I don't like the idea of some sheep being in for a day. A busy morning or afternoon sounds better to me. However, it depends on the operation. You can worm 500 lambs in a few hours but dagging the ewes would take me a lot longer. Oh and don't you start @Tim W ...

There has to be a cost weigh up
There only in yards twice or 3 times before weaning that's 10-15 hours extra in pens but how much will all the fencing and water troughs cost.
I'm lucky as soon as there drenched they can walk back to feilds on there own accord so not all ewes and lambs are in pens for the full 8 hours

 

[Northumberland]

What are the main pit falls to avoid when rotational grazing/common mistakes?

 

[Tim W]

There has to be a cost weigh up
There only in yards twice or 3 times before weaning that's 10-15 hours extra in pens but how much will all the fencing and water troughs cost.
I'm lucky as soon as there drenched they can walk back to feilds on there own accord so not all ewes and lambs are in pens for the full 8 hours

I agree ---it has to make sense & the reason I have always set stocked is that my flocks have always been too far from home and too diverse. However now that is changing and I can warrant looking at rotational grazing if it pays
I know it pays in terms of feed quality from my time in the dairy sector
I know that it increases my overall stocking rate (and therefore the value for money of I am renting by the acre)
Costs? electric fencing I have and I can put up a section in twice the time it takes me to walk a line (1 mile/hr?)
Plastic water troughs are cheap enough and 1 trough can serve 2 pens or more
Water pipe is also cheap

I think the payback from the increase in feed quality overrides all the extra costs

 

[Global ovine]

I think the payback from the increase in feed quality overrides all the extra costs

Absolutely and well put @Tim W. I have witnessed many farmers increase their profit by more than four times by changing their grazing system. Saving costs, such as time to gather sheep, is just peanuts compared to the income gains potentially available if rotational grazing is run properly, for very little extra cost.
.....not to mention the ability of the farmer to gain more control over feed quantity and quality. We can't control price, so we need to put maximum effort into those things inside the boundary fence.

 

[Northumberland]

I was not saying rotational grazing wasn't good.
I was asking if it was worth putting elecy fences up to make the mob smaller or use original boundaries and use a larger mob

 

[romneymarsh]

I was not saying rotational grazing wasn't good.
I was asking if it was worth putting elecy fences up to make the mob smaller or use original boundaries and use a larger mob

It's all about concentrating grazing pressure to control sward height to keep pastures productive. The size of mob depends on what you can realistically shepherd, and control.

 

[Northumberland]

It's all about concentrating grazing pressure to control sward height to keep pastures productive. The size of mob depends on what you can realistically shepherd, and control.

I will stick to the mob of 500 then

 

[$Sheep]

I thought you would want as big a mob as can be worked in a day to save on fencing cost and gathering time.

The driver for us is lamb growth rate pre weaning so trying to optimise lamb numbers and work rate with least disruption to grazing time.
The rotation speed is different from number of shifts. The example for a 50 ha block divided into 5 × 10 ha paddocks with a 20 day rotation would be 4 days per paddock. We know we would get better lamb growth if we could have 8 - 10 paddocks and shift every second / third day but like all farmers there are restrictions and priorities of where to spend monies. Nevertheless the rotation grazing is more superior than set stocking.

 

[cotswoldcs]

I always thought we were at a disadvantage with lots of small fields but it's useful for the sheep. I haven't got a single field over 10ha. Our average field size is only 3.14ha. Downside is the amount of permanent fencing and dry stone walling that has to be done.