any ideas for converting to rotational grazing?

For that cost that would be a neat gadget just to see what plants scores what and at what time of the year. I noticed a few years ago that a deer food plot was waist high but nothing would touch it until the frost hit it and then it was all gone in a matter of a week. I'm sure that had something to do with the sugar content. So will just any of the models on Ebay work for forage?

I'm not an expert on the different kinds or if there is a difference. They are what winemakers use to test the sugar content of grapes. Getting the juice out of grass can be difficult at times. They say you can use a garlic press, but I use a juicer. Also the reading will be higher in the afternoon on a sunny day than in the morning. They are fun to use on fruit like watermelon too. If you get a watermelon that is really good the brix reading will usually be a lot higher than one that isn't.

Gabriel, keep us posted on your progress as you begin your mob grazing. Do you plan on more than one move per day? As I previously said, I am interested in any system that improves stocking rate, especially in my growing zone. I never thought I would go from moving cattle from once a week to everyday. It has definitely improved my grasses. If mob grazing could better improve my pasture, I may give it try. Do you mind sharing the number of cattle and your plan for your mob grazing, including the density rate and type of grasses, etc.

CedarMoore, I plan on moving twice a day. That seems to give the most return for the effort invested. I may do it more often if an area is really weedy and needs the extra impact, but for the most part it doesn't seem worth the time spent.

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How many cattle will you trying this with? I'm going to stick with
Agmantoo's way for quite a while until I build up a large enough herd and may try it then.

How is everybody's grass? I have a lot of clover and weeds coming up, but grass is slow. It's been a cold March in KY. Last year people were haying around the first of April. I am grazing some and feeding as little hay as possible. Just waiting for the Spring burst of growth.

Covered with snow. I think it is greening up, though. But slow growing still. Our daytime temps haven't hit 50 much in a couple of weeks. We should get some good growth starting this week. 60s expected.

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Come what may I have to put the herd on new growth in 3 days! My fescue is coming along better than the rye grass, clover is very short. Ground temperatures are still too low to encourage growth. The conventional producers have very little growth and will be lagging by at least two weeks with their recovery. My concern at this juncture is will we get adequate moisture this summer?

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Grass here is really greening up but slow growth...to cold also here. I'm going to feed hay as long as I can. We have had so much rain here this winter that when it does warm up grass should really take off.

All the rain has stayed to the north of us and turned into snow for the rest of you. We are sooo dry, doesn't look good for the summer. Are getting some green here of the winter grass and some of the rye is trying to come up, we've had some nice temps, just need some rain, have a good chance each day this next week, so say the weathermen today, we'll see what they have to say next week.

I'm moving my herd off the sacrifice area and on to the 15 acres that has a pond, or mud hole but has a good stand of winter grass, not alot of nutrition but I've put 80 bales of wheat hay out on the 4 acres we cleared cedars off of and they can eat through that and spread it around and give the rest of the pasture some time to come on if we can just get a good rain. We have the potential of 1" in the next week and one weatherman called it " a boat load of rain!" lol

Grass is slow starting here as well. Clover is slow starting as well. I see a variety of weeds that are putting on some growth. Ryegrass is growing, but slowly. Older fescue is growing, but slowly. The fall planted fescue is not growing yet. On most of the cool season grasses, I have about 2" of new growth since winter. I have enough hay to go another 2 weeks, then I will turn the cows out and start rotating again. We have had plenty of moisture. Mud everywhere. I just hope it doesn't go from 50 to 90 and burn it up. Last year at this time I was rotating through 12" high mature grass. It was also in the upper 70's and low 80's during the day. What a change.

Dry as a bone here in scentral texas Gras is trying to grow beside the weeds and wildflowers.
Sure hope I do not have to buy as much hay this year.

This is somewhat related, so hope it gets some responses.

We tried rotational grazing last year, turns out our fencing wasn't planned well enough or maybe not built right (been reading this thread for two years now and thought I had it figured out). Anyway gonna spend the money and do the fences with the right materials this year. So planning we will have extra grass in the pastures and will be bringing in 100 stockers to rotate.

That is the background and the plan. The question is, has anyone tried to no-till small grains ( say oats) into a pasture and got any benefit from it? Seems it would provide more food, but maybe would be better to hold off and try it in mid/late June to help fill the slump in late July/August.

Any thoughts?

Other thing I am thinking is to cut first cutting on one grass/alfalfa field while rotating through the spring flush, and then strip graze that during the slump. ,should give the pastures an extra 2 weeks rest during the hot period, but could also give the oats a couple weeks to get ahead of them too.

I don't know about trying to grow oats in the summer, but I've tried "pasture cropping" where I drilled winter wheat into a bermuda pasture in the fall, grazed the wheat over the winter, then ran a combine over the field the next summer and got a small grain harvest. I've also just baled the wheat in early spring, instead of harvesting the grain.

For more info go to: http://www.pasturecropnokillcrop.com/

Hey, everybody. I've been MIA forEVER, but I'm getting back in the swing. Things were pretty rough with the drought over the last 2 years--if you looked at the Georgia map, where things were the most extreme included our farm. But I'm repairing fences and cranking back up. Thankfully still ahead of spring growth here, but won't be for long.

Hope everyone is well!

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Glad to see you back. Can you believe how much this has grown since you have been gone. I'm sure most everyone on here after reading the entire thread are all wondering how you are doing with your cattle now. You sure started a popular thread that Agmantoo has ran with and tought many many people on here. I'm going to send you a PM as well for a question.
Welcome back

Randy

I'm finally all moved in and settled at my new place. I hoping to buy some cattle in the next 30-60 days. The grass is getting a much needed rest from the horses that were on the property. Anybody have a contact for a source of good grass finishing cattle. I'm located in northeast oklahoma. I'm looking for either cow/calf pairs, heifers, steers with good genetics for finishing on grass. Hopefully I can get my electric fences up before the grass is ready for the cattle.

http://pharocattle.com/classifieds.htm You could also check the Stockman Grass Farmer classifieds.

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Hello All from here in the UK!

First of all, what a fantastic thread this is, I've spent the last couple of weeks ploughing through it and have picked up lots of useful information - thanks especially to Agman for sharing his time and expertise so freely.

I've been mob grazing / rotational grazing for three years now - we're currently running 130 spring-calving cows. In 2011 I was fortunate enough to win a scholarship to study the practice and consequently I visited Greg Judy, Neil Dennis, Chad Peterson, Doug Peterson and various other practitioners in the US before travelling to South America to study their methods too. If anyone's interested in my findings, the report is here: http://www.nuffieldinternational.org...11-report_.pdf

I wished I'd come across this thread whilst I was travelling, I would love to have seen Agman's set-up too!

It is interesting to hear comparisons between Agman's system and the 'mob-grazing' system. Based on my experiences, I would say there is very little difference between the two. Both are allowing the grasses to recover fully from the previous grazing process which allows both roots and above-ground foliage to develop; both then graze the best parts of the plants - the top parts - leaving sufficient leaf to allow the forage plant to continue the photosynthesis process; and both look to manage the grassland so as to build a stockpile of grass to feed through winter so that bought in feedstuffs are kept to a minimum.

So what are the differences? Well, the biggest thing that struck me was Agman's use of the tractor to manage the pastures - many of the mob grazers I met didn't own a tractor and made the cattle do all the work. There is no doubt in my mind that Agman is absolutely right in his assertions that clipping the seed heads off grasses keeps them growing and vegetative for longer. My question to him is: could he bunch the cattle tightly enough to trample these stalks instead of cutting them? I guess fuel is one of his biggest costs, and this might be a way of addressing this too! (I'm not sure of the answer - I'm going to be experimenting this summer with a combination of trampling and clipping following what I’ve read on this thread).

My second observation is that Agman mentions having to replenish poor areas of fescue through reseeding. Again, my question to Agman is: could you 'refresh' this grassland through different management? By this I mean would letting it rest and complete its lifecycle mean the plants were replenished for the subsequent growth? Again, I don't know the answer but it would be an interesting experiment to try on a small plot, maybe. My thinking is based on various articles I have read such as this one: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/06108.html. In this article it states:
Grasses commonly store carbohydrates when most leaf growth is complete. Even though leaves still have a high photosynthetic capacity and sufficient leaf area for photosynthesis, there are few demands for new growth. Therefore, carbohydrates accumulate in roots and crowns and serve as storage organs for growth the next spring. These carbohydrate reserves also are necessary for plant respiration during winter dormancy when photosynthesis is not possible but crowns and roots remain alive.
I wonder whether by occasionally letting the plant reach maturity and set seed, we would allow it to ‘recharge its batteries’ (as well as having some new seed fall to the ground to help the replenishing process!)

I hope people don’t mind me posting my thoughts here. I in no way want or intend to be critical of all that Agman has done. I think it is incredible and his system genuinely works for him. I just thought I’d challenge a couple of his paradigms.

Ruminant,

Not that I have any pardigms worth challenging, but if I did, I hope they get challenged as eloquantly and gracefully as you did. You won't find too many people as professional as Agman on these forums, so I am sure you will get well thought out answers.

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