Stupid rotational grazing question

[gabbyraja]

How do you water animals when you rotationally graze them? I feel like I have to be missing something?

[Waterwheel Farm]

Yeah, they'll need water so you either have to have a waterer in each field, ponds, streams, etc, or position the waterer so that animals can access the water from either field. A lot of waterers are made so you can run a fence across the middle of it with a water trough on both sides of the fence.

[SilverVista]

I believe you've been recently talking about grazing just a couple of animals. If that's the case, then you have a tub -- say, 10 to 15 gallons -- that you move from grazing area to grazing area. Depending on the distance, you either carry water to fill it each day, or you run a hose. If going out and filling the tub is too much to do each day, you can invest in an automatic fill valve that attaches to the edge of the tub at the end of a hose. You wont be able to use it in the winter because the hose will freeze solid, as will the tub -- but hopefully if it's that cold, your animals will have access to a barn or shed and you can rig up a watering system for them there.

There is an excellent blog written by a woman who rotationally grazes her beef herd. Everything she has to say could be applied to grazing any farm species. It's not for the faint of heart, takes the application of several principals in order to keep both the land and the livestock in optimal health. Check it out at matronofhusbandry.wordpress.com. Click on Rotational Grazing in her tag list for quite a few posts.

[texican]

Most ranchers around here have ponds or creeks in each of their pastures...

[Alice In TX/MO]

We had an "alley" that led from the pastures to the central water location. Each pasture had a gate that opened to the alley.

[sammyd]

We run black poly pipe out to the pasture and hook a hose on the end that will reach each paddock.
There are fittings available to put right in the poly pipe for adding waterers anywhere along the line.
Have also used a large tank on the back of a pickup and hauled 300 gallons at a time out to whichever paddock is in use.

[Minelson]

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

We had an "alley" that led from the pastures to the central water location. Each pasture had a gate that opened to the alley.

That is kinda how I am set up. All three pastures have access to the corral and loafing shed and their water is in there.

[HilltopDaisy]

Not a stupid question at all!

I feel pretty stupid because I've been humping water to far far away pastures, and it never occured to me that I could put in a few posts and run a strand of hotwire, and create an "alley" for the dang horses. Um, thank you very much for asking this question!

[Bearfootfarm]

My animals have access to the barn and water no matter which pasture they are in.
I use lanes, and by opening and closing gates, can funnel them into the areas I want them to graze.

Spend a lot of time drawing different layouts on paper before you ever start the actual fencing, and you'll find a way to do it with minimal effort

[oregon woodsmok]

Pond and hay barns are in a dry lot. That is always open. The unused pastures have the gate closed so the livestock can only go out into one field.

[Callieslamb]

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

We had an "alley" that led from the pastures to the central water location. Each pasture had a gate that opened to the alley.

That's how I do it. Our land is long and narrow so an alley works well for us.
I think it depends on the set up of your land.

[gabbyraja]

So, would an alley work for the run-in, too? I have also been trying to figure out how the lean-to goes with them, too, lol.

[ufo_chris]

Originally Posted by gabbyraja

So, would an alley work for the run-in, too? I have also been trying to figure out how the lean-to goes with them, too, lol.

Yes, read the rotational grazing thread in 'cattle', it tells you exaxctly!