Anyone use rotational grazing.....?

How about weeping willow? It grows fast and gets tall, but the limbs dangle down. Is willow bark tough enough?

It is so much fun. Poly wire and electric fence make it easy. When it is time to move cows they will know it and they'll be waiting on you.

It is easy to overthink. Just start with small sqaure paddocks. They work better than long slender paddocks. Get water to each paddock in the least costly way you can think of.

I have polly pipe laying on the ground with Plasson quick couplers for long runs that I can connect to a moveable plastic water tub and short garden hose. I call it "plug and play."



Sometimes you can drag the water tub from one paddock to the next buy just moving it under the wire. Untie the wire and get out of the way for the cows to move through. Retie the wire.

We do rotational grazing of our sheep and pigs. We have a strong smooth wire electric fence around the outside perimeter. The paddocks are divided by weaker fences - fewer lines, step in posts, polywire. I do not worry about fencing in the piglets, chickens, lambs, etc. They move with the herds and creep graze a little. The bigger animals respect the paddock fences. I watch the forage height and then open a gate when it is time to rotate. The animals move over and I close the gate. Rarely do I have to do more than that for herding. You should be deciding when to rotate as you want the animals to mow down the section well and not just cherry pick the most succulent forages. Otherwise you end up having to mow. I don't mow - too many steep hills, loud, rocks, stumps, etc.

See:

http://www.google.com/search?q=site:...onal%20grazing

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project:
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa

__________________
SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

Highlands-
You say you have sheep, how well do they work in rotational grazing? I absolutely refuse to use the portable netting - I hate it. It is SO amazingly difficult to move. I prefer to use the polywire. It works for sheep, in my experiences...it's just, if they decide to get out...they get out.
Bret- good idea with the inexpensive portable watering systems. I'd thought of it, but what about for when they are far away?...

You might try looking for a book called, "All Flesh is Grass." I read it a couple of years ago and thought it was really good.

lol uncle will ! I've had a couple of cows over the years that were *rotationally grazing* my garden.

and I've never owned a single @\?% cow !

Wow, old thread - October 2007! If anyone hasn't seen it, there is an extensive thread in the cattle section on rotational grazing - any ideas for converting to rotational grazing?