need advice on pasture rotating size...

[Old Mission]

I have about 4 acres of a pasture and about 13 adult sheep and about 5 ewe lambs. What size should I divide my pasture up into? Its pretty lush/grassy. should I do 4 sections, 6, or 8, I have no idea I have always just let them 'free range'
And what layout, like a aisle down the center with gates in the aisle?

[MDKatie]

The size depends on things like how often you need/want to rotate, how much grass you have, etc. There is no exact science when it comes to rotating. You'll just have to try an area and figure out if theyr'e going to be on that size area too long or if you're going to be moving them twice a day. You want to make sure to give each pasture at least 30 days rest, and you may need longer if it's dry and grass isn't growing. You also may have to watch out for spring time or other good growing times because the grass may have to be mowed (or hayed) so it doesn't get rank before they graze it.

And the design should be whatever works best for your system. Keep in mind that water shouldn't be too far away or else they won't graze the whole paddock, they'll probably stick nearer to the water.

Search "rotational grazing" for ideas, there are lots of publications with diagrams and info. Good luck!

[Bearfootfarm]

You want to make sure to give each pasture at least 30 days rest

There you go!

[DebnKirk]

To break the parasite life cycle, you probably would want to rest each paddock 6 weeks. I have 15 Katahdins and put them in a 100x150 electronet paddock with a weed/grass mix, and they eat it down in a week. If you have grass and not chest-high goldenrod like me, I've read that you put them in on 8" high grass, and take them out at 2". The paddocks that I've grazed, then mowed, are coming back beautifully now, and I"ll get to see the 8"/2" rule in a couple more weeks.

[lockhart76]

pretty good advice above. to get the most benefit of planned rotational grazing, avoid the second bite. You want your livestock to eat or trample all the grass in a paddock and yet not be there so long that they are taking a bite of new grass regrowing as this is when the grass is vulnerable. In my region (northern saskatchewan) you must move at least every five days during the most productive season and every 7 days as the summer progresses and grass growth declines. Beyond this, moving more frequently is better. IFyou have the time/water/fence and ambition, move several times a day to see the quickest increase in your pastures carrying capacity. Balance your goals for pasture growth and increasing its productivity with your lifestyle goals (how much time to spend on moving fence) and your cash flow (how much $$ to invest in water and fence). TO begin with, you have to start with a paddock size and note how long they are in it. You will quickly learn how much grass they need. Another way for rotational grazing to work is to determine how much recovery period is needed. Some people have suggested 30 days. In your region the second bite phenomena might occur in three days. Therefore, you need to move your sheep every three days and hit 30 days total so you need 11 camps (ten plus the one they are in to start with) By observing your Recovery Period and your Maximum time permitted in each camp you can determine how infrequently you can move while still increasing paddock yields. Don't worry about leaving grass behind either! it is okay to move away from grass. ideally though you should at least try and trample all the grass in a paddock to start the process of building topsoil. If you find you are always moving away from grass, that means you need more sheep. Hurray! If you are also concerned about parasites, stay in each of your camps a day longer. 30 days sounds great. Up here our optimum time is 45 and later in the season 75-90 days recovery is not uncommon. If the grass gets ahead of you, I wouldn't advocate mowing b/c that uses time, money, and diesel. You would be surprised what a sheep will eat. Mine have no trouble walking into 6' canary reedgrass. To get a better, more uniform graze and manure distribution, you can manipulate the placement of water, shade (if there is any) and mineral/salt to get your sheep travelling. Good luck.

[tomjones]

I do this professionalyfor NRCS and I coul dnot have writton it any better than what Lcokhart said. Anything I would write would be just expanding on what he said. In an ideal world access to every grass plant would be managed, so we are working a compromise between resources (time, equipment and facilities) and production.