Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
hard grazing for short periods. Alternating paddocks allows these plants to
compete. In fact, all desirable forage plants grow much better when they are
grazed hard and then given a period of rest.
You'll also fi nd that managed grazing gets your sheep to eat better than
they would on a set-stocked pasture. Sheep prefer not to feed continually in
the same place. They like fresh pasture that hasn't been walked on, and man-
aged grazing keeps them on fresh pasture regularly.
Timing the fl ock's movements.
The key to managed grazing is time! There
are ideal points for beginning and ending grazing (or mechanical clipping
if the grass is getting too long but you're not ready to bring the fl ock back
around). By controlling your fl ock's access to pasture through carefully timed
movement, you can maintain growth between points C and B (see illustration
on facing page).
Animals should be moved from a paddock before they've grazed off 50 to
60 percent of its forage, because most forage plants reach their maximum
vigor and growth when no more than 60 percent of their leaf surface is
removed during any grazing period. For example, if the sheep enter a pad-
dock when the forage is 6 inches (15 cm) high, then they should be removed
while at least 2.5 inches (6 cm) is left standing.
The last time-related issue to consider is the rest period. After you move a
fl ock to another paddock, the one you're leaving needs enough time to grow
back to the starting height. The rest period varies by season. In early spring it
may be as short as 7 to 10 days; in the height of summer, it may take 45 days.
During the spring, when the grass is growing rapidly, you can move the
fl ock through the paddocks quickly and don't need to worry about taking the
full 50 to 60 percent of the forage each time. Just let the fl ock lightly graze
20 to 30 percent, then move them to the next paddock. Then in the latter part
of the growing season, when the rest period is getting longer, slow down their
movements between paddocks so they take the full 60 percent.
How well you can control these time factors depends primarily on how
many paddocks you have available.
Paddock numbers.
How many paddocks do you need? As paddock num-
bers increase, the time spent in each paddock decreases and the possible rest
time before the paddock is regrazed increases. So, the answer is: as many as
you can reasonably create. At the very minimum, shoot for four paddocks.
Eight is even better, and 12 provides lots of fl exibility and control through all
kinds of conditions.
