Grazing for Growth

Principles of better Grazing Management

Oct/Nov – March/April March/April – Oct/Nov

What Are we talking about? - High animal production comes from high quality feeding. - High quality feeding comes from high quality pasture. - High quality pasture requires deep healthy plant rooting. - High quality plant root masses need good soil health (the engine room)

You can’t have one without the other! …

And you won’t maintain any if you cannot manage the plants correctly.

Moral of the story? - Get botanical, Get it under YOUR control

There are three ‘bits’ • The natural principles that require respecting – we

call these – « the motor »… • The management principles that need to be

applied to achieve a reliable result – that we call – « the mechanical controls », (eg. Steering wheel, pedals etc. …

• The third part is what we call – « learning to

drive »… You now have a Paddock Tool how to use it, how to develop efficient strategy and planning from it (et cetera)

The natural principles (the motor)

Nature and evolution spent several million years getting this model together…

… What are we trying to do?

-Set up a farm so that it can model the migratory potential offered by « scaleless » nature,

ie. potential stocking capacity/ paddock layout for the non or reduced growth periods/maximum conversion for the high DM production

period (in a sedentary situation)

The high palatability zone of the sward

Overgrazing Definitions of Overgrazing

1) 'Overstaying' (as the Kiwis say.) - Depriving the plants too much of their solar panels for photosynthesis, thus compromising their productivity and more than often stunting them and their potential prodictivity. 2) Coming back around again too quickly before the plant can 'restabilize', (sugars etc.). (A bit like punching the poor plant when it's down). 3) And staying too long - in a more subtle sense, - the more productive grass species will begin their regrowth after 72 hours - and that thus the ruminants will be reharvesting the plants hope to grow back to its ideal forage stage ..

And the proof about the evolution bit….

An overgrazed residual is compromising the LWG or solids production – and proportionally

equally to the capacity of the plants to rebound and regrow…

Undergrazing (a lesser 'mal‘)

Undergrazing may occasionally be necessary for forages, or

sometimes in 'covers management' , - but it is useful to understand its downsides

• 1) Tall sward is at best - maintenance nutrition • 2) Sward species will NOT maintain ‘perpetually’ with frequent

undergrazing, (tall seeded or seeding covers). Leys will age this way... The easiest way to understand this is that repetitive tall-growing pastures is really the first stage of prairie/pampas -to- bush... then to forest... First the legumes are eliminated and then the plant world will proffer bushes and trees in the mulching to humus cycles...

• 3) One cannot expect to maintain healthy performing legumes in

repetitive tall-growing and grass dormant situations simply because...

Legume=Light

Roots The concealed truth of successful and profitable grazing management

Healthy roots, healthy soil, healthy N fixation … to… N-Autonomy when 35%+ legumes and mob grazing, (a homogenous dispersaul of

urines and fecal matter)

Some images of nodular activity in legumes and colonisation of tap roots by other pasture plants in the sward

Soil - the engine room

The management principales (the mechanics) • 1) The thinking bit of the management principles. - "Farm the plants with the animals - not the other way around... (plant husbandry comes

first). - " The whole grazing management principle implies going from being subjected to by all the

variables - to being in control.... Having the necessary tooling and 'handiness' to manage the curve and the livestock requirements...

• 2) The curve - a necessary evil... How can you see, imagine or plan strategy - if you don't

have a pasture dry matter curve or grass curve to percieve what you are trying to plan? • a) The rules: you have to plan, you have to have a plan... without one - you will fail,

(systematically), • A musician that improvises to nothing, (no score, no plan) - just makes noise • b) You have to start off on a reference year, (a typical year) - even if we do only live two

typical years in a career • c)Curves are much easier to confection than some great academicians would want the

farmers to think - and most farms have three or more curves

• 3) A paddock structure that actually provides the manager with a paddock tool that allows him to master and control his circumstances (examples distribution lanes, [flipping around and across], access, management, criteria, principles et cetera...

Back to André Voisin, (1923-1964) - paddock designs - to be able to simulate ruminant migration in that specific 'situation pédoclimatique' in a specific sedentary situation...

• 4) A computer tool that "takes the strain out of feed budgeting " a simulator/analyzer will

economize reams of paper, piles of calculator batteries and trillions of neurons....

The pasture dry matter curve

A paddock structure that is a paddock tool

COSTS Fences: Sheep £130/Ha; Cattle £40-60/Ha Water: £50/Ha

BUT…. It is Not always neccessary to subdivide….

A computer tool that enables you to plan and ‘navigate’ coherently

Other aspects to consider

• Coherent subdivisions and tactics, (cleaner mobs, trade stock etc.) come out far more economical than machinery, manpower (compensation mangement).

• Managing livestock in buildings take a great deal more time than running them on well managed pasture

• Managing pasture and stock well - is brain work, obsevation, discipline and punctuality, (not long

hours)

Some tips - How to learn, how to improve

• Don’t engage grazing management with a ‘spare wheel’ approach.

• Learn to associate profit to plant and pasture sward husbandry

• Allow the animals to teach and advise you • Trust what residuals are trying to tell you • Foster your curiosity • don't spend money inconsiderately, - unless you have

these principles under your control. • Weigh, weigh, weigh – don’t drive blind

(Lead-in for Trevor)

So once again.. – and just to finish off What is grazing management?

… a little Scottish anecdote…

Our pasture lecturer in 1973 was a lovely Scotsman by the name of Gillespie.

One day he had us around in a paddock and asked us, ‘So what is first thing to do in grazing management?

We shuffled our feet as usual.. « G’t doon on yer knees », he cried.. Loook at it as if ye were

a sheep or a coo – THAT’S YOUR FUTURE that you’re loookin’ at !

( he must have brain-damaged us, [or inspired])

Quote Doug Avery: ‘What the weather says…’

What happens when you confuse spending with technique…