Rotational Grazing and why we do it

When we moved to our farm two and a half years ago, we knew that if we wanted to have as many sheep on our pastures as we had (and more possibly), we would need to manage our land really well. We don’t have an enormous land base on our farm. Continually keeping livestock on the same pasture causes them to over-graze, which harms the land long into the future. And another issue - situated on a high sandy gravel ridge, our soil needs a lot of rain. One week without moisture and our grass begins drying up. Like this year, when we have to start feeding hay in the middle of what should be a long grazing season, feed expenses pile up.

Enter – Rotational Grazing.

An important strategy we have implemented to develop drought resistance and encourage more grass growth, rotational grazing offers hope that our small farm can support livestock as long as possible in a season, and increased resilience to low amounts of rainfall.

Many people hold the idea that grazing livestock harms the land. While It’s true - livestock can negatively impact grass and trees, the awesome news is that thoughtful rotational grazing techniques can benefit and improve the land – so much that it can thrive far more than it would if there were no livestock. In fact some people say that through rotational grazing, you increase the grass production by 30 to 70 percent every year. That’s pretty amazing!

(On a side note - A new study from University of Alberta shows that rotational grazing can help combat climate change and improve grassland health. How cool is that? Here)

So what is it?

Basically, rotational grazing means moving the livestock through a series of small pastures, giving the grass plenty of time to rest between grazes. This intensive grazing followed by rest encourages plants to send out more and deeper roots. The roots increase fertility and deep roots mean better resistance to drought. After being grazed for a short intensive time, the grass grows back quicker with increased vitality. Another benefit of this technique is that the manure (which acts as natural fertilizer) gets spread throughout the farm without any effort from us.  Obviously this year is exceptionally dry. Our rotational grazing strategies have not produced miracles - the grass is just as brown here as it is anywhere. That said, we expect that when the rain does come, our pastures will bounce back to life much quicker than they would otherwise.

So here is a quick snapshot of how this technique looks like on our farm:

First off, the livestock need a small enclosed area they can be held in when the grass is growing, when it’s muddy, or any time they should not be on the pasture.

When the grass is growing fast and long and has made good roots below ground in the spring, we let the livestock on the grass. It’s important they don’t get out too early or else they’ll do damage.

Then we rotate every day or two to a new pen with portable fencing. After they have trimmed the grass short, we move them to the next pen and let the previous pen recover.

When the sheep have gone through the entire farm. we re-start the process, and let them graze the piece they started with as long as it has re-grown sufficiently. If not, it’s time to start feeding them hay. That’s what happened this year due to extreme drought.

This is our third summer on our farm. What have we noticed? Our grass was definitely lusher this spring, and more fertile than it has been, and we are hopeful for some longer grazing seasons in the future. This year the grass basically stopped growing as July rolled in due to drought, so our pasture season has been shortened. But we focus on building resilience for the long-term, and know that great pastures will take some time and nurture.

Rotational grazing can be a lot of work, but really, there is nothing as satisfying as watching nature regenerate and flourish. We can only imagine what our grass will look like when it’s time to pass the farm on to our children and that definitely makes it all worth it.