[Carpenter] Patch burn grazing

Kevin Carpenter kevinc at mysticplains.org
Sat Jul 19 21:36:57 CDT 2008


John?

Happen to have any good references on Patch Burn grazing?

It is my understanding that light grazing is viewed as good for the
prairie - I'm trying to balance that with what I've read on grass feeding
cattle.  In particular, the use of rotational grazing, ideally with a
daily rotation.  Suspect that is similar to the intensive managed grazing
I heard you make mention off on our walk in December.  Essentially, the
goal I've read about is to get the herd to eat everything off a small
parcel, and move then to new grass every day.  Of course, the parcel sizes
need to match the nutritional needs of the cattle.   The key concept is
not to allow them to only eat their favorite grasses and ignore other
grasses - since that favors the less liked forage. Doing such a rotation
is claimed to have several benefits, including reduced parasites since no
one field is grazed often, more even manure distribution, etc. 
Temporarily electric fencing is used to subdivide main fields into daily
pastures.

Thoughts?  Hints?  Books to read?  Weblinks to visit?

Cheers!

Kevin



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