Calling all good roto grazers

[SBMF 2015]

I have no first hand experience with intense rotational grazing.
We are buying a little eleven acre place less than a quarter mile from my main farm. It's got a big old cattle barn and concrete feed floor. The previous owner said when he was growing up they kept around 70hd of strs on feed.
My plan is to add line bunks and feed a silage/ground hay ration and section off about 7-9 acres and grow heifers to A I and sell as breds.

If they are getting a large percentage of their nutrition in the bunk, and I rotate them every day how many yearling heifers would be reasonable?
The acres that will be pasture is a hay field now. It's a mix of alfalfa, orchard grass, and Italian rye. No weeds. It's super thick. It was knee high, I was mowing in low gear slipping the clutch to keep from plugging the hay conditioner today.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Lee VanRoss]

Rotational grazing can be a game changer. I will not ask about the size of your operation other than are you considering including
all or any part of it with the newly acquired acreage? Whether you think you can or you can't move cattle on a continual basis you
will be correct in either case. The answer will determine how rotational grazing is going to work for you.

Can I assume you have utilities at the eleven acres? I would recommend a 'good' 8-10 joule energizer and a supply of fiber or geo tec
posts, (not steel!) Unless you have to cross a major road I would incorporate the eleven acres with the main farm as it will be
handy for many reasons. You will need to vary the size of your paddocks from one grazing period to the next and that is something
you will figure out as time goes by. I will use an area from 3 to 5 days with a 35 day rotation. (or that is the goal)
The main goal is to keep the cow and not iron and oil between the sun and the ground. good luck

 

[SBMF 2015]

Rotational grazing can be a game changer. I will not ask about the size of your operation other than are you considering including
all or any part of it with the newly acquired acreage? Whether you think you can or you can't move cattle on a continual basis you
will be correct in either case. The answer will determine how rotational grazing is going to work for you.

Can I assume you have utilities at the eleven acres? I would recommend a 'good' 8-10 joule energizer and a supply of fiber or geo tec
posts, (not steel!) Unless you have to cross a major road I would incorporate the eleven acres with the main farm as it will be
handy for many reasons. You will need to vary the size of your paddocks from one grazing period to the next and that is something
you will figure out as time goes by. I will use an area from 3 to 5 days with a 35 day rotation. (or that is the goal)
The main goal is to keep the cow and not iron and oil between the sun and the ground. good luck

Thanks.
No major highways, but neighbors with row crops and no fences. The feed wagon will go both places every day in the winter. My cows are on traditional permanent pasture all summer and my replacement hfrs are in a dry lot.
One neighbor raises alpacas, and it corn fields the rest of the way around this 11 acres. I want to use 7-9 acres of the new place for pasture. The rest is barns, concrete, machine shed, and barn yard.
The plan is to put a new 47" woven wire fence with a barb on top as the perimeter. Hedge posts and steel with a hot wire on the inside that I can hook into. I use Gallagher M 1500's (15 Jules) fencers on my other pastures. My cows have pretty good respect for them.
I was hoping to be able to put 45 yearling heifers at the new place. Maybe that's way to many? I don't have any idea how many is feasible.

 

[WFfarm]

The biggest concern with dividing up your pasture for rotational grazing is having a good water source in each pasture. Unless you can make a alleyway back to the barn that they can get water from each pasture.

 

[shaz]

A day without water is not a show stopper. Is there shade?

 

[bigbluegrass]

45 heifers at 800 lbs each would be 36,000 lb of live weight. If they were grass only I would assume: 2% feed intake, 75% grazing efficiency, daily moves, 13" grass when you go in and 4" residual, 200 lb of dry matter yield/acre/inch - that would put each paddock at a little over 1/2 acre. Which means at 7-9 acres you have 14-18 days of rest before you start over again. That isn't enough of a rest period so the number of heifers would need to be much lower. HOWEVER, you say they will get a large percentage of their nutrition from the bunk. Now, if you say they only need 0.5% of their body weight in grass, you can get the paddock down to 0.13 acres per move which means 50+ days per rotation. That might work. I normally shoot for 45 days of rest, but it varies from 30-60 (or even 90). That is for here in KY. I don't know anything about rotational grazing in IL. Hard to give an exact answer, but that should give you an idea of at least one way to approach it.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

BBG is right when he says the ration in numbers of heifers to acres of pasture does not allow for a long enough rest period for the ground.
You will wind up with a 9 acre feed lot knee deep in mud, ruts and weeds. Rotational / High Density grazing is not so much about what
or how many animals but the soil itself The land and not the cow has to be your main focus for you to succeed at rotational grazing.
45 heifers on 9 acres is more optimistic than most. As I stated I try to use a 35 day rotation but that can get stretched to a once a year
situation if the conditions warrant. Remember the land is # 1 Check with the county extension agent. He may know of someone who
could share some ideas on how to proceed. Good Luck

 

[Dave]

Rotational grazing is both an art and a science. The science is pretty easy to explain. The art has to be learned and will vary depending on your location and local environment. A good healthy stand of grass has 350 pounds on dry matter per acre inch of grass. So if you start with a 12 inch stand of grass and graze it to 6 inches you have taken off 6 inches (a 6 inch stubble height has a much faster recovery time). 6 x 350= 2,100 pounds of DM. A growing heifer will eat about 3% of her body weight in DM per day. Now grazing is not 100% efficient. Some grass will get laid on, pooped on, and generally trampled. For thumb nail guess I will say 60% efficient. That works out to about 40,000 pounds of cattle per acre per day. Now with 7 acres cut into 1/4 acre plots you have 27 days rest between grazing. That is 10,000 pounds of heifers. This is based on daily move. Take the amount of feed which you are giving them subtract that from the required DM will allow you to have more heifers. That is the quick and dirty science. The art will be in how much grass is left or not left. I would start light and work towards putting on more heifers.

 

[Stocker Steve]

16

 

[bigbluegrass]

16

I came up with the same answer!

 

[Stocker Steve]

Great minds think alike...

 

[SBMF 2015]

The biggest concern with dividing up your pasture for rotational grazing is having a good water source in each pasture. Unless you can make a alleyway back to the barn that they can get water from each pasture.

The plan is that they will come back to the feed floor to eat silage once a day. So they could go out and graze then come in and get a drink.

 

[SBMF 2015]

45 heifers at 800 lbs each would be 36,000 lb of live weight. If they were grass only I would assume: 2% feed intake, 75% grazing efficiency, daily moves, 13" grass when you go in and 4" residual, 200 lb of dry matter yield/acre/inch - that would put each paddock at a little over 1/2 acre. Which means at 7-9 acres you have 14-18 days of rest before you start over again. That isn't enough of a rest period so the number of heifers would need to be much lower. HOWEVER, you say they will get a large percentage of their nutrition from the bunk. Now, if you say they only need 0.5% of their body weight in grass, you can get the paddock down to 0.13 acres per move which means 50+ days per rotation. That might work. I normally shoot for 45 days of rest, but it varies from 30-60 (or even 90). That is for here in KY. I don't know anything about rotational grazing in IL. Hard to give an exact answer, but that should give you an idea of at least one way to approach it.

Thank you.