Kell-inKY":2vp0va6h said:
I've become somewhat of an expert at building and taking down 3 and 4 wire high tensile fence. I am always rearranging something out there, couldn't tell you how many times I've reused the same wire.
I need to study up on what Ebenezer is talking about, my rotation schedule usually involves a bunch of bellowing cows at the gate asking to be moved.
Ebenezer":2vp0va6h said:
It lengthens the stage one period of the growth curve where the plants make little growth as they build energy to get to stage 2 for rapid growth. The livestock will go back and nip off any signs of regrowth too quickly.
To expand a little, set stocking supposedly works because cows naturally prefer the more mature grass and don't regraze where they've grazed, but it's not entirely true, which is why rotational grazing with a back fence to protect the grazed grass is more productive.
I've watched a herd of cows in winter (we grow grass all year here, and grazed grass often throws up a half inch spike of new grass even in mid-winter) to figure out at what point they grazed the regrowth if they had access to it, and at 48 hours they were browsing over it snapping off those tips.
The plant used up energy to put out that shoot, which with little leaf remaining following grazing, it takes a while to create the new growth over again. Thus that individual plant will either take longer to reach the appropriate grazing stage, or be shorter when the cows come back round to that pasture.
Preventing regrazing after 48 hrs from putting the cows in maximises production. But set stocking works, and I think rotating weekly is still more productive than set stocking.
Bellowing cows suggests that they're hungry or not in an established routine - mine will be hungry soon when they are moved from a milking ration to a dry one, but as long as they're getting enough to maintain weight they usually settle quickly to the reduced diet. I've always found offering consistent feed levels - grass maturity and quantity and probably also species, if there is a mix on the farm - important to keeping cows content.