More on rotational grazing

[dun]

Is there a certain time of day that everyone prefers to move their cattle?

When I get around to it.

 

[regolith]

Well, there's a difference between 'comes running' and 'comes running while bellowing' but I've often thought cattlemen were somewhat deaf to the noise their own cows make while keenly tuned in to the fact the neighbour hasn't moved his yet.

 

[HDRider]

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.

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.

What to you wind the 12 1/2 on to?

 

[Kell-inKY]

I have a homemade spinning jenny. Got it down to a science, goes pretty quick, but it's a workout for sure. I also use it to put the same coil of wire back up.

And to clarify, my cows start complaining after they eat all the clover, they are getting picky.

 

[aaroninga]

Taint necessarily so. Ours can be standing in lush grass, but after 3 days they know it's time for them to hit another paddock. Even if they moved that day, if I drive through them or wave a white stick they come running thinking they're going to get to move again. The 3 day move is something they've become accustomed to.

Amen, brother, our's are spoiled too! Like Pavlov's dog and a bell, the sight of me or the truck brings a concert when we are moving daily.

Ditto.
Is there a certain time of day that everyone prefers to move their cattle?

I prefer to move mine with enough daylight for them to get oriented to where my temporary electric rope is.
I sometimes move it on them and make little adjustments.
Plus I just opened up new paddocks this spring.

 

[jallen]

Does anyone leave poly tape up semi permanently? The only way for me to provide water and shade for my cattle is to fence all the way accross my pasture. That means each section of tape is 275 yds long and doing it in widths around 25 yards which gives me roughly an acre. I move them by myself and it's takes a hell of a long time to move sections that length. I'm tempted to set some wood posts this weekend and make these sections permanent. It's either do that or make 4 big blocks and let them have at it. I do t have the time to deal with moving long sections by myself anymore. It's at least an hour and usually more to set fences this length and doing that daily with a regular job and dogs to train is just too flippin much.

 

[regolith]

Yep. I worked for a guy who grazed bulls on another block and had the whole farm cut up into what must have been hundreds of little sections just with polywire and pegs. Don't know how long they left the sections, but polywire can last a few years before it needs replaced.

 

[aaroninga]

Does anyone leave poly tape up semi permanently? The only way for me to provide water and shade for my cattle is to fence all the way accross my pasture. That means each section of tape is 275 yds long and doing it in widths around 25 yards which gives me roughly an acre. I move them by myself and it's takes a be nice of a long time to move sections that length. I'm tempted to set some wood posts this weekend and make these sections permanent. It's either do that or make 4 big blocks and let them have at it. I do t have the time to deal with moving long sections by myself anymore. It's at least an hour and usually more to set fences this length and doing that daily with a regular job and dogs to train is just too flippin much.

Yes, I use the yellow poly rope with 6 wires and t posts semi permanent.
I leave it all up, use the insulated handles at t posts and move them by dropping it down and calling them through. To leave an opening to and from each section so they can get to woods and water I pull the handle back to the other side and hook it in a loop I tied in the wire rope while putting it up.
I did it all semi permanent so I'm not restringing it every time it's time to rotate. I just use single strand.
My grazing pasture is narrow and deep. All my openings are on one side along the woods.
I still work full time and it makes a big difference that I can move them in a few minutes.
Hope that helps some....

 

[jallen]

Thanks for the replies.

 

[dun]

We use 6 conductor polywire and 3/8 fiber glass posts. Spools are 1/4 mile long.Pull it to the end and tighten it then go back and put in posts every 15 paces. I leave that as a back fence for the next paddock. When it's time to move them I make another run, We have probably a dozen spools of polywire and several hundred posts.

 

[TCcattle]

Is there a certain time of day that everyone prefers to move their cattle?

When I get around to it.

:clap:

 

[City Guy]

I seem to remember reading from one of the mob grazing gurus (Greg Judy maybe) That 1:00 pm is the best time because the cows are always hungry when first moved and the grass is at it peak nutritional density, thus every eager mouthful takes in max nourishment! Does that make sense? Does one schedule the move around one's other chores or vice versa?

 

[Seadanes]

I find so much useful info on these forums. We are also very much trial and error with our poly tape and rotating the cows through. We're in our July grass slump now in Central Texas and having to put out some hay. Curious how others use hay in combination with rotational grazing. Do you have a sacrifice plot that you just put the cows and the hay until you can move them back to grass? Or what are some good ways to handle this? Thanks as always for suggestions.