Strip Grazing?

[City Guy]

Will someone explain strip grazing, please? How is it different than rotational grazing?

 

[Ebenezer]

I could have explained it last year when we had grass! This year I am putting salt on rocks to see if they will lick or eat them. But they can pick up their own tree leaves as they fall off instead of me having to cut down sweetgums in the summer to get some green leaves to them. Drought is about as tough and timing is so hard for stockpiling. Cow prices add insult to injury. Glad the beef checkoff is helping prices or else I would feel like I was being robbed!

 

[M-5]

Strip is closer aligned with MIG grazing

 

[Creeksidelc]

With strip grazing you start at a water source and allow them acces to the area around it. As they eat up that small area(a common practice is a day or two of grazing per move) you move back the temporary electric fence and give them another small area that will last them another couple days. The differences on mig and strip grazing is that strip grazing seldom has back fences so they can continue to graze the area they were in previously.

 

[City Guy]

So, use strip grazing when forage has gone dormant so that there is no new growth to be damaged by animal activity, I get it. That is pretty much what I thought, just needed to have it confirmed. Thanks.

 

[ClinchValley]

How bad do they destroy the ground from previous days?

Would it be more beneficial to cut the same pasture into pie slices to prevent the constant trampling? Assuming the pasture can be partitioned off in this way...

 

[HDRider]

With strip grazing you start at a water source and allow them acces to the area around it. As they eat up that small area(a common practice is a day or two of grazing per move) you move back the temporary electric fence and give them another small area that will last them another couple days. The differences on mig and strip grazing is that strip grazing seldom has back fences so they can continue to graze the area they were in previously.

Didn't know that. Thanks..

 

[City Guy]

Clinch Valley, I have heard Greg Judy say "don't worry about a back fence in winter", but I have often thought that your pie shaped paddock would work. Only draw back I fear, from a strictly hypothetical perspective, is improper distribution of the animals. I suspect that some areas might get destroyed while other areas might not get grazed enough. Also, fence costs per acre is higher with a triangle than with a square or rectangle. But that may be a wash when taking into account the extra fence needed to provide a lane to water. Judy can make a good case for either square or rectangle depending on producers aims, so maybe shape plays a greater role than many think. Maybe someone has tried it and can share.

 

[ClinchValley]

Clinch Valley, I have heard Greg Judy say "don't worry about a back fence in winter", but I have often thought that your pie shaped paddock would work. Only draw back I fear, from a strictly hypothetical perspective, is improper distribution of the animals. I suspect that some areas might get destroyed while other areas might not get grazed enough. Also, fence costs per acre is higher with a triangle than with a square or rectangle. But that may be a wash when taking into account the extra fence needed to provide a lane to water. Judy can make a good case for either square or rectangle depending on producers aims, so maybe shape plays a greater role than many think. Maybe someone has tried it and can share.

To clarify. I mean't cutting a pasture up with temporary fencing. Assuming water source is on a fence line (Really, water location is irrelevant so long as there is water in the field/paddock). Using the water site as your pivot point. Start on one side and wrap your way around each move. Ground at the water source would be tramped up. But that would correct itself the following Spring?


I'm having a hard time articulating what I am thinking here. LOL.

Here's a picture of a square field. Orange lines would represent temporary fence. Allowing ground to be grazed, then rested. Point of pivot would be location of water.

 

[City Guy]

Exactly the plan I envisioned. Ground at water source will take a beating regardless of paddock shape. Only way to avoid that is portable tanks, I guess.

 

[RanchMan90]

Or gravel for high traffic areas. Looks like a water lane would be just about as efficient, 6 of one half a dozen of the other.

 

[True Grit Farms]

Not going to work around here. We have our water sources close to the shade. We use alley ways and gaps in our management but all begin and end at cover-shade. Water can be put anywhere.

 

[regolith]

no back fence.
There's other differences, but that is the key.

As for the shape of the break... as far as possible, put up a square break. I guess this wouldn't be important if your cattle were wellfed and relaxed and a step away from water, but in NZ where we effectively 'strip-graze' in winter our paddocks that are already set up for rotational grazing in summer (when rotation length = 1 pdk/day), leaving cows on a very rectangular (long-sided) section of grass when it's wet will increase treading damage as they roam from one side to the other far more than they would on a square break.
Likewise avoid corners in your electric fence - they are weak and the cattle will push the peg out at that point, and also in driving rain they will gather at a 'stop point' and it may well be that corner that gets trampled six inches deep and never grows grass again.

Lack of a back-fence makes strip grazing less efficient for pasture utilisation and growth than rotational grazing. In my part of the world, there is no winter dormant phase. I use up to four strips in winter without a backfence to allow access to the water trough, without resorting to connecting up a portable trough.

 

[Lucasbranham]

I strip graze a rectangular 7 acre field that the fence on the short side of the rectangle borders my yard/house. I have 250 feet of hd water hose that I use to move a 100 gallon Rubbermaid trough along the fence every other day. I use a rojo float valve in the tank. I turn the water off mid day on the day of the move and once they empty it, I move the tank. I give them 32 feet per move and I see very little disturbance around the trough if moving paddocks daily. I Have several geared reels of poly rope and I always back fence. When it's time to move. I take down the back fence and move it to the front. Works great for me.

 

[City Guy]

regolith, Thanks for the tip about sharp corners in fences. In my horse studies I learned they were a danger to animals because of the pecking order but didn't realize the dangers to soil and fences because of herding.