Grazing Management
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Mob Grazing & Livestock Nutrition
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Mob Grazing & Livestock Nutrition
I’ve been mob grazing now since getting the sheep out of the sacrifice paddock in early June. I was also feeding hay until just a couple of days ago, had a small problem with scours with a couple of the mob but now resolved. I have been sizing the grazing cells to fit the mob for an even graze/trample of the whole cell over a max 3 day period. My question is what is the impact on livestock by forcing them to eat everything (new and old) in the cell (to a golf ball height) before moving to next cell, as compared to a light graze of just the new green stuff.
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4 Replies
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I thought they were only meant to have one bite of each plant then moved. Pretty sure Judi earl says don’t leave them too long or they go back for a second bite. Not that that helps you.
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I think she means a second bite of new growth, grazing the stemmy older stuff no problem but happy to be corrected!
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Great photo’s Kate.
it doesn’t appear that your sheep are suffering from lack of nutrition 🤠
Our cool season grasses are typically high in ME and protein but can lack the fibre, hence the scouring – particularly early winter when there is a high leaf to stem ratio with our annual plants. Grazing lower will increase the fibre better than grazing just the tops of the leaves. So in short no animal production loss by going to golf ball height. I would suggest it is more beneficial. Remember, overgrazing is not how low you graze, but it’s when you graze the unrecovered plant ( come back to soon).
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Thanks Eric, that’s what I thought .. & yes the ewes are a bit chubby I know!
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