[Eric Dobbe]

Interesting discussion. I believe grazing management is the most important consideration for any livestock system. Our livestock are our employees – they work for us to improve soil function. I agree with your definition of overgrazing.

Essentially grazing management is all about managing time. I have applied the RCS and probably most grazing recommendations of consuming 60% leave 40 and daily moves. Try and keep pasture in the power growth curve, leaf recovery and adjust recovery time according to time of season (fast growth – fast move, slow growth- slow move). My conclusion for the above after 2 seasons, is that you end up selectively grazing and the recovery period is hard to get right. I couldn’t slow the rotation down sufficiently and ended up with sacrificial paddocks that I supplement fed in.

This year I have tried a much less known technique called “Total grazing” as promoted by Johan Zietsman and Jim Elizondo. Really liking what I’m seeing with this technique. I now graze to 80-90% utilisation and my rotation has slowed right down to >90 days. Instead of leaf recovery – we are root recovery. I think 4 grazings a year is about right for my environment. We still on daily moves (mostly). We are growing more grass and improving composition as we go. I no longer conserve the “Spring Surplus”, instead I let it stand in the paddock and graze and trample in with high density grazing.