Why bother rotating? The reasons are quite simple. All grazing animals will eat their favorite grasses/plants down to the dirt and kill them off, leaving the forages the don't like as much to get hard and mature. When you move them often they don't get that choice and the pastures are healthier and you actually can feed more animals on that amount of land. Another reason is parasites. If you are constantly moving them to a new patch of grass they are not going to be eating grass that they pooped on a week ago. You keep them off it until the grass regrows. When you put them back on that is usually that is enough time to kill off most parasites. Also if you leave a 2-3 in residue the animals will not ingest many parasites. (Parasites stay down close the the dirt where it is cool.) Also since you are always moving them the water tubs will be moved with them preventing that mud/manure build up and the sheep will be cleaner.
What kind of fencing do I use? I use electro netting as well as permanent fencing for my sheep and goats. I use a single strand of electric fence and step in posts for the heifer and steer.

Here is a picture of the electro netting rolled up.



One can use electric fence on a reel for sheep, but you need 4-6 strands. (I think the netting is easier, but I have not tried it.)
I'll talk about what forages I have and want in my pasture on my next post.
How nice! To have pastures with real grass growing! Do you mow your fields at times to keep the long spots trimed or do the animals keep it under control? My sheep don't always eat the seed heads.
ReplyDeleteI should mow after they are done grazing, but I don't have a tractor. The grass stems disappear after it gets dry in the summer. I think they get dyed out and the sheep trample them down. My sheep eat most grass seed heads, but they don't like June grass seed heads.
ReplyDeleteI use the ElectroNet that is 164' x 35" from Premiere.
ReplyDeleteDo your angoras get their horns caught in the netting? I also have angoras and need some moveable fencing but I worry about the horns.
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