Mob Grazing, Narrow Paddocks, Weed Control
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- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
- Learn how I am managing a herd of cattle to naturally boost soil fertility and control weeds with mob grazing narrow paddocks. Naturally the herd grazes across the pasture together. Once they are confined to a paddocks your able to control where they go. So by setting up narrow paddocks you force the herd to travel back and forth. This grazing pattern destroys weeds. The constant trampling from the herd sets the plants life back or completely kills them.
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Now that people have been testing different things possibly try meat lambs behind cattle, followed by chickens 3 days behind cows to break fly larvae down and spread manure, in on season you will be amazed at the difference. Great job and God bless
I'm 62 in Dec. and I'm thinking about doing this for the rest of my life!! I have so many questions, and like this pasture raised, intensive managed grazing land improvement through the use of livestock systems. I live in Baltimore MD.
Gday from Aust. You’re going great work and I find it reassuring that I’ll be able to manage my place in the same fashion, one paddock at a time.
Fantastic video Sir, keep up the great work..Enjoy
+iamnjorganic Thanks and I will do my best!
thank you for the insight;Ive been running 200 by 600 ' w/ half the number on weeds and this narrow approach may get better results..yours sure looks good
This year I did some more experimenting with this. I now have 50 head of cattle (most of them at least 800-1000lbs) and I narrowed the paddock to only 30 feet wide, it was several hundred feet long though. The results were amazing. The cattle ate plants I have never seen them eat, like Goldenrod. There was pretty much nothing standing untouched in the paddock. After roughly 40 days of rest to the area it came back in clover, it was awesome.
Thanks,Im new to this and I am noticing that in a new paddock the cows do seem to run through it and take off the tops,as Greg Judy says,and then he says move em.argues that the top part has the good stuff in it.Got some portable water hooked up today and they seem to appreciate not having to walk as much.
Thank you. Excellent. Hope
Have you considered mob grazing different animals to follow the cows such as goats (who love more weeds & don't care for grass). It's a no competition for the cattle's grasses but eliminates more weeds from taking over. I'm sure you have this worked out as of 2016 but it's something I've watched with Permaculture videos on mob grazing & thought I'd mention it.
A few years ago we had the Amish next door to farm bring in their goats. They didn't have very many, I think 7. It did not work very well. The Amish were supposed to care for their own animals but it fell on me. They did chew on wild rose bushes but seemed to eat more grass than anything. So I ended up asking the Amish to take their goats back. If I were to guess I would say it lasted about 2 months but we were not impressed by what the goats did.
I think the Amish goats were used to eating grass from their own property. So when they were brought to our farm they just continued eating what they liked.
I may buy a few in the future and see how they work out!
Awesome delivery mate! Is the mineral feed a secret recipe or can you tell me what's in it? I'm taking organic livestock production class and am so fascinated by this stuff.
Just train them to eat the weeds. You won't need to feed them hay or fed. Lots of weeds are higher in protein than what we feed them.
Good video
This is a really good idea!
I had some areas that were weedy and to try and destroy th weeds i ued cows/calves to graze it off. problem i had was had good rains after the weeds came back better than the grass but mostly kochia weed which is high in rfv so wasnt terrible.
Thanks for your great, practical videos. I am going to start more intensive rotational grazing and I was wandering if you recommend the 9 strand polywire over the 6 strand? Is it worth the difference in price? TIA.
Glad your enjoying the videos, thanks! I do recommend spending the little more to get the best poly wire as possible. What I have found to be the best is a product by Power Flex Fence Supply (can be found online) and the product is there poly braid. It's extremely strong and made with more strands on wire (thinking 9). If you need help finding it online, just let me know and I will help.
How did it go over the Summer? What are you doing for Winter? I have 30 head on 80 acres (about 40 acres open) in Alabama. We have two ponds. I do not have the time to move them daily, but I think I could at least quarter the land and move weekly or when needed. What are your thoughts?
+Army Mobility Officer Summer was great. I run the herd on just under 200 acres as you know doing the intensive grazing. We made 4 complete rotations and working on the fifth now. Well, if the weather permits us to finish grazing these last couple pastures then we will have done 5. I love it, all the conventional farmers around me have been feeding hay for weeks now. They are not putting down the carbon we are so their fields suffer. I noticed the farmer next door watching me from a distance (his pasture) yesterday. I know he was thinking "How the heck is that boy still grazing them cows"! We have been lucky with the weather here. A El Nino has brought much warmer temps. than normal and we are loving it!
I understand not having the time to move the herd daily. I think the more you can break down the pasture the better. You will notice more of a difference with this during the summer but doing it now won't hurt. Keep in mind your climate is a lot different than mine. My grazing will come to an end once they finish grazing the stockpiled fields then I will fed hay. Of course there will be days when we get ice and they can't graze so I will fed hay then too. I own no equipment except my ATV. So we hired the farmer next door to unload our purchased hay. Then I had him place them in the stockpiled pastured. I poly wired them off to keep the cows away from them. Then as needed I will give them one. I have a video on this actually.
Can you graze most of the winter down there? I assume since you can't move them daily you wouldn't be feeding hay daily either. Do you fed hay and are they only grass fed? Do you do any type of rotational grazing during the spring/summer? It will do wonders for the land which in turn helps the herd.
Thanks again man, great video. What sort of time frame will they see that strip of land again in ?
+Kim Longhurst Well that varies it depends on a few factors. The two biggest are herd size and rainfall. In the spring we move fast across the farm. In about 38 days we cover just under 200 acres. Now in the spring we move fast to give the grass a chance to get started for the season. The goal is to only let the herd graze 1/3 of the grass. Eat only the tops of the grass which has the most energy. Then move them. About mid summer it would take 48-55 days to complete a round of grazing. These are rough figures. Thanks for watching!
+J.C.'s Organic Farming Thanks for posting it mate and thanks for the responses as well. I don't mean to take up your time. Cheers !!
Kim Longhurst Your not taking up my time I enjoy sharing the info. :)
Thanks for the video. Very informative. How do you knock down the path for the polywire? Drag something behind the four wheeler?
+Troy Puckett The first year or so I only used the ATV. The wheels knocked down all the weeds. This year I made a drag to pull. Here's a video of it. ua-cam.com/video/kSq68CRf1KA/v-deo.html Thanks for watching and if you have anymore questions just ask I love sharing this information.
+J.C.'s Organic Farming Thanks. I will definitely have more questions. I'm in south central KY. No one around here is doing this and it's hard to get a hold of people like Greg Judy to ask questions.
Subscribed.
+Troy Puckett That is great your wanting to learn more about this method. I will tell you it's done wonders for our farms pastures and cattle.Also there are a handful of Greg Judy's video here on UA-cam. They are worth watching so do a search on him. I have even started listen to some of his Podcast while I do my farm chores. I have learnt a lot from this man but of course I am here if you have questions. Even if there about something you see him do in a video. Happy grazing!
+J.C.'s Organic Farming I looked for his podcast but couldn't find it. Do you have a link or know how I can find it? I think I've watched all of his UA-cam videos, some more than once.
Troy Puckett I found his podcast and many other great podcast from other speakers on Permaculture Voices site. www.permaculturevoices.com/blog-2/podcast-2/ Greg Judy's podcast is #45 on the list. A lot of the other speakers have great info. and some were interns for Greg. Let me know what you think of this site. Enjoy!
I didn't hear the final decision. Were 20-25% remaining weeds enough to satisfy you? Or did you knock them down? Is one pass enough to know what works or do you need to keep this up many times? I would guess it takes many years. Is this trial-error only valid on your pasture, is each climate different?
This video shows a different pasture and it's results many days later ua-cam.com/video/WWYMDW24UlU/v-deo.html&lc=Ugz6y_eusSA-h5BJ6kh4AaABAg . I think it will show what the cattle have done for our farm better than I can explain.
I'm hoping to develop an opportunity to goat-graze the weeds down, till the pasture's re-grown with cow appetizer ... grass. Planning to rotational-graze with goats, to get weeds under control and then to put the grassy paddock to cows, for their growth & prosperity.
I tried working with the neighboring Amish and had them bring over 9 goats. It was a nightmare.... All of our pastures are 5 strands of high tensile wire and the goat were always looking for a way out. When they were in the pasture it seemed like they ate more grass than weeds. lol About 2 months later I asked the Amish to take them back and have since learned how to manage weeds with cattle. ua-cam.com/video/sOg-qnNoxQI/v-deo.html&lc=Ugw5Mmv_XyOG8k6wdQB4AaABAg
Best of luck with your plan.
I'm hoping that others will throw in their comments.
How has that pasture responded this year? Any change in the species composition?
So far I am not seeing any weeds only grass but time will tell.
Do you ever slit your pasture? it aids aeration at root level. might help the grass over come the weeds.
+William Beattie No I have not. For one I do not own any equipment besides my ATV. I guess I could rig something to drag. I let the cattle's hooves do most of the aeration. Keeping them confined in the paddocks helps a lot. As I move them across the pastures paddocks by paddocks they trample every area.
It's really amazing what controlling the herd with intensive grazing will do. It has several benefits and after a couple of seasons practicing it, the land responds greatly.
+J.C.'s Organic Farming I made a slitter not any wider than your quad. a garden roller with 24 spikes 12 inches long does the job just fine I have found
Couple of questions. 1) where are you located (or climate zone); are you handling feeder animal; if so how long do you plan on holding them such as through the winter; are you haying any of the farm. What is the carrying capacity both now and you projection for two or three year in the future?
I am in central Ohio which I believe it's zone 6. The last 2 years I am getting the cattle right after they are weaned. The batch I just got this spring will stay here until spring of next year. We usually purchase our hay but this year we are trying to find someone local to bale some hay on the farm. If we can't then we will purchase it again. I honestly don't know the farm carrying capacity. I do believe the farm could support 100 head pretty easy.
Where are you located? Do you have cattle now?
I have 2 Yak heifers. Im new to the mob grazing. How small of an area should i try?
Well you will have to experiment. Maybe start on a day you have time to observe them. With only having 2 head in the grazing program it will be a small area. I would start with a 20' x 20' area for a few hours and see how they do, then make adjustments from there.
Not even one goat? Oc goats are desperate alone, a small band of goats would be successful followers to work on those extra plants. You will need three+ years to see how this all works. Good for you for keeping equipment off those earthworms
Try goats they may eat weeds that the cattle won’t
high value sheep forage
Good video