A lot of our time is spent moving animals around, so I thought I should mention rotational grazing a bit. It is essentially as the name suggests: the animals graze through a field in a managed rotation. How often they move depends on how large the paddock is, how many animals are in it, and how much forage is available during that period.
We'll start with the dairy cows. They move to a new paddock after every milking, providing free access to as much fresh grass as they could ever want. When they've finished their half-day in a paddock, the grass is all either chomped down to a couple inches high or crushed flat. We let it grow back to around 8-10 inches high before sending them through again.
The calves generally get moved once a week or so, as they are both smaller and are given a larger area. It's also good to keep them in after they've eaten up all the tastiest things, forcing them to snack on the less desirable plants as well. The sheep also usually move at the same time as the calves, with the same philosophy behind it.
The layer hens move twice per week. If they get left in any one place for long, they tend to have a negative effect on the topology of the field because they scratch and dig and make little dust bowls. It really makes the ground uneven. It's good for their grass to be only a few inches tall, so if the pasture ahead of them is growing too fast, we graze the calves in front of them to keep it down. We don't graze anyone directly behind the hens, for parasite control reasons.
The broiler chicks move every morning. It's kind of a pain, since their pens are small enough to drag by hand, but heavy enough to be annoying. The size of the pens is the reason they have to be moved every day, since it's pretty well cleaned out in that amount of time. However, the covered pens are pretty much the only way to graze them while keeping them safe from predators. So we drag them all 15 feet forward every day.
So that's a general outline of the grazing rotation here. There's a ton more stuff that could be said about it, but I'm still learning all the specifics of most of it. There's definitely a lot to figure out, what with nutrition and parasite danger and fencing and water lines and all the other things that need to be taken into consideration. Andrew has it down to a science here, and we just have to pick his brain about why things are organised the way they are and what different options might be. It's a real learn-on-the-job experience.
We'll start with the dairy cows. They move to a new paddock after every milking, providing free access to as much fresh grass as they could ever want. When they've finished their half-day in a paddock, the grass is all either chomped down to a couple inches high or crushed flat. We let it grow back to around 8-10 inches high before sending them through again.
The calves generally get moved once a week or so, as they are both smaller and are given a larger area. It's also good to keep them in after they've eaten up all the tastiest things, forcing them to snack on the less desirable plants as well. The sheep also usually move at the same time as the calves, with the same philosophy behind it.
The layer hens move twice per week. If they get left in any one place for long, they tend to have a negative effect on the topology of the field because they scratch and dig and make little dust bowls. It really makes the ground uneven. It's good for their grass to be only a few inches tall, so if the pasture ahead of them is growing too fast, we graze the calves in front of them to keep it down. We don't graze anyone directly behind the hens, for parasite control reasons.
The broiler chicks move every morning. It's kind of a pain, since their pens are small enough to drag by hand, but heavy enough to be annoying. The size of the pens is the reason they have to be moved every day, since it's pretty well cleaned out in that amount of time. However, the covered pens are pretty much the only way to graze them while keeping them safe from predators. So we drag them all 15 feet forward every day.
So that's a general outline of the grazing rotation here. There's a ton more stuff that could be said about it, but I'm still learning all the specifics of most of it. There's definitely a lot to figure out, what with nutrition and parasite danger and fencing and water lines and all the other things that need to be taken into consideration. Andrew has it down to a science here, and we just have to pick his brain about why things are organised the way they are and what different options might be. It's a real learn-on-the-job experience.