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Grazing Management for Florida Pastures
June, 2018
Christa Kirby, UF/IFAS Extension Manatee County
Grazing management is often
defined as the manipulation of livestock grazing methods to reach the
overall desired results. The way
you manage your grazing system can be determined by the type of forage
species on your operation, the nutritional requirements of the animal,
anticipated input costs, expected return on investment, and achieving the
desired outcome. The way you
graze an operation can affect the yield, nutritive value and longevity of
the forage stand. These are all
important factors to consider when determining the type of grazing systems
for your operation.
Some other important issues to consider in a grazing
management system are the requirements of both the forage and the animal for
both to be productive. Grazing
methods can affect these requirements both positively and negatively.
The choices management makes can greatly impact the success and
failures of a grazing system.
Matching the nutritive value of the pastures to the requirements of the
animals is a key component of overall success.
Grazing height management can
be considered one of two ways either through stubble height or stocking
rate. When using stocking rate
as a management format during the dry and cooler months you may have some
pastures that are over grazed.
While during the summer or moister months you may have some pastures that
are under grazed. One method to
assist during the under grazing
periods is to take some paddocks out of the rotation and use them for hay,
haylage or stock piled forage for winter months.
This will allow you to shorten the rest periods and allow the animals
to graze the paddocks when the forage is in a higher nutritional state.
Forage Species | Target Height (inches) |
Bahiagrass | 2 |
Bermudagrass | 3-4 |
Stargrass | 6-8 |
Limpograss/Hemarthria | 8-10 |
The reason the Bahiagrass
stubble height is a lot less than that of the Limpograss is due to the
growing pattern of the plant.
The Bahiagrass grows closer to the ground level while the Limpograss grows
taller and has growing points further away from the soil or ground level.
The closer you graze the forage means the animals will be consuming
more stem material. The stem
part of the plant is less nutritious for the animal which will require more
forage to meet the animal’s needs.
When under grazing a pasture the plants are under less stress.
This allows the animals to graze at a higher level consuming more
leaf material which is more nutritious for the animal.
While as a producer you will see higher returns per acre for meat and
milk production in an under grazed system.
In the same system you will also see production per acre will be
lower.
When figuring how to set up a
rotational system you will first need to determine the desired resting
period of your paddocks. You
will also need to determine the number of days you want to graze each
paddock. To get the desired
number of paddocks needed you will take the number resting days divided by
the number of grazing days and add one.
For example if you want to rest for 20 days and graze for one day you
will need 21 paddocks. However,
your grazing and resting patterns will remain fluid.
In periods of slower growing forage you will have longer resting
periods and in faster growing forage you will have slower resting periods.
This is to utilize the forage at its optimal level.
You can remove paddocks from the system to use for stockpiled forage
or hay to reduce the resting days and number of paddocks in the rotation.
When using your forage to
match the requirements of the animals grazing you have many options.
Creep grazing is one of those options.
This will allow the younger animals who have a higher nutritional
requirement to have access to higher nutrition forage.
In this system paddocks with the higher nutrient level forage would
be adjacent to the traditional forage paddock.
Small gates would allow access only for the young animals and prevent
the older animals from gaining access.
In a first / last grazing
system the higher nutritional required animals would graze a paddock first
with the lower requirement animals coming in grazing second.
This allows the younger animals to consume the leaf material which is
more nutritious and the older animals to consumer the lower quality forage
while still meeting their needs.
Some of the disadvantages to
a rotational grazing system are the initial costs involved for new fences,
additional water sources, feed bunks, etc.
When moving into a rotational system labor requirements will also
increase. You will need someone
available to move the animals from pasture to pasture.
This system also requires more management to meet the needs of the
animals while also maintaining stubble height.
Not one system is best for every producer.
Each producer must make a decision based on what fits the needs of
the operation.