Love seeing your success! I'm just starting to intensively rotationally graze my herd and am curious... Do you leave your manure? Spread it or harrow it? How long do you keep them off an area before grazing it again? Are you tossing out any seeds? If yes, what do you like to use? Thanks so much!
That’s amazing! Good for you! Yes we absolutely leave our manure. That is what feeds the soil bacteria and continues to build your top soil. Try to reduce commercial wormers as they kill dung beetles. We bring chickens behind our cows and horses and THEY spread the manure and eat the fly larvae! With regard to grazing, it all depends on the type of grass (warm or cool Season) , whether it’s growing quickly or slowly. For example, fescue can grow back quickly if soil conditions temps are above 45 but below 70. You when when fescue is ready again when a point on the tip of the grass as regrown. You want to regraze just before the plant has maxed out it’s growth cycle to keep the growing cycle continuing. I try to wait a minimum of 21 days before rotating back through because parasites can live outside the body for only 18-19 days. By waiting 21 days, you are stopping the chain of transmission. We are about to start putting out winter rye to add forage for our animals in the winter. Also, we are going to do high stock density with round bales to really put a lot of carbon/nitrogen in the soil. Once they eat down a few round bales in one spot we will broadcast clover seed over the area. We don’t plant really anything else. The idea is that rotational grazing over time and improved soil conditions will allow all the seeds to express themselves. Good luck to you!! We wish you the best
So glad to have found someone that's practicing regenerative grazing practices with horses. Would love to see how your land changes over time with these practices!! Great job so far!
Thank you! I hope to be able to help horse farms be able to develop their pastures and be more independent once they unleash the power of regenerative practices!
