Key Grazing Management Steps

How you maintain good grazing conditions in your pasture has a lot to do with your grazing management plan and stocking rate.

To avoid poor conditions, you should initiate a grazing management plan that includes these key steps:

  1. Maintain the appropriate stocking rate. Determine the right number
      of cattle to keep your pasture in good to excellent condition.

  2. Monitor grazing. Erect 10 by 10 foot enclosures to protect grass from  
      cows in various areas. Monitor grazing at regular intervals. When
      grass outside an enclosure has been grazed down 50 percent, it's
      time to move the cattle to another pasture and let that pasture recover.

  3. Record pasture condition over time. Drive a steel post into the
      ground, and then take photos in all four directions away from the post.
      Each year, take another set of pictures. Compare to see if you're  
      maintaining the grass system or finding encroachment or the
      establishment of increased plants or other undesirable plants.

  4. Modify grazing patterns. If there are areas where cows aren't grazing,
      encourage them to use those spots with mineral blocks or water tanks.