http://www.beefmaster-ranch.com/wordpress/2010/09/02/over-grazing/ Country Living at its Best Fri, 18 May 2012 09:49:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 http://www.beefmaster-ranch.com/wordpress/2010/09/02/over-grazing/comment-page-1/#comment-217 Lara DeHaven Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:03:50 +0000 http://www.beefmaster-ranch.com/wordpress/?p=439#comment-217 Susan, I guess big is relative. The three pictures are of the same pasture from several angles, but you can see into the next pasture, especially in the first picture. The barbed wire fence cannot be seen in the photograph. Our cattle stay together as a herd in the same pasture, but there is enough room in which to spread out. This helps reduce fighting. Have you ever noticed that one cow will spend all day trying to bully the others? It is like she is afraid that she will not get all that she needs. Instead of eating, drinking, and chewing her cud, she spends all her energy trying to control others. Each of our pastures are different sizes. We divide them based on topography and water supply. We want our ranch to be usable and beautiful, while being used efficiently by our cattle. If they were wearing down one side of the pasture, then we would have a problem; however, we have not experienced this. We do watch the behavior of the cattle and the condition of the grass. It is a balancing act. You don't want them in a pasture so long that they grow bored and sit all day under the trees or tearing a section up. But you don't want to run them through a pasture so fast that they do not properly graze the grass or not help you grind the weeds into the ground with their hooves. The ratio of head of cattle per acreage is also important to consider. I hope this helps answer your question. Lara Susan,
I guess big is relative. The three pictures are of the same pasture from several angles, but you can see into the next pasture, especially in the first picture. The barbed wire fence cannot be seen in the photograph.
Our cattle stay together as a herd in the same pasture, but there is enough room in which to spread out. This helps reduce fighting. Have you ever noticed that one cow will spend all day trying to bully the others? It is like she is afraid that she will not get all that she needs. Instead of eating, drinking, and chewing her cud, she spends all her energy trying to control others.
Each of our pastures are different sizes. We divide them based on topography and water supply. We want our ranch to be usable and beautiful, while being used efficiently by our cattle. If they were wearing down one side of the pasture, then we would have a problem; however, we have not experienced this. We do watch the behavior of the cattle and the condition of the grass. It is a balancing act.
You don’t want them in a pasture so long that they grow bored and sit all day under the trees or tearing a section up. But you don’t want to run them through a pasture so fast that they do not properly graze the grass or not help you grind the weeds into the ground with their hooves. The ratio of head of cattle per acreage is also important to consider.
I hope this helps answer your question.
Lara

]]> http://www.beefmaster-ranch.com/wordpress/2010/09/02/over-grazing/comment-page-1/#comment-214 Susan Lea Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:12:46 +0000 http://www.beefmaster-ranch.com/wordpress/?p=439#comment-214 Your pastures look really big, so how do you get the animals to eat everything evenly and not over-graze their favorite area? Do you use small temporary paddocks within each big pasture? That's what we're trying to figure out how to do, but we have to solve the shade and water problems. Your pastures look really big, so how do you get the animals to eat everything evenly and not over-graze their favorite area? Do you use small temporary paddocks within each big pasture? That’s what we’re trying to figure out how to do, but we have to solve the shade and water problems.

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