{"id":2993,"date":"2014-05-06T15:57:46","date_gmt":"2014-05-06T19:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/livestock\/?page_id=2993"},"modified":"2025-02-19T15:33:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T20:33:08","slug":"lesson-1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/livestock\/pasture-course\/lesson-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesson 1. Planning a Grazing System"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"dairyLesson 1 offers tools to assess your farm\u2019s resources, determine a farm plan by setting, prioritizing and scheduling goals, and establish a monitoring system under a whole farm approach.<\/p>\n

There are basically two ways of managing the grazing area on a farm: continuous and managed grazing. Both strategies have advantages and disadvantages. In a continuous grazing system, set-up cost and time required for planning, managing and monitoring are lower. Nevertheless, if stocking rate is low, animals use the pasture resource inefficiently by spot grazing only 30 to 35% of the forage available. If the stocking rate is too high, overgrazing will occur. Both situations lead to weed problems and depletion of legumes and preferred grasses, resulting in high re-seeding and herbicide costs, and reduced meat and\/or milk production per acre.<\/p>\n

In contrast, managed grazing promotes pasture productivity and biodiversity (with fewer weeds), and allows for making hay or stockpiling to lengthen the grazing season. These advantages are a result of time spent in planning, managing and monitoring, and higher initial investment in setting up the system.<\/p>\n

Some things to think about:<\/p>\n