Grazing System Extensive to Intensive

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Grazing SystemExtensive to Intensive

• Presented By Dave Schmidt
• Rangeland Management Specialist
• USDA-NRCS
• October, 2000

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What is a Grazing System?

• A system in which two or more pastures are
  alternately rested from grazing in a planned
  sequence over a period of time.
• Many livestock producers already rotate pastures.
  
• But do they a plan?

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Grazing Systems

• Are a tool to help solve a problem
• They are NOT a cure all.
• Must be tailored to the individual ranch.
• What works for your neighbor or in Missouri or
  Texas may not work for you.

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Grazing Systems

• Why are they important?
• To be profitable you must be efficient
• SDSU livestock budget for cow/calf
• 83 (196) of direct operating costs associated
  with raising a calf are feed related.
• A 10 improvement in harvest efficiency equates
  to 20 in your pocket.

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What Can Grazing Systems Do For You?

• Change species composition within a paddock.
• For instance a system which targets cool season
  grasses with early heavy grazing may cause a
  gradual shift to warm season species

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What Can Grazing Systems Do For You?

• Improve Utilization
• reduction in pasture size and/or high livestock
  densities will result in utilization of areas of
  pastures and/or species of plants not currently
  grazed.

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What Can Grazing Systems Do For You?

• Improve Forage Quality
• Livestock keep plants in vegetative state or
• Livestock move to pastures containing actively
  growing species (moving to green grass)
• Ex crested wheat to smooth brome to switch grass
  to big bluestem to Russian wildrye

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What Can Grazing Systems Do For You?

• May improve livestock production
• Through improved forage quality
• Less stress on cattle handled properly
• Less disease
• Reduced fly problems
• Improved forage diversity
• Very often individual animal performance does not
  improve but gain per acre does

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What Can Grazing Systems Do For You?

• May improve wildlife habitat
• Generally improved nest establishment
• Increased nest success
• Increased cover
• Improved species diversity

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What Can Grazing Systems Do For You?

• Do not expect all of the above benefits with any
  single grazing system.

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What grazing systems wont do for you!

• Will not cure problems caused by overstocking,
  poor genetics etc.
• Will not increase forage production
• unless changes accompany a change in species
  composition or improved plant vigor.
• May not increase livestock production

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What do grazing systems cost

• Money - fencing, water, livestock.
• Time - More time spent with livestock, although
  this may end up making you money.

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Goals

• Before entering into a new grazing management
  strategy a producer needs to have clearly defined
  goals.
• Change plant community
• Improve livestock performance
• Stability of livestock numbers etc.

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Resource Inventory is Critical

• Current livestock inventory requirements
• Types - cows, calves
• Number present monthly
• Forage needs, both quality and quantity

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Resource Inventory is Critical

• Feed resources - Pasture and feeds
• Type - range, hay, pasture, crop residue etc
• Amount of each
• Current condition of each
• Number of pastures
• Production
• Soils and and associated limitations
• Water, and other improvements
• etc.

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Resource Inventory is Critical

• Calculate current stocking rates
• Compare to suggested stocking rates for long term
  sustainability.
• Can I make these adjustments?

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Resource Inventory is Critical

• Determine shortfalls.
• In terms of forage quantity and quality.
• These are the items your grazing management
  system should target.

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Resource Inventory is Critical

• With this information in hand you can than set
  the goals of your grazing system.

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Choosing a System

• What are your objectives - tailor to meet your
  needs
• System should not be the objective but a tool to
  achieve the objective
• Will the system you choose work in your area?
  Talk to professionals, neighbors etc.
• Investigate, read, tour, visit

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Choosing a System

• Select a system to meet your objectives and your
  operation
• Time and money may be limiting
• The more complicated the system generally more
  time and money will be involved.
• Start simple, let your management grow with the
  system

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Implementing Your System

• Use a little caution. This is new. Start slow
  and work your way into it.
• Stocking rates - unless you are clearly under
  stocked do not increase animal numbers initially.
  Monitor system through several good and bad
  years before increasing numbers.

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Implementing Your System

• Monitoring
• Vegetation - how is it changing
• Livestock - how are they performing
• Monitoring is an essential part of the system.
  It is used to change the system if necessary.

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Implementing Your System

• Evaluate progress
• Modify the system if performance is not what is
  expected or goals change
• Do not cookbook the system. I only move cows on
  Monday, or I move when western wheat is 4 high.
• Evaluate over several seasons
• Be willing to change what is not working

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Designing Planning Grazing Systems

• Benefits of Different
• Rotations

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Types of Grazing Systems

• Extensive
• Continuous
• Extensive to Intensive
• Rotational
• Intensive
• Management-intensive MiG

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Types of Grazing Systems-Continuous

• Advantages
• Lower setup costs
• Low management requirement
• Animals eat their choice of plants
• Disadvantages
• Requires light stocking rate
• Less desirable plants dominate
• Range improvement takes a long time
• Forage quality is ignored

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Types of Grazing Systems-Rotational

• Deferred Rotation
• Advantages
• Match grazing to plant growth
• Desirable plants can rest regrow
• Higher forage animal production
• Disadvantages
• Higher cost for fencing and water
• Higher management labor

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Deferred Rotation System
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Types of Grazing Systems-Management-intensive

• Advantages
• Increased forage harvest efficiency
• Promotes forage diversity
• More control on grazing plant growth
• Optimize animal production
• Disadvantages
• Very high management
• High initial fence water costs

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Effects of the number of Pastures
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Grazing System Layout and Design
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Fixed vs. Flexible Systems

• Fixed (Extensive) Systems - Permanent fence and
  water installations
• Flexible (Intensive) Systems - Framework of
  permanent fences where paddock subdivisions are
  created using portable fences. Water development
  may be permanent, temporary or a combination of
  the two.

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Fixed (extensive) Systems

• Advantageous for large grazing operations,
  operations with limited labor, and where pastures
  are considered permanent.
• Require greater capital investment.
• Management flexibility is limited.
• Lower labor requirement.

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Flexible (intensive) Systems

• Tremendous management flexibility.
• Less capital required.
• Higher labor requirements
• More advantageous for smaller grazing units.

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Fixed vs. Flexible Systems

• Same level of management is not appropriate for
  all regions or for all enterprises
• Improvements must pay for themselves by reducing
  cost or increasing output.
• Flexible systems allow tighter control of forage
  supply, forage quality, pasture use, manure
  distribution, targeting landscape problems,
  animal management etc.

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Fixed vs. Flexible Systems

• On large operations, the practical limit for
  flexibility may be dictated by the practical
  limit of portable fencing equipment.

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Water

• Keep animals within 600 to 800 feet of water.

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Paddock Shape

• Keep paddocks as square as possible!
• Paddocks of low length to width ratios tend to be
  grazed more uniformly than long, narrow paddocks.
• The shorter grazing period , the less critical
  shape becomes as cattle take about 3 days to
  establish a strong grazing pattern.

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Follow Landscape Lines for Paddock Boundaries

• If several soil types and productivity levels are
  present in the same paddock, uneven grazing is
  likely unless grazing periods are less than 3
  days.

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Paddocks Should be of Similar Grazing Capacity
not Similar Size

• Size depends on forage availability.
• Place each fence with stocking rate and animal
  production in mind, not simply dividing ranch
  into equal sized units.

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Plan Alleyways for Animal Movement Only

• Erosion in alleyways develops from vehicle
  traffic not animal traffic.
• Function of alleyway should only be to facilitate
  animal movement from one paddock to another. Do
  not use for access to water if possible.
• Use gates at other points on division fences for
  vehicle traffic.

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Paddock Numbers

• Ideal system - Grazing animals move to a fresh
  paddock daily. Minimizes waste of feed,
  consistent forage quality each day, rapid and
  uniform grazing, and uniform manure distribution.
• Systems with grazing periods of four days or less
  will realize these advantages.

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Paddock Numbers

• To achieve a four day grazing period 8 to 12
  paddocks are required to allow for the
  appropriate rest period.
• Rest periods of 30 to 60 days are generally
  required.
• 30 days ( or -) during fast growth
• 60 days ( or -) during slow growth

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Grazing Periods

• Forage species that elevate their growing points
  require shorter grazing period to prevent damage
  to regrowth potential at certain periods of the
  year.
• Shorter grazing periods minimize forage quality
  difference between paddocks.

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Planning the System

• Try many subdivision plans on paper before
  building fence or installing water as it will
  save time, money, and headaches in the long run.

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Example - Grazing System Design - Extensive
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Example - Grazing System Design - Extensive
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Example - Grazing System Design - Intensive
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Example - Grazing System Design - Intensive
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Example - Grazing System Design - Intensive
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Calculating a Stocking Rate
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Carrying Capacity

• The maximum stocking rate possible without
  inducing damage to the natural resource base.
  Will vary from year to year due to fluctuating
  forage production and may change over time.

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Stocking Rate

• The area of land which the operator has allotted
  to each animal unit for the entire grazable
  period of the year.
• Generally expressed as aum/ac or ac/aum.

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Stocking Rates vs. Carrying Capacity

• Stocking rates are controlled by the operator and
  may be manipulated.
• Carrying capacity is a biological function and
  cannot be changed unless the climate changes or
  the resource base is improved (plants)

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Stocking Rates vs. Carrying Capacity

• Increasing stocking rates will increase pounds of
  animal product produced per acre to a point.
  Once the carrying capacity is exceeded resource
  degradation will occur and pounds of animal
  product will decrease.
• Proper stocking rates will maximize livestock
  production while protecting the resource base.

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Grazing Land Planning

• Complete a feed and forage balance sheet
  utilizing suggested initial stocking rates from
  the NRCS Technical Guide to calculate a ranch
  carrying capacity.

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Stocking Rates Use In Planning

• Stocking rates are highly variable from year to
  year due to current and past management,
  precipitation and other factors.

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Stocking Rates Use in Planning

• Stocking rates and carrying capacity are
  important to calculate when initially working
  with a client to determine if the current
  management is sustainable.

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Stocking Rates Use in Planning

• Long term stocking rates that are sustainable
  both in favorable and unfavorable years are most
  important to cow/calf operations and less
  important to yearling operations with more
  flexible livestock numbers.

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Stocking Rates Use in Planning

• Calculating stocking rates and carrying
  capacities of a given ranch are only a tool used
  in planning on grazing lands.
• Achieving proper utilization levels is how we
  meet the management goal that we are trying to
  attain.

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Stocking Rates - Use in Grazing Land Planning

• Utilization levels are a direct result of the
  stocking rates applied on a given paddock.
• Research has indicated that utilization rates
  exceeding 50 by weight have a major impact on
  root growth.
• Do not exceed 50 utilization by weight in any
  one grazing period.

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Utilization, seasonal

• The proportion of the forage produced annually
  that is actually harvested by the grazing animal.
  Usually expressed as a percentage of total
  annual forage production.
• Generally strive for 50 utilization by weight
  under extensive systems with a single occupancy.

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Utilization, temporal

• The proportion of available forage (measured to
  ground level) consumed by grazing livestock
  during a grazing period. Usually expressed as a
  percentage of available forage at the beginning
  of the grazing period.
• Appears that around 30 or less utilization
  during each grazing period is optimum with
  intensive systems.

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Bottom Line

• Stocking rates are most important for calculating
  number of animals to be placed in a given paddock
  for a given time to achieve the desired
  utilization.

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Stocking Rates Grazing Systems

• The more intensive the grazing system the more
  critical it is to calculate accurate stocking
  rates.
• More room for error when dealing with a system
  where cattle are moved monthly than in one where
  livestock are moved on 1-4 day intervals.

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Methods of Determining Stocking Rates

• History
• Visit with operator to determine number of head
  run within each paddock for how long.
• Check utilization levels

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Methods of Determining Stocking Rates

• Suggested stocking rates and production estimates
  for range and pasture lands contained within the
  SD Technical Guide.
• NRCS suggested stocking rates are developed for
  continuous grazing.
• With extensive or intensive grazing systems a
  stocking rate of 1.2 to 1.5 times these suggested
  rates are sustainable.

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Methods of Determining Stocking Rates

• Clipping or estimating
• Only tells you what forage is available at the
  time of clipping. Therefore stocking rates
  determined from active growing season clipping
  are only valid for a very short period of time
  (days).
• Peak standing crop clipping data collected over
  time and numerous climatic fluctuations can be
  used to determine carrying capacity or long term
  suggested stocking rates.

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Calculating Stocking Rates From Clipping Data or
Estimates

• Harvest Efficiency - Proportion of total
  production consumed by grazing animal.
• Rangelands - 25 of Peak Standing Crop
• Pasturelands - 30 of Peak Standing Crop
• Includes 50 - take half leave half factor and
  50 loss through trampling, manure, insects,
  plant disappearance, etc.

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Calculating Stocking Rates From Clipping Data or
Production Estimates

• Animal Unit (1000 lb cow with calf) consumes 26
  lb per day (air dry forage) or 780 lb per month
  or 2.6 of its body weight
• Cattle consume on average 2-3 of their body
  weight in forage daily.
• 1400 lb cow with calf requires 35 lbs per day or
  1050 lbs per month and is 1.3 AU equivalents.

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Calculating Stocking Rates From Clipping Data or
Estimates

• 2000 lbs per acre, estimated or clipped, air dry,
  peak standing crop
• 2000 lb x .25 500 lb forage per acre
• 500 lb ac / 780 lb aum .64 aum/ac or 1.6 ac/aum

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Calculating Stocking Rates From Clipping Data or
Estimates

• For 1400 lb cow stocking rate is
• 500 lb ac / 1050 lb auem .48 auem/ac or 2.1
  ac/auem
• or .64 aum/ac divided by 1.3 animal unit
  equivalents .48 auem/ac
• auem animal unit equivalent month

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Stock Density

• Stocking rates determine how much forage is
  available, stock density determines how long it
  will take to harvest it.
• Thought of in terms of steers per acre, pairs per
  acre etc.

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Stock Density

• If stocking rate on 100 ac. .5 aum/ac or 50
  aums
• 50 cow stock density 1 month to harvest
• .5 cows/ac
• 500 cow stock density 3 days to harvest
• 5 cows/ac
• The higher the stock density the quicker the
  moves. Upper limit somewhere around 30 critters
  (cattle) per acre

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Intensive Grazing Systems

• When designing more intensive grazing systems
  with moves based on days think of stocking rates
  based on animal unit days (auds).
• Example paddock with 200 aums available has 200
  x 30 days or 6000 auds available.
• 300 cows can graze this paddock for a total of 20
  days
• Four times through equals 5 days per occupancy

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Intensive Grazing Systems

• When managing intensive grazing systems, forage
  availability (production or stocking rates) may
  often need to be evaluated weekly to determine
  where we move, how long we stay or perhaps how
  big to make a pasture with temporary fencing.

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Harvest Efficiency Intensive Grazing Systems

• When calculating paddock size, length of grazing
  period etc. from current paddock production data
  (clipped or estimates), for grazing systems with
  multiple occupancies (2 or more) multiply the
  total current air dry production by your
  utilization goal to determine usable forage.
• Example
• 1500 lbs current air dry production
• 35 utilization goal
• 1500 x .35 525 lbs forage per acre

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Intensive Grazing Systems

• How big to make a pasture?
• Current air dry production from clipping 1500
  lbs/ac
• 50 utilization goal
• 50 750 lb steers
• 2 day occupancy

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Intensive Grazing Systems

• Answer
• 750 lb steer x 2.5 BW 19 lb day intake per
  steer
• 19 lb x 50 steers x 2 days 1900 lb intake for
  herd
• 1900 lb / 50 Utilization Goal 3800 lb required
• 3800 lb herd / 1500 lbs ac 2.5 acres

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Intensive Grazing Systems

• Or
• 1500 lb/ac x .5 750 lb/ac forage
• 750 lb steer x 2.5 BW 19 lb day intake per
  steer
• 19 lb x 50 steers x 2 days 1900 lb intake for
  herd
• 1900 lb / 750 lb/ac 2.5 ac

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Intensive Grazing Systems

• Current production, plant phenology, species,
  and other factors determine when pastures are
  most suitable to graze to maximize forage
  quality, quantity, and protecting the plant
  resource.
• Weekly evaluations of pastures will determine
  where to move next and how long to stay.

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Grazing System Improvements
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Water

• Deficiency In Quality or Quantity
• reduce animal performance more quickly and more
  severely than any other feed or mineral
  deficiency
• reduce milk production

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Water Quality

• Salinity
• Less than 1,000 mg/litre - excellent
• 1,000 to 7,000 mg/litre - causes problems
• gt 7,000 mg/litre - not recommended
• Nitrates - Combined nitrates in feed and water
  are converted to nitrites in rumen, causes
  respiratory problems and death
• Algae Blooms - Caused by high levels of
  phosphorous and nitrogen

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Water Quantity

• Milking Cow 45 Gal/Day
• Beef Cow 20 Gal/Day
• Horse 20 Gal/Day
• Yearling 15 Gal/Day
• Calf (1-1/2 gal/100 lbs.) 10 Gal/Day
• Sheep goats 2 Gal/Day

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Determining Water Demand

• Beef Cows in midsummer
• will drink 1 to 4 minutes at 1 to 2 gallons /
  minute (1 to 8 gal per visit)
• water 3 to 5 times daily if traveling less than
  2000 ft.
• generally individuals will come to water
• water 1 to 2 times daily if traveling a greater
  distance
• drink several times per visit
• generally herds come to water

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Water Demands

• Temperature increase will increase water
  consumption
• Chart on water intake of most grazing animals
• 50 (F) 5 gal/day
• 100 (F) 20 gal/day

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Maximum Distances To Water

• Recommended in SD Tech Guide
• Gentle Relief 1 Mile
• Rough Relief 1/2 Mile
• Optimum for even Utilization 700 ft
• Dairy grazing systems 200 - 300 ft

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Water Sources

• Ponds
• Wells
• Pipelines
• Public or Community Water Systems
• Tanks
• Springs
• Rivers, Creeks, Lakes

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Fences

• Conventional barbed wire
• High Tensile Electric - utilize high quality New
  Zealand style energizers
• Polywire

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Tips For Managing a Grazing System

• Delay initial grazing or keep early grazing
  periods short. Dont let the cattle get ahead
  of the grass
• Allow adequate leaf area to remain at the
  conclusion of the grazing period.
• Allow adequate time between grazing periods to
  allow leaf area and carbohydrate reserves to build

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Tips For Managing a Grazing System

• Allow adequate residual leaf area and time late
  in the growing season to permit carbohydrate
  build up.
• Base moves on plant and animal needs and not a
  calendar.

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Questions?