Step 1: If you don't have great pasture grass, start reading here

Are you tired of feeding hay because you have no grass? Do you want to use your land better, but you don't know how to get started?

If you are like many farms without great grass, you are not alone. The good thing is that we have the plan to help you move in the right direction. You may not be completely independent on hay for the rest of your life, but we can help you manage your grass better so that your animals (horses, cows, sheep, etc) have a constant supply of succulent pasture grass. The way to be successful with adaptive grazing is to understand that the path will look very different from what you are used to with a traditional barn setup. Creativity and "out of the box" thinking is how you break through the mold.

You first need to accept that the road ahead will take a lot of work (initially), but you will save money in the long run. Your land will also become healthier by the year, offering more nutritious grass after every grazing cycle. Adaptive grazing is "adaptive." Each day, you will make decisions based on what your animals are eating, how the grass is looking, and growing, recent rain, trampling effects which have (or need to) take place, plus much more.

The second thing you will need to realize is that pasture areas will look much smaller. You may not think small daily paddocks will provide enough food, but you have to trust us: they will. You will be putting together paddocks of grass that horses can eat within 24 hours before you move them. Don't worry initially if you get it wrong. Many horses are not used to grazing consistently, so it will take a few days to get them into the routine. Also, your eye will need to be trained on the available forage. It will all come together with time.

If you think you are still willing to start, read my next article on "planning your spaces."

We figured out a goat's favorite treat...by accident

We realized a goat’s favorite thing today and it was totally by accident!

For months, we have been wrestling with our portable goat fencing. We tried the three foot high electric fencing from Premier 1. It was great fencing, but the goats got out every chance they could because it wouldn’t stay tight and would fall down. . Then we moved to 4-foot high chicken netting from Premier 1. Again, the goats would stay in, but after about two weeks, they would scale the fence where the fence would sag.

One of the reasons the goats were getting out was because we did not have time to set up the fencing as often as needed. We set it up every three weeks, but they needed to be moved weekly.

Rotational grazing requires that you move animals frequently to keep fresh food in front of them. Goats rotate at a much slower pace than cows and are happy to stay in an area for several weeks as long as plenty of food is available.

The chicken netting we purchased and the other goat fencing came in 100-foot sections, which made large areas expensive and time-consuming.

Early on, I attempted poly tape fencing, but it was not conducive enough. The goats would go right through it.

We recently purchased the Gallager Turbo Wire, the most conductive polywire they sell. It has 9 x strands of highly conductive mixed-metal filaments. The rolls come with over 1700 feet of line, which gave us plenty of lines to make a 5-string fence in about two hours. We kept step-in posts about 20 feet apart to prevent excessive sagging in the line. We use a deep-cycle marine battery and a Speedrite 3000 fence energizer. This fencing was placed around overgrown kudzu, a pine sapling paradise. A pleasant surprise was when we discovered the goats were chewing on the sapling pine trees when we turned them out. Some of our pastures have been untouched for almost a year, and we noticed saplings were coming up. The goats were going nuts over them, which was very surprising.

It turns out that pine saplings might be a goat’s favorite food. The pine needles also act as a natural wormer to clean their digestive tract. Pine needles are also very high in Vitamin A and C, which helps support immune systems and body function.

It turns out that poly wire can work with goats, saving you time in the long run.

If you enjoyed this article, please feel free to support my content by buying me a coffee. It will be so appreciated and allow me to keep helping you in your farming journey.

Setting up the goat fencing along our driveway where we have an abundance of kudzu and overgrow brush. Notice that polywire can be placed wherever you need it!

** Use a rubber mallet for the step in posts and they will go in anywhere!