Nice job, this is my 3rd year doing almost the exact same thing. I can tell a huge difference in the quality of my pasture. I have 3 brood cows now with 2 heifer calves on roughly 5 acres. I plan on running chickens behind them once the lumber prices come back down and I can build a mobile coop that won't cost a small fortune. Keep up the good work!!
Thanks for the great video, I am in the Paralysis by Analysis mode. I have about 5 acres and running sheep and a cow. I keep telling myself I will do it next year but it can be daunting to try to figure out all the sizes of paddocks and amount of animals to put in.
So glad to find your channel. Appreciate your shrinking what Greg is doing! Thank you for sharing all your trial and errors. Plus great review info refreshher. Look forward to implementing. Great job
You're exactly right, just putting the first posts in the ground is the hardest. :) Someone finally pushed me off start and it's been five years now. I'm amazed at the difference in my pasture. It saved me one late summer when we had a dry spell. I still have 8 days of grazing left when the rains came. It looks nice! You're ahead of me, I only have one birdhouse up...
Thanks Doug! I absolutely agree it’s really hard to leave a long residual. It’s been even harder to leave an entire pasture untouched this year as far as looks and forage quality are concerned
Real quick too - what fiberglass posts are you using for your corners/cross fences? They seem to hold pretty tight! I need a better option for our corner posts. Thanks!
@@WR_Ranch are you on the reGenerative Grazing group on FB - they've helped me a lot and i'm sure you could help others because land is getting more expensive, which makes buying large farms impossible for us normal folk
They are from Tractor Supply, brand is Sun..... something I can’t remember exactly . I will do a video on posts here soon. It’ll be quick. Thanks for the topic idea!
I'm smaller than you, I have 2 steers its working good, we need a rain pretty dry in New England. Something to remember is your pasture production is going to increase dramatically in the next few years. With low numbers of animals you get less impact. This my first full year grazing it will be Interesting to see the results.
I agree. I’m excited to see how it all increases. It will be a balance of having enough impact to make a difference but not too much so you set your self up for failure as soon as the rain stops. Keep up the good work!
In forestry we use chains 66 ft Multiply 2 sides in chains then divide by 10 for acres So 5 chains is 330 ft 5 times 5 equals 25 Divide by 10 gives 2.5 acres A mile is 80 chains So a section is 640 acres It's good to ball park a field
I did the same thing for 58 acres. I even subtracted area to 55 because I wasn't cutting down shade trees. I've learned that luckily from others before I ever bought a chainsaw 😂
Thank you for this video! I'm property hunting and planning on some Dexters with 5-10 acres. The smaller scale you have is more ideal for family homesteaders not really looking to have a huge business, just for the family. Best wishes!
Do it just to see. It really didn’t work for me. They would just stay put too long on one side and ignore the rest. They would also create walk trails that I still see in the grass to this day. Sometimes though I had to make them that way so they could get to shade.
The shape of the paddock and where the water source is placed will also have an effect on the grazing outcome. In a square paddock, the herd will utilize more forage, while in a long, narrow paddock the animals will trample more litter on the ground. - Quote from some article on paddock divisions.
Funny how you almost need more portable fencing for a small herd than a large herd so you can make those small paddocks in a large field. It's worth it though.
Sounds good. I look for full bellies, a good graze, and animal behavior as well. Long narrow strips promote trampling which is good for building soil. Square promotes consumption which promotes animal performance and slower pace around the farm. So about 38000lbs/acre twice a day?
Great video, so I tried to figure this out also. I have right at 4 acres of pasture. What I came up with/ square footage of 4 acres/ divided by 60 days of rotation comes to right at 53’ X 53’ per 24 hr. Day. Do you think this would sustain a cow and calf? With some hay when needed.
I definitely think so. Obviously it depends on your grass amount, quality, and rain (regrowth) but that’s like 2,800 sq feet for one cow for 24 hours? Mine are about 800 sq ft per cow for 24 hours. 60 days is a good rest amount, obviously if you need more time you can tighten down the sq ft to get more grazing days before you start back on what has already been grazed. But yes, I would be shocked if you run out of grass. Keep me posted!
I do not. I considered it, but ultimately decided to stay off the grass as much as possible with the machinery. Plus leaving the grass long, I felt a harrow would not get down low and really spread out the manure. What are you using for a drag?
keep in mind that overgrazing would only happen if you left the cattle in the paddock for too long 3+ days or came back too quick and they eat the regrowth of the plant before its fully recovered. Taking the plant down too far is far less dangerous than coming back to the same ground too early. check out Jaime's channel he explains a ton and is also like Judy a great source of info. ruclips.net/video/0Xbjh21iD9U/видео.html
Mason Lantz yep that’s a good point. I won’t back fence in a strip if it means they can access shade in an area that they have been before as long as it hasn’t been over 2 days. As far as taking a plant down too far, that’s where it can get tough on a small scale because we only have so much grass, the further it gets eaten down the longer the recovery and the more likely I will run out of recovered grass ahead of them. It’s a guessing game. Take enough that they work through the pastures slow and allow it to recover before they come back, but not enough that the recovery period turns into a great length of time.
@@WR_Ranch true but also means they will cover the farm much slower. so you would have longer until it needs to be grazed also. which is alot of what Jaime talks about. He has an interesting perspective on the more popular grazing methods of leaving residual. not saying he is right but i like to see all the perspectives especially if they argue there point well.
Oh absolutely. I am still learning and each year seems to be needing a different management style. I love hearing what everyone else does and thinks when it comes to grazing. Thanks for the link i have that video saved to watch tonight!
@@WR_Ranch awesome he also has some great workshop videos on the living web farms channel. yeah im always trying to find more experience to learn from since its hard to find local ranchers using a regenerative adaptive style grazing. so enjoy watching your videos that show different scale and learning experiences.
Just curious, what state are you in man. We're looking into to doing the same thing on 25 acres, but really only have like 10ish acres of good grazing.
Iowa. A bit south central. What about you? 25 acres would be perfect. Enough to run a decent sized herd but not too much land that it gets away from you and you are still working on a small scale.
@@WR_Ranch I'm in South central Missouri, almost Arkansas. We're getting our first dexters next month, it should make things interesting being so close to winter.
Depends on the width of the strip but most of the moves this spring have been 200 feet advancement across the pasture each day. That’s for the whole herd.
@@WR_Ranch your pasture looks really nice. I’m working on rehabilitating mine. Just bought it last year. Thanks for the info I appreciate the education.
Nice job, this is my 3rd year doing almost the exact same thing. I can tell a huge difference in the quality of my pasture. I have 3 brood cows now with 2 heifer calves on roughly 5 acres. I plan on running chickens behind them once the lumber prices come back down and I can build a mobile coop that won't cost a small fortune. Keep up the good work!!
Thank you! I just turned my chickens out, but won’t run them behind the cows until the second batch in august. Keep me posted on your progress!
Thanks for the great video, I am in the Paralysis by Analysis mode. I have about 5 acres and running sheep and a cow. I keep telling myself I will do it next year but it can be daunting to try to figure out all the sizes of paddocks and amount of animals to put in.
Best advice is just start! You’ll actually get it figured out pretty quick. I’m curious about keeping the sheep in. Let me know if I can help!!
So glad to find your channel. Appreciate your shrinking what Greg is doing! Thank you for sharing all your trial and errors. Plus great review info refreshher. Look forward to implementing. Great job
You're exactly right, just putting the first posts in the ground is the hardest. :) Someone finally pushed me off start and it's been five years now. I'm amazed at the difference in my pasture. It saved me one late summer when we had a dry spell. I still have 8 days of grazing left when the rains came.
It looks nice! You're ahead of me, I only have one birdhouse up...
Thank you for the words! I have been having trouble getting these birdhouses inhabited by the species I want. Any tips?
Cows look great. The hardest thing for me was changing my mind about what is waste.
Thanks Doug! I absolutely agree it’s really hard to leave a long residual. It’s been even harder to leave an entire pasture untouched this year as far as looks and forage quality are concerned
love this - trying to accomplish the same thing on about 6-7 acres in a silvopasture on severely neglected property.
Very nice! We have an acre of woods I have been cleaning up for a few years. I hope to put them on next year.
Real quick too - what fiberglass posts are you using for your corners/cross fences? They seem to hold pretty tight! I need a better option for our corner posts. Thanks!
@@WR_Ranch are you on the reGenerative Grazing group on FB - they've helped me a lot and i'm sure you could help others because land is getting more expensive, which makes buying large farms impossible for us normal folk
They are from Tractor Supply, brand is Sun..... something I can’t remember exactly . I will do a video on posts here soon. It’ll be quick. Thanks for the topic idea!
I am not on Facebook unfortunately but that sounds like a good group
I'm smaller than you, I have 2 steers its working good, we need a rain pretty dry in New England. Something to remember is your pasture production is going to increase dramatically in the next few years. With low numbers of animals you get less impact. This my first full year grazing it will be Interesting to see the results.
I agree. I’m excited to see how it all increases. It will be a balance of having enough impact to make a difference but not too much so you set your self up for failure as soon as the rain stops. Keep up the good work!
Your are doing an Excellent Job Grazing!
Thank you!
I can totally relate: analysis paralysis. I’m in my first 4 months, in central KY. feeling my way thru this.. thanks for your video.
It will be easier trust me lol.
In forestry we use chains
66 ft
Multiply 2 sides in chains then divide by 10 for acres
So 5 chains is 330 ft
5 times 5 equals 25
Divide by 10 gives 2.5 acres
A mile is 80 chains
So a section is 640 acres
It's good to ball park a field
I did the same thing for 58 acres. I even subtracted area to 55 because I wasn't cutting down shade trees. I've learned that luckily from others before I ever bought a chainsaw 😂
Awesome content applied on the smaller scale. Subbed and very excited to see your journey.
Thank you for this video! I'm property hunting and planning on some Dexters with 5-10 acres. The smaller scale you have is more ideal for family homesteaders not really looking to have a huge business, just for the family. Best wishes!
Thank you! Best of luck in the hunt!
Beautiful herd
Thank you!
Thx for that Rob, I had been thinking about narrow strips....
Do it just to see. It really didn’t work for me. They would just stay put too long on one side and ignore the rest. They would also create walk trails that I still see in the grass to this day. Sometimes though I had to make them that way so they could get to shade.
@@WR_Ranch Hey Rob, so in total how many acres do you have to graze?
The shape of the paddock and where the water source is placed will also have an effect on the grazing outcome. In a square paddock, the herd will utilize more forage, while in a long, narrow paddock the animals will trample more litter on the ground. - Quote from some article on paddock divisions.
Funny how you almost need more portable fencing for a small herd than a large herd so you can make those small paddocks in a large field. It's worth it though.
Great advice!
Thank you!
great looking grass!
Thank you for this.
Hope it helped
Sounds good. I look for full bellies, a good graze, and animal behavior as well. Long narrow strips promote trampling which is good for building soil. Square promotes consumption which promotes animal performance and slower pace around the farm. So about 38000lbs/acre twice a day?
Hahaha, I’m doing the exact same thing, converting Gregg math to fit
It can be a chore can’t it? But still, super glad to have someone giving out that free advice!
Look up dr Allen Williams on how to use an NRCS grazing stick. I think the Wallace center put a Video up with it in it
I have seen it! I love the Wallace Centers video series with Dr. Williams
Great story! Are you going to get sheep? Thank for sharing!
Funny you mention that! I have been considering getting just one for the weed control. Something I plan to seriously research this winter
@@WR_Ranch the sheep will do much better if you get more than one, they are herd animals.
A W thank you for the reply. Do they need another sheep? Or would cows in the same strip as them work fine to keep them happy.
@@WR_Ranch cows and sheep are fine together, but you should have more than one sheep.
Great video, so I tried to figure this out also. I have right at 4 acres of pasture. What I came up with/ square footage of 4 acres/ divided by 60 days of rotation comes to right at 53’ X 53’ per 24 hr. Day. Do you think this would sustain a cow and calf? With some hay when needed.
I definitely think so. Obviously it depends on your grass amount, quality, and rain (regrowth) but that’s like 2,800 sq feet for one cow for 24 hours? Mine are about 800 sq ft per cow for 24 hours. 60 days is a good rest amount, obviously if you need more time you can tighten down the sq ft to get more grazing days before you start back on what has already been grazed. But yes, I would be shocked if you run out of grass. Keep me posted!
thats my idea is to start a micro ranch
Do you drag your fields I have 10 ac 5 cows I drag my each time I move to new field it works great spreading manure?
I do not. I considered it, but ultimately decided to stay off the grass as much as possible with the machinery. Plus leaving the grass long, I felt a harrow would not get down low and really spread out the manure. What are you using for a drag?
I use a couple logs it helps to spread the big pile because the cows
Will not eat at the big piles I use my wheel
I hope you're aware of 'Reviving the Independent Farmstead with Shawn & Beth Dougherty'. They have a talk on Living Web's channel :)
I will check it out thanks!
Hey Rob! This is really neat! What's your water set up?
It’s actually pretty basic. I am currently putting together a video on that now. Hopefully out soon!
keep in mind that overgrazing would only happen if you left the cattle in the paddock for too long 3+ days or came back too quick and they eat the regrowth of the plant before its fully recovered. Taking the plant down too far is far less dangerous than coming back to the same ground too early. check out Jaime's channel he explains a ton and is also like Judy a great source of info.
ruclips.net/video/0Xbjh21iD9U/видео.html
Mason Lantz yep that’s a good point. I won’t back fence in a strip if it means they can access shade in an area that they have been before as long as it hasn’t been over 2 days. As far as taking a plant down too far, that’s where it can get tough on a small scale because we only have so much grass, the further it gets eaten down the longer the recovery and the more likely I will run out of recovered grass ahead of them. It’s a guessing game. Take enough that they work through the pastures slow and allow it to recover before they come back, but not enough that the recovery period turns into a great length of time.
@@WR_Ranch true but also means they will cover the farm much slower. so you would have longer until it needs to be grazed also. which is alot of what Jaime talks about. He has an interesting perspective on the more popular grazing methods of leaving residual. not saying he is right but i like to see all the perspectives especially if they argue there point well.
Oh absolutely. I am still learning and each year seems to be needing a different management style. I love hearing what everyone else does and thinks when it comes to grazing. Thanks for the link i have that video saved to watch tonight!
@@WR_Ranch awesome he also has some great workshop videos on the living web farms channel. yeah im always trying to find more experience to learn from since its hard to find local ranchers using a regenerative adaptive style grazing. so enjoy watching your videos that show different scale and learning experiences.
I expect one day, there will be an app for that 🙂...permaculturing, an such, is going to get bigger.
Pretty grateful for the metric system right now.
Just curious, what state are you in man. We're looking into to doing the same thing on 25 acres, but really only have like 10ish acres of good grazing.
Iowa. A bit south central. What about you? 25 acres would be perfect. Enough to run a decent sized herd but not too much land that it gets away from you and you are still working on a small scale.
@@WR_Ranch I'm in South central Missouri, almost Arkansas. We're getting our first dexters next month, it should make things interesting being so close to winter.
Check out Dr. Allen Williams videos on judging feed and choosing pasture size. He has some wonderful how-to videos. Also check out Understanding Ag.
I love Doc Williams stuff. His videos are fantastic.
You need to grow your own rule of thumbs. Interesting.
So what is your number of feet a day per cow ?
Depends on the width of the strip but most of the moves this spring have been 200 feet advancement across the pasture each day. That’s for the whole herd.
How high is your wire?
Usually about 30 inches
@@WR_Ranch Thank you Rob! I really appreciate it. 👍
So how many acres of pasture total do you have?
Currently 5
@@WR_Ranch your pasture looks really nice. I’m working on rehabilitating mine. Just bought it last year. Thanks for the info I appreciate the education.
Glad I could help. Good luck with yours!
pls redo this video as the sound quality is terrible
Yeah unfortunately using my cell phone it isn’t the best. Sorry man