Small-Scale Livestock Farming

by Carol Ekarius

  The recovery period is the time, in days, that it takes for plants to recover their energy after grazing, and the grazing period is the time, in days, that stock normally remain on a paddock. When using the equation to estimate the number of permanent paddocks you want to eventually design for, use the average seasonal recovery period, and an average grazing period that will work for you and your animals.

  Figure 14.6. Mapping the Wilson’s farm. (A.) This is an initial map showing major features of the existing landscape as well as those human-made features that really can’t be relocated, like the house, the barn, and a county road. This map doesn’t show human-made features that can be relocated, nor does it show current fields and fencing.

  (B.) This is the landscape the Wilson’s want to develop in the future; it is their “vision” map. Notice details like ponds, a guest cottage for agritourism, and an area for woody agriculture.

  (C.) This map shows the drainage areas on the Wilson’s farm. Once the vision map and the drainages are determined, the Wilsons can begin designing permanent fencing, new roads or trails, water points, and other long-term design features.

  Following are a few examples.

  The Millers. The Millers estimate that their average recovery period for the year is about 28 days, and they normally try to move their cattle, sheep, and horses at least every 2 days. Plug these numbers into the equation and you come up with

  If they develop fifteen permanent paddocks, for most of the growing season they won’t need to use temporary subdivisions — they can simply open and close gates. They plan to develop eight paddocks immediately; they will develop the other eight as time and money permit.

  The Blacks are in a far more brittle environment, and estimate that their average recovery period is probably closer to 60 days during the growing season. They feel that moving their herd over the larger areas that they are dealing with will work out best with a 3-day grazing period during the growing season. They come up with a figure of twenty-one paddocks for the growing season:

  The dormant season is long in the Blacks’ brittle area, but they can graze for most of it, and the quality of the graze remains adequate even after the forage has gone dormant. They estimate that the average recovery period during the dormant season is 180 days, and they feel a good grazing period during this time will be 2 days. They calculate that they’ll need ninety-one paddocks for their dormant season.

  For the Blacks, running temporary fencing on the scale of land they are dealing with would place unreasonable demands on their labor during the growing season, so they plan to develop the twenty-one permanent paddocks as quickly as possible. During the dormant season, they’ll use temporary wire to subdivide the permanent paddocks, as needed. On their leased public land, which is used only during the growing season, they plan to use herding to control the animals’ access to the grass.

  The Wilsons. The Wilsons live in an area that has an average recovery period of 32 days for the entire growing season, which is quite long. They’d like to be able to move their animals every day — both for the higher production they feel it will give them, and to give their children a meaningful part in the work of the farm. Running the calculation, they come up with thirty-three paddocks. Since this seems like a high number of permanent subdivisions, they decide that they will subdivide into sixteen paddocks, and plan to use temporary subdivisions on a regular basis throughout the year.

  Once you determine the number of permanent paddocks you eventually want to develop, look at your map for ways they might blend in with your land. In nature, there are almost no straight lines, so quit thinking in perfectly straight lines that run north to south, or east to west. Look at fencing designs that take into account the lay of the land. This doesn’t mean that the fences have to be squiggly, it just means that you don’t have to design paddocks that lie in a series of perfect squares. At the same time, square — or almost square — paddocks have some design advantages: The cost of fencing is lower on a paddock that has sides that are approximately the same in length as they are in width, and animals graze better when the proportions of the sides are fairly close.

  Come up with two or three possible designs for your farm that appear to work with the landscape. Then evaluate each to see which one will actually be the most cost effective. This requires making some estimates about what fence and water systems will cost to run, and applying your results to the different possible designs.

  Although it may not be exact, a good rule-of-thumb figure to use for estimating fencing costs for single-strand electric, including gates and corners, is 15 to 20 cents per linear foot ($0.50 to $0.67 per meter). Double-wire fencing will run from 20 to 25 cents per foot ($0.67 to $0.83 per meter), and triple wire will run from 25 to 30 cents ($0.83 to $1.00 per meter). Multiply the number of feet (or meters) of fence in each design by the appropriate figure to estimate your fencing costs.

  Water systems may be harder to evaluate, especially if new wells will have to be drilled. For estimating the cost of buried water lines, use $1.50 per foot ($5.00 per meter).

  Once you have worked through the calculations, you should be ready to choose the design that best meets your needs, and that does it at the lowest cost (Figure 14.7). After you’ve chosen your landscape plan, you can begin implementing it — but don’t worry if you can’t do it all at once. Your plan tells you how you want things to look in the future, not how they have to look today. (Note: These costs may vary significantly in countries other than the United States.)

  Figure 14.7. There are many ways to subdivide paddocks. Here are three designs that work well for subdividing a square field. (A.) Radial with central water. Note that the gates are away from center. By keeping gates away from the center, damage around the water point is reduced. (B.) Radial with a double central alley. This design is excellent for breaking up a large pasture into eight paddocks. The double alleyway minimizes damage and provides for flexibility during very wet periods. (C.) Square with a single central alley. The single alley works well when subdividing smaller pastures that won’t receive as much pressure as a large pasture.

  (Modified from Sam Bingham, Holistic Resource Management Workbook. Covelo, CA: Island Press, 1990, pp. 148, 149.)

  CHAPTER 15

  Monitoring

  Interrelationships among ranch resources, such as people, finances, land, vegetation, climate, animals, and time, as well as activities and external influences must be understood and taken into account by the decision maker. The impact of each decision must be evaluated in advance and the outcome monitored. The decision maker must also be able to anticipate and implement timely changes to optimize outcomes.

  — R. K. Heitschmidt and J. W. Stuth (ed.),

  Grazing Management: An Ecological Perspective

  ALTHOUGH THIS CHAPTER is entitled “Monitoring,” it’s really about monitoring, controlling, and replanning when necessary. If the world were a perfect place, then monitoring wouldn’t be necessary — plans would work out perfectly — but unfortunately, the world is less than perfect. “The best-laid plans of mice and men” often do go astray. The three steps (monitoring, controlling, and replanning) are essential to success. As with planning, monitoring is performed for finances, grazing, and the landscape. Monitoring empowers you to fine-tune your operation.

  Daily Records

  A journal should be used for keeping daily records of importance to your operation. Record the paddocks that the animals are in, the stock densities in the paddocks, where animals are moving to and from, the length of grass as animals move in and out of the paddocks. Use it to record pertinent weather information. Use it to record individual animal information, including birth records, breeding records, culling decisions, vaccination records, and so on. (If you use the five-subject divided notebooks, the information can be easily organized into different sections.)

  We also record our thoughts and discussions in our journal, things we come across in reading that we want to think more about, and information
we learn at seminars or pasture walks.

  Our journal is like a diary of farm life. We mention things like wildlife spottings, when various flowers begin opening, or when the various species of birds return and leave each year.

  As you begin keeping a farm journal, you’ll be amazed by the insights it will yield. It will help you understand what is taking place on your land, and when you discuss your progress with others it will give you documentation to back up the claims you make.

  The three-ring-binder can be used for keeping all of your year’s records in, including photos, computer-or hand-generated worksheets, maps, and, at the end of the year, the journal itself. This gives you one organized source for information.

  Monitoring Essentials

  You’ll need a few items to monitor effectively. We use these:

  A journal. We simply use lined and divided five-subject notebooks — the kind you buy for the kids to start the school year. Nothing fancy, nothing expensive. We find it easiest to keep one per year.

  A three-ring-binder, preferably a fat one.

  Kitchen scale, preferably one that includes grams — most new kitchen scales do.

  Microwave oven.

  A hula hoop. Yup, that’s right, a hula hoop. Preferably bright colored.

  A piece of light rope and tape. Use these to divide the hula hoop in half.

  A yardstick or meter stick.

  Some brown paper lunch sacks or large plastic food storage bags (the zip-seal type is convenient).

  A camera. A cheap 35 mm will do, with color film.

  Monitoring Forage Quantity

  Everything in grass farming starts with forage production, and optimizing your timing for keeping the grass growing at its best is the objective. The first step in the process is to determine how much forage is available. Available forage (AF) can be monitored in several ways, ranging from high tech to estimating a ballpark number.

  The high-tech method of analyzing forage availability includes the use of a rising plate meter, but this is an expensive way to find out how much grass is in a field. These meters run several hundred dollars.

  A method that works well for rough estimates of AF is this trick: Each inch (cm) of growth in a fairly well-sodded field will contain about 300 pounds (136 kg) of available forage per acre (hectare). If the pasture has 8 inches (20 cm) of standing plant matter, that’s 2,400 pounds (8 x 300) (2,720 kg; 20 x 136) of available forage. If the field is not quite as well sodded, estimate a percentage of cover and multiply by that amount. For example, if the sod covers about 75 percent of the ground (25 percent bare spaces between plants), multiply your 2,400 (2,720) by 0.75. In this case, the field has about 1,800 pounds (2,040 kg) of available forage. Using the estimating approach is good for day-to-day monitoring, but at least a couple of times a year it’s a good idea to run your own sample.

  Evaluating a Sample

  Running your own sample isn’t hard to do, and it isn’t expensive. You can run samples in the kitchen, using a kitchen scale and microwave oven.

  By doing these samples, you’ll be able to confirm that the estimates you’re making are pretty close; if they’re far off, your samples will allow you to develop an adjustment factor to bring them back in line. These samples should be run once during the high growing season, once in the low growing season, and once in the dormant season.

  Start by weighing the bag you plan to use for collecting a sample on a kitchen scale; write this number down. Then head out to the field with your hula hoop, your yardstick, and your sample bag. Select a paddock that you are about to graze. Estimate how much forage you think you have in the paddock using the 300 pounds per inch per acre (136 kg/cm/ha) method.

  Now toss your hula hoop out into the field. Wherever it lands is where you’ll actually collect the sample. Using your yardstick (or meter stick), hand-clip a sample from a 1-foot-square (900-cm2 or 30-cm x 30-cm box) area inside your hula hoop. Repeat this step two more times — so your bag will contain the clipped grass from 3 square feet (2,700 cm2 ) worth of sample pasture.

  Bring your sample back to the kitchen and weigh the bag and its contents on the kitchen scale. From this number, subtract the weight of the bag, and multiply the answer by 14,520 (37,037). (This factor is derived by dividing 43,560 square feet per acre by 3 square feet of sample or by dividing 100,000,000 square centimeters per hectare by 2,700 square centimeters of sample.) This amount equals the total pounds (kg) of forage available in the field on a per-acre or per-hectare basis, including water in the forage.

  Finally, to determine the available forage dry matter, stir up the contents of your bag. Weigh out a 3.5-ounce (100-g) sample onto a paper or microwave-safe plate. Clip this sample so that all pieces of grass are between ¾ inch and 1¼ inches (2–3 cm) long, and spread them out evenly on the plate.

  If the sample is a hay sample, which has already dried partway, initially dry for 3 minutes on the microwave’s highest setting. If the sample is fresh forage, the initial drying should be done for 5 minutes.

  After the initial drying, reweigh the sample, and then dry of for a minute more on high. Reweigh again. If the weight has changed, repeat the 1-minute drying and reweighing process until two successive weights are equal.

  As Jim Gerrish says, “If you smell smoke during this exercise — open the microwave door and put out the fire!”

  When the sample is fully dry, the weight in grams will be equal to the percent of dry matter. Multiply the percent of dry matter by the pounds of forage per acre (or kg/ha) you calculated when you first weighed the sample in the bag, to arrive at the dry matter pounds per acre (kg/ha).

  Grain Samples. Grain samples can be tested for dryness using the same basic technique. Spread a 3.5-ounce (100-g) sample thinly on a plate, and follow the instructions above, but adjust initial drying time to 1 minute and subsequent drying times to 30 seconds.

  Correction Factor

  If the sample you have run yields a significantly different number than your estimate, you can develop a correction factor. The correction factor is derived by dividing the quantity of forage in your sample by the quantity you estimated. The Wilsons provide an example. Tom and Karen estimated that their pasture has 90 percent coverage, so they multiply 300 by 0.9 to get 270 pounds per inch (or 136 kg x 0.9 to get 122 kg/cm) of forage. Next, they measure sward length at 10 inches (25 cm), so they come up with available forage dry matter at 2,700 pounds (270 x 10 = 2,700) or 3,050 kilograms (122 x 25 = 3,050). After taking a sample, they discovered that their pasture actually contained about 2,450 pounds per acre (2,709 kg/ha). Their correction factor is 0.91 (2,450/2,700; or 0.89 [2,709/3,050] for metric units). Now each time they estimate forage, they should multiply the estimate they come up with by the correction factor of 0.91 (or 0.89 for metric units).

  Monitoring Forage Quality

  Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to test forage quality at home. But laboratories are available to run samples through an extensive battery of tests that will tell you about energy, major nutrients, and micronutrients available in your pastures. Check appendix E, Resources, for an organization that can give you the names of testing labs in your area.

  Monitoring Forage Intake

  In chapter 14, I gave a chart of estimated dry-matter intakes for various classes of livestock, but as I said there, critters can eat a whole lot more than those average figures, especially when feed quality is high. When feed quality is very low, they can eat far less (Figure 15.1). One way to fine-tune your forage budgets in future years is to monitor actual intake a couple of times during the year. Again, time your monitoring to match the major cycles — high growth, low growth, and dormant season.

  Intake can be measured by several different units: pounds (kg) of dry matter intake per head per day, pounds (kg) of dry matter intake per animal unit per day, or as a percent of body weight. Since the forage budget uses an intake factor based on percent of body weight, that’s the measure we’ll seek. There are five steps used to determine approximate int
ake factors for your herd: Determine paddock size, determine pounds (kg) of dry matter, estimate the total weight of the animals in the paddock, measure sward length as animals enter the paddock and leave the paddock to calculate the amount of dry matter consumed and calculate the intake factor.

  Figure 15.1. The amount of feed an animal needs to take in and the amount it is capable of taking in are both functions of feed quality. With high-quality feed, the animal needs to eat less (A) than if the quality is poor (B). The problem is that when the quality is poor, the animal is physically unable to digest as much feed in the course of a day (C), so it is not meeting its nutrient requirements.

  1. To estimate the size of the paddock, pace off the number of steps in the length of paddock before you allow the animals to enter it. Try to take natural-size steps. Then pace the number of steps in the width of the paddock. Most adults have a natural step length of about 2 feet (61 cm). To determine your own normal step length, pace off a known distance of at least 20 feet (6.1 m) — say, along the side of a wall — and divide the distance by the number of steps. If you do this several times, the average value is your step length in feet (m).