Next we consider grazing & rest periods. How long may the animals graze in any given paddock, and how long must that paddock rest before the animals return? The answers to these questions come from understanding various issues that impact the health and vitality of the animals and of the grasses and forbs that they consume. This page explains the details of what we think about as we are looking at the Tally page of our Rotational Grazing Planning (RGP) Tool, deciding which paddocks to graze, when.
Timing for the Plants: Overgrazing
“Overgrazing is staying in a pasture too long at one time (graze period) or returning to a pasture before the plants have fully recovered from the last graze (recovery period).”—Don Campbell, Grazing Planning Basics, In Practice #139, p. 7
Overgrazing stresses the plants and results in a shrinkage of their root mass and a decline in their vigor. This can degrade the pasture over time. The roots underground bring nutrients and support for the plants to grow tall and lush above ground. Root mass acts like a sponge, holding water in the land. With less root mass, the land can’t retain as much water, so the farm becomes browner, sooner in the dry season. This is just the opposite of what we want!
From the plants’ perspective, the best grazing & rest periods vary depend upon the soil conditions and on available moisture. When the soil is moist and the plants are well hydrated, they grow faster, hence, they recover more quickly from grazing. Less moist environments are more brittle; they take longer to recover.
California is a brittle, Mediterranean environment. Rainfall occurs only during the winter months. Richard King teaches that in our Mediterranean environment, pasture needs to rest 30 days in the wet season and 90 days in the dry season.
Timing for the Plants: Thatch
Thatch results when the grass grows too tall and is not eaten. Maybe the grass grew quickly, shooting up when the soil temperature increased as the days grew warmer and longer. Then the grass dried out, and, voila, thatch.
Then in come the animals to a thatchy paddock. They walk around looking for something good to eat. As they walk, the knock over the thatch. It is now even less palatable than when it was standing upright.
Thatch therefore may hang around, uneaten. In the next year, the thatch acts to block light and air for new young shoots. If they can’t get what they need, they die, and the pasture forage condition worsens. Over time, the pasture may degrade farther.
Thatch is not nice to eat, but, if the animals are hungry enough they will graze it down. If possible it’s best to plan the grazing to avoid having thatch in the first place. But it’s tricky, because the grass is slow, slow, slow to grow in the rainy season. Then, the rain stops, the sun heats up the soil, and the grass grows very tall, very fast, faster than the animals can keep up with it. Tractor mowing is a way to get rid of the thatch, but the steep hillsides are dicey for tractor work.
Timing for the Animals: Parasites
Sheep and goats graze from the top of the plant down. They take a bit based on how large their mouthful of food is. If the grass is tall, it will take several bites for their mouths to get close the ground. If the grass is short, their first bite will be close to the ground.
As the sheep and goats graze and walk around, they pee and they poop. Thsi is why they love to go to a fresh pasture: the forage is clean and not fouled by the smell and taste of their own waste products.
Internal parasite infection recycling in ruminants can happen when the animals graze down close to the bottom of the blades of grass, near the ground, where their poop has been deposited.
According to local sheep whisperer Leslie Adkins of Heartfelt Fiber Farm, in our environment, a paddock needs a resting period of 6 weeks (42 days). This timing relates to the life cycles of the various problematic parasites, their egg viability, etc. Leslie is a trained biologist who is strongly focused on animal welfare, who has researched this question, on which there are many conflicting opinions. So, we will adopt Leslie’s recommendations. (First, we have to build more cross-fencing so that we have more grazing paddocks; but, we will get there soon.)
Parasite questions also impact the choice of grazing period in a paddock. If the paddock has rested 42 days, then when the sheep and goats come back, presumably, the ground is clean of infectious parasites. But the moment the animals return, they start peeing and pooping again. That poop may contain the eggs of parasites that can cycle back and reinfect the animals. When parasites take hold of an animal, the animal is drained and loses vitality; healthy animals have a low parasite load, and we want our grazing practices to support the animals’ health.
The parasites’ egg hatching time varies with parasite species. Leslie says that ideally, sheep would graze no longer than 3 days in a paddock and 5 days is probably okay for the bigger paddocks.
Leslie also recommends not putting sheep in a paddock if the grass is shorter than 4 inches. This means that whatever is written on the grazing plan, the shepherd must go out and visually assess conditions in the pasture before putting the flock there for the day. We do this every day anyway, just to check that there are no surprises, to check the water supply, and so on. When there is no good paddock available on a given day, the animals can stay in their night pen (sheep say: Bummer!!) and eat hay.
Timing for the Animals: Foxtails
Foxtails are an invasive, non-native grass species that has become common in California. For part of every year, it greatly impacts our choices about paddock grazing & rest periods.
Its seed heads are mildly toxic for the animals to eat, but, when the seeds dry, they become deadly threats to animal health. The seeds contain barbs the pierce the flesh and can cause abcesses and even, death. The seeds are a threat to the sheep, the goats, and especially, the guardian dogs.
So, when the grasses seed, if the foxtails in that area are dense, we may have to mow down all the forage, and even cover the mown heads with wood chips or plastic sheeting. We lose the paddock availability, so that is a forced paddock resting period.
Foxtail grass is edible and even nutritious before going to seed. When the plants go to seed depends on the time of year. Our vet bills relating to foxtail injuries usually are highest in the period from May – October.
Timing for the Animals: Weather
The sheep don’t like the hot sun; the goats don’t like the rain.
When it’s raining or threatening rain, we always keep the goats in their night pen and don’t let them go out to pasture; they can’t stand to get wet, and easily sicken from it.
We often do the same for the sheep. This helps avoid respiratory infections and vet bills.
When it’s dry and hot, the goats, whose ancestors hail from Nigeria, love the weather. The sheep whose ancestors are from Brittany and Iceland, pant and wait for sunset. Shade is necessary in every paddock to keep the animals healthy. Sheep can die from heat stress.
One Year at a Time
It is a multi-year process for us to cross-fence the land and to build our grazing paddocks with shelter and water available from each paddock. In January 2021, we have some large paddocks that need subdividing and need water brought there. But we are much farther along than before, and so it’s just taking it a year at a time in terms of budget, energy, and available time. Each infrastructure improvement increases available choices for grazing & rest periods, helping the health and vitality of the pastures and the animals.