Measure the Fields

For the next step in figuring out our rotational grazing plan, we needed to measure the fields. We walked out to the pastures with a 300′ tape. Google Earth also can help you measure from your computer screen.

Here is how to Measure the Fields:

1. Draw a sketch of your grazing area(s). You can make a rough sketch. To be more precise, search for your address and download an image from Google Earth to use as a base (see the picture from Google Earth above).
2. Measure the perimeters of your grazing area(s). Make notes! Name your paddocks!
3. Determine the square footage of each total paddock space.
   • For square or rectangular paddocks, multiply the length by the width.
   • For other shapes, you can make smaller sub-areas that are squares or rectangles for calculation, and do the best you can.
4. Look around the paddock to see if there are any areas that are not available for grazing. Here, we have planted silvopasture refugias with California native plants. To protect the native plants from grazing, we cage them in with field fence. Hence, we can’t count the enclosed refugia areas as part of our paddock for grazing.
5. Measure the perimeters of your “not available for grazing” areas. Make notes!
6. For each paddock, subtract the “not available for grazing” areas from the total square footage of the paddock. This is the number to use for the grazable square footage of the paddock.
7. Add up the total grazable square footage of all your paddocks.
8. Convert the total grazable square footage to acreage.
   • 43,560 square feet = 1 acre.

On Our Farm

In 2021 we built a lot of cross fencing (and added some Refugia space). We will update all these grazing tools pages soon!

Our total grazing acreage in January 2021 is: