The day we got down to it and decided to weigh the flock, our understanding of grazing and animal husbandry here changed. Our previous estimates of the animals’ weights turned out to be dead wrong. The weights are important because the amount of food they need is based on how much they weigh. We had been driving in the dark before we acquired a scale. Then, we were able to weigh the flock.
Here are the first steps to getting a handle on rotational grazing, based on animal weights.
- Weigh the flock to determine the total weight of the entire group. Our total grazing flock weight on January 17, 2021 was 1121.4 lbs. (Our estimates were pretty far off base; having a scale really helps.)
- Multiply the total flock weight by 0.030 (i.e., find out what 3% of their body weight is). That gives you the weight of dry matter feed (like hay) they need to eat in a single day to stay healthy, if they don’t have special needs (like a lactating mother). The scale helped us understand that as of that date, our flock needed a food supply of 33.6 lb./day.
- The animals’ weight will fluctuate throughout the year as the grasses and forbs in the pasture go through their life cycle. Just get started with what the flock weighs on the day you go to the time and trouble to weigh them all. Just get into the neighborhood, and you can fine-tune by eyeballing their condition as you go along.
