How to Use a Leader-Follower Grazing System

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An ideal restoration agriculture grazing system would be a multispecies, mob-stocked, leader-follower system beginning with cattle.
An ideal restoration agriculture grazing system would be a multispecies, mob-stocked, leader-follower system beginning with cattle.
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Eeyore (we name our livestock!) grazes in among the hazelnuts. Animals are rotated frequently to avoid hoof damage to tree roots. A portable two-strand polywire fence with a solar charger is all that is needed. For pigs, both strands are lowered to nose and ear height.
Eeyore (we name our livestock!) grazes in among the hazelnuts. Animals are rotated frequently to avoid hoof damage to tree roots. A portable two-strand polywire fence with a solar charger is all that is needed. For pigs, both strands are lowered to nose and ear height.
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In addition to thriving on pasture, pigs are the ultimate cleanup tool, eating unmarketable produce and cleaning up after apple, hazelnut and chestnut harvests.
In addition to thriving on pasture, pigs are the ultimate cleanup tool, eating unmarketable produce and cleaning up after apple, hazelnut and chestnut harvests.
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Tammy, the Tamworth matriarch, enjoys her pats while telling the author about the state of the herd. Of all the breeds we've tried, Tamworths seem to thrive the best on a no-grains, pasture and tree crops diet. The pigs rations are comprised of mulberries, cherries, apples, hazelnuts, hickories and chestnuts and, of course, visually imperfect produce of all kinds from asparagus to green peppers.
Tammy, the Tamworth matriarch, enjoys her pats while telling the author about the state of the herd. Of all the breeds we've tried, Tamworths seem to thrive the best on a no-grains, pasture and tree crops diet. The pigs rations are comprised of mulberries, cherries, apples, hazelnuts, hickories and chestnuts and, of course, visually imperfect produce of all kinds from asparagus to green peppers.
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Turkeys at work grinding up mineral amendments with caterpillars, grasshoppers, slugs and more and depositing them in easily decomposed packages across the pasture. Give thanks for pest control and fertility!
Turkeys at work grinding up mineral amendments with caterpillars, grasshoppers, slugs and more and depositing them in easily decomposed packages across the pasture. Give thanks for pest control and fertility!
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Dealing with chickens in a leader-follower system can be somewhat challenging, but they do eventually learn how to avoid predation and eventually become nearly care-free.
Dealing with chickens in a leader-follower system can be somewhat challenging, but they do eventually learn how to avoid predation and eventually become nearly care-free.
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The goat's ability to thrive on almost anything is both its greatest strength and its greatest curse.
The goat's ability to thrive on almost anything is both its greatest strength and its greatest curse.
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A silvopasture system is an intentional combination of forage and trees with livestock. Repeated university research shows that with proper management, forage yields increase, forage digestibility improves, and animals gain faster at lower costs. Here, Holstein steers graze in the hazelnut savanna: two crops from the same acre! Recently populations of savanna sparrows have begun to expand. Ecological restoration can occur simultaneously with agriculture, not separate from it.
A silvopasture system is an intentional combination of forage and trees with livestock. Repeated university research shows that with proper management, forage yields increase, forage digestibility improves, and animals gain faster at lower costs. Here, Holstein steers graze in the hazelnut savanna: two crops from the same acre! Recently populations of savanna sparrows have begun to expand. Ecological restoration can occur simultaneously with agriculture, not separate from it.
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Mark Shepard describes a vision of nature-inspired farming in
Mark Shepard describes a vision of nature-inspired farming in "Restoration Agriculture," based on his experience creating his own 106-acre perennial agricultural ecosystem, and offers advice on how to create a farm that works with, rather than against, the dominant conditions of the environment.

Restoration Agriculture (Acres U.S.A., 2013) by Mark Shepard reveals how to sustainably grow perennial food crops that can feed us in our resource-compromised future. The goal of a restoration agriculture system is to take advantage of all the benefits of natural, perennial ecosystems by creating agricultural systems that imitate nature in form and function while still providing for our food, building, fuel and other needs, and this book is a guide to creating such a system based on real-world practices. The following excerpt from chapter 9, “Livestock & Restoration Agriculture,” deals with adding livestock to a perennial agriculture system.

You can purchase this book from the MOTHER EARTH NEWS store: Restoration Agriculture.

Stocking Rates for Multispecies Grazing

Everybody who lives in grazing country has seen a pasture where there are just too many animals on the pasture. Plain and simple. The animals eat every morsel of green until even the closest cropped golf course green appears lush. Once they’ve eaten the pasture down to those levels, there’s not enough feed for the animals and their health and nutrition suffer. Soil compaction becomes an issue because there is no longer any more root penetration to drill channels for water to percolate down into or to add fibrous carbon to the soil. Overgrazing of animals is one of the largest causes of land degradation and desertification on a global scale. Degradation from overgrazing is used by the proponents of animal confinement operations as a propaganda tool to eliminate the small grazier or rancher as competition in the food markets. As practitioners of restoration agriculture we will want to be especially aware of the anti-overgrazing bias that exists in many circles, because our goal is one of restoring health and vitality to the earth-plant-animal system, and not degradation. By being observant and by carefully managing our grazing patterns we will be able to ensure that this is so. Overstocking a pasture with one type of livestock and not rotating them to new pasture is the sure way to ruin.

That said, understocking a pasture can also lead to overgrazing. This may seem counterintuitive, but it is actually possible.

  • Published on Jan 20, 2015
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