Adaptive Grazing 101: Why Should You Graze Your "Wild" Pastures?

[@Ilovethebush]

So glad to see these videos. We have been sharing them with local cattle farmers in our area as a way to reduce flood damage by increasing soil depth. It is great to see quality videos explaining the benefits of tree forage for cattle

[@MrFiat124Sport]

your channel is the best. legendary. thanks from down under!

[@kevinmcgrath1052]

Great video ... I had to replay the final few seconds to really get the irony of the plants being left behind are the ones thought to be the best for the cattle

[@FuerstenbergE]

So interesting

[@mattcantrell5640]

By adaptive grazing like this where there are these species typically regarded as weeds or undesirables, do you eventually reduce their prevalence in the pasture? How is the plant diversity affected over a 3 to 5 year span of intense adaptive grazing?

[@WallaceCenter]

Great questions! There isn't a clear answer that can be generalized across all pastures because the plant community's response to grazing depends on a whole host of factors. Many farmers and ranchers do see an increase in plant diversity as a result of grazing but it really depends on what's in your seed bank. Increased diversity typically reduces the dominance of "weeds", but many livestock producers have found is that adaptively managed cattle will happily eat these "undesirable" forbs! Dr. Williams talks about this in more detail here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q5TZgKqhgt12g7s

[@guillermogonzalez3652]

great video!! thanks for all these valuable information. In Argentina, we are trying to put into practice these kinds of practices. I admire corporal condition of those cows, eating this pasture. Sometimes, when we want to carry out these new ideas our cows lose weight, so we need to suplement our livestock.

[@C.Hawkshaw]

Do you mean mineral supplements?

[@jeffsandmann4712]

Would the livestock instinctively know if any of the plants in the paddock would make them sick?

[@WallaceCenter]

Great question Jeff. A lot of farmers and ranchers do report that their livestock will avoid toxic plants but emphasize careful management of pastures and grazing regime to avoid accidental poisoning. For example, overgrazed/sparse pastures increase the chance that livestock will ingest something toxic so its important not to just rely on animal instinct.

[@kevinlovill37]

Great content, and I appreciate the education. One question is with my farm we do have areas and patches of sericea lespedeza, horse nettle, and dog fennel. I graze cattle, lambs (which do eat some of the lespedeza), and egg layers. Not sure how to tackle the weeds as the cows with trample it to a certain degree. Believe it or not the egg layer seem to do a little better job since I don’t move them daily. I’m afraid these will be more aggressive than the other warm season palatable forages for the cows. Any recommendations on to manage theses particular “weeds”. I’ve been cutting back after all animals cycle through these areas, but also hate losing the growth from the desirable that are mikes with it… plus the additional recover time that is needed. Thank you guys for the great content! PS I’ve only been grazing it for two years. It was previously being used for hay prior to us purchasing the farm. At that time it was a fescue mono crop.

[@C.Hawkshaw]

Is a forb a plant with leaves instead of blades, like grasses have?

[@WallaceCenter]

Forb is a pretty general category that includes many herbaceous flowering plants that are not graminoids (which includes grass/sedge/rush). Some forbs do have very narrow leaves.

[@russsherwood5978]

what cinda cows are tese? they look like what ai wanta git,, thank ya fer the video

[@WallaceCenter]

They are South Poll cattle. Thanks for watching!