Rotating the Cows Through Paddocks

Five cows and four goats on three acres puts a strain on the pasture.  We'll be getting rid of the bull in a month or two, so that should help, but the cows clip that grass down and groom it better than a finishing mower.  It looks like a manicured lawn, doesn't it?

I have 7 paddocks separated by portable electric fence that is rolled up using a Gallagher reel.  I use step-in fiberglass posts to hold up the electrified poly wire powered by a Gallagher Solar charger.  The sun charges the fence and makes the grass grow.  How about that?

I keep the cows on one paddock for two days and then I move them into the next paddock. As you can see below, there is fresh, tender growth on the grass.  This is the most tender and nutritious part of the plant, and the cows know it.  Right over the electrified fence, the cows can see the tender growth, beckoning the herbivores to come eat.

The cows are very resourceful.  They will crane their necks under the fence as far as they can as the photo below indicates.  One careless lift of the neck, however, and they'll feel a pop that will send them running!

The cows have been conditioned to come running when they hear me rolling up the fending on the reel.  That signals to them that a new paddock is opening up.  It is like ringing the dinner bell to the bovines.  They will come running, enter the new paddock and immediately begin eating grass.  Crunch, crunch, crunch...

We still supplement with hay, but if you are a cow, this is where you want to be - on a fresh new paddock that has just been opened up.  In just two days, they will have this grass eaten and will be ready to move to the next paddock.  And so it goes until fall when the grass peters out.  Rotational grazing has helped us better manage grass consumption and contributes positively in animal health.