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One key principle of grazing management is the proper distribution of livestock, in which the primary objective is to use forages more efficiently without damaging the resource. Livestock, much like people, tend to be creatures of habit in how they eat and live. They seldom put forth any more effort to satisfy their needs than is necessary. I frequently observe both under and overuse of forages within a single pasture or paddock, even under ideal conditions. These differences within a given pasture are caused by the grazing habits of the animals using it. Livestock are both area and species-selective. Area-selective grazing results when animals prefer one particular area to another because of factors that include the size and shape of pastures; location of water, salt and minerals; feeding areas; fencing; soil and forage practices.
Most of us would agree that dividing land areas into smaller pastures allows us to use available forage more efficiently; however, fencing may not be practical in every situation or may not be an alternative you wish to consider. The locations of water, salt, minerals and feeding greatly influence grazing distribution. Animals typically visit these locations at least once a day.
Since many of us put out salt and feed by water, it soon becomes obvious that we create a problem with livestock distribution. Separating the three, if possible, would facilitate better forage use. Kind and class of livestock also might influence grazing distribution. For example, cattle tend to graze level bottomlands, whereas sheep and goats prefer ridgetops and slopes. Cattle and horses tend to graze with the wind, while sheep and goats tend to graze into it. Younger stocker animals respond differently than mature ones, which is not surprising because their nutrient requirements are different.
Finally, forage practices such as prescribed burning, fertilization and mowing also influence grazing distribution. Livestock tend to prefer these areas because of the removal of old growth, initiation of new growth, or both. Keep in mind, however, that since livestock tend to prefer these areas, they may also tend to abuse them.
Species-selective grazing is a result of animals preferring one species or plant over another. For example, it is not uncommon for animals to repeatedly graze only one of two samespecies plants growing side-by-side. Given a choice, most animals are species-selective grazers. To increase forage use efficiency, we need to prevent animals from continually and frequently grazing the same species or plant. On the other hand, proper grazing actually is beneficial to plant vigor and increases the forage available to livestock. Let’s review some options to improve the grazing distribution of livestock:
- Fence pastures by similar forage types or production potentials.
- Locate salt and feeding areas away from water.
- Take advantage of different species or classes of livestock.
- Feed in underused areas.
- Develop water in under used areas.
- Use tools such as stock density, prescribed burning, fertilization and rotational grazing to improve livestock distribution.
If livestock grazed vegetation uniformly, proper livestock distribution would be a simple. Unfortunately, grazing uniformity is one of our greatest challenges, but remember — creativity is the key to most successful operations.