Writing & Using a Grazing Management Plan

A grazing management plan serves as a roadmap for improving ranch productivity and helps producers efficiently allocate forage across their land. Grazing plans help producers anticipate and prepare for risks, take advantage of market opportunities, coordinate grazing with family schedules and ranch operations, and make efficient use of every acre of the ranch.

Writing your Grazing Management Plan:

1. Draw or print a detailed map of pastures. Write out information on top of the image including pasture names, forage types, total acres and grazeable acres (accounting for brush, water bodies and infrastructure).
2. On a spreadsheet, record your pasture names or numbers, including information about the number of grazeable acres. Use rows across the top to record days and columns on the left to record pasture names and information. See the QR code below to use Noble’s grazing plan template.
3. On a separate document, write down all of your current livestock enterprises, including herd sizes, animal weights and animal unit calculations.
4. Make a note of important dates and events throughout the year that will impact livestock movement, including family or staff vacations, livestock weaning periods or maintenance projects.
5. Consider and write out your specific decision points for both risk management (like drought responses) and opportunity-taking (like favorable market conditions).
   Example 1: If rainfall is below normal, measure forage and de-stock.
   Example 2: If goat prices exceed $3.50 per pound sell culls immediately.

Noble’s Tips for Enhancing Your Grazing Management Plan:

• Use color coding to track different livestock types (e.g., blue for cattle, green for goats).
• Calculate “herd days per pasture” to determine how long livestock can graze each area.
• Consider leader-follower grazing scenarios when managing multiple species of livestock.
• Account for seasonal variations and infrastructure projects that might affect grazing patterns.

Using Your Grazing Management Plan:

1. Review your plan regularly, and adapt it as needed. It should be a dynamic, living document that responds when the conditions on your ranch change.
2. Hold yourself accountable to reviewing your plan at least quarterly, in unison with calculating point-in-time available forage on your ranch to help you make data-driven decisions.

Useful Grazing Calculations:

Scan this code with your smart phone to access our grazing plan template and a detailed video tutorial from Noble’s grazing management advisor, Josh Gaskamp.

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