Lanes and Water Crossings
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Lanes are an essential component of an effective grazing system as they allow us to manage animal and sometimes machinery access to pastures when, where, and how we want. But these access points themselves require some planning to ensure they provide those functions and remain functional over time. Below are some resources to developing effective lanes and water crossings. Often, farmers work with their local NRCS staff to implement lane and stream crossing projects. Reach out to your for more information.
Other Infrastructure
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In addition to the physical fencing, water system, and access ways, animals on pasture may also require infrastructure to provide access to feed, minerals, shade, or shelter.
- Feed Access: Think about how and where you鈥檙e providing supplemental feed access on pasture. This may be simply setting round bales out around the pasture, using bale ring feeders, or using a mobile feeding wagon. Consider that if there are too few access points for the size of the herd, animals may excessively congregate in the area and can negatively impact pasture growth and cause soil compaction.
- Mineral Access: Grazing animals likely still require mineral supplementation and depending on other supplements being fed, you may want to provide access to minerals in the pasture. There are a wide range of mobile mineral feeders that can be purchased or made inexpensively.
- Shade, Shelter, and Contingency Plans: Depending on your grazing system, it may be necessary to provide access to shade and shelter to grazing animals. It may also be necessary at times to remove animals from pasture and provide outdoor access elsewhere to mitigate damage to pastures. How you provide or protect animals from these can vary considerably based on your location and what is being provided/protected from.
Strategies may include:
- Trees as windbreaks
- Trees integrated in pasture for shade
- Trees along lanes for shade
- Established silvopasture area(s) for use in hot weather
- Portable shade structure(s) that can be moved in pastures
- Buildings that can provide shade/shelter near pastures
- Sacrifice pastures to be used in excessively wet/dry periods
- Woodchip Pad Structures for winter feeding or use in wet/dry periods
More information at: