To physically make your grazing plan a reality, consider the following infrastructure needs and note whether additional adjustments need to be made on your farm to make your plan successful. Use the checklist at the end of this page to help you identify infrastructure shortfalls on your farm. More in-depth information about grazing system infrastructure can be found on the Grazing System Infrastructure page.
Pasture Access
Are your lanes meeting your needs? Effective lanes should:
- Provide access to and from pasture and between paddocks that prevent livestock from entering paddocks that are not yet ready to be grazed
- Provide equipment access needed to manage pastures (e.g., manure/fertilizer spreader, hay equipment, post-grazing clipping equipment,etc.)
- Be stabilized to prevent erosion
- Be properly surfaced to prevent animal foot damage, injury risk, and risk of mud
Fencing
Fencing can either be temporary or permanent depending on what livestock are being fenced in, wildlife being excluded, management preferences, and funds available. If you鈥檙e new to grazing it may also be helpful to utilize more temporary fencing to allow for flexibility in system layout and management. Whatever you choose, if it is electrified, make sure you have an appropriately sized energizer and a good grounding system. For more specific information on fencing systems and types, see the resources at the end of this page.
Drinking Water and Minerals Access
Water:
- Especially for dairy animals, constant access to clean drinking water is critical.
- Providing water access in a barn, barnyard, or other sacrifice area while livestock are grazing will cause the animals to graze less efficiently.
- Water access that is >900 feet away from grazing livestock will often cause herd animals to visit the water source as a group rather than as an individual which can strain water system capacity and cause negative impacts to the soil surrounding the water source.
- The further the drinking water access, the more time animals have to spend walking to and from a water source and the less time they鈥檙e spending grazing.
- While animals can drink from existing surface waters such as streams or ponds, these risk having bacteria or other pathogens in them and should not be relied on for daily water consumption.
Minerals:
Depending on your system, your livestock may also need to have access to minerals in the pasture. There are a wide range of portable mineral feeders that can be purchased or made inexpensively that protect the minerals from the weather while being easy to move and easy for livestock to feed from.
Heavy Use / Contingency Areas
It is also critical to have a plan for areas the animals will impact heavily and times when you may need to remove animals from pasture entirely. Under extreme drought conditions when pasture growth slows or stops, or in extremely wet conditions, it may be best to remove animals from pasture and provide supplemental feed only. In these cases, animals can be kept in a barn, in a barnyard, or sacrifice area. Care should be taken to designate a safe place for the animals that will not negatively impact the surrounding environment. In addition, you should consider if your grazing system will have areas of heavy use such as congregation areas of shade, water, or feed. The system should be designed in such a way to minimize congregating and potential negative impacts from it but you will need to monitor these areas to ensure they are not heavily impacted over time.