Agricultural Science

Topic: Types of grazing system.

Ms. Meeks
 Research/ Define the following to better
understand the information
 Forage
 Continuous
 Rotation
• Palatability
• Grazing
• Deferred
• Praedial larceny
• Pasture
• Paddock
• silage
 Types of Grazing System
• Zero grazing
• Rotational grazing
• Strip grazing
• Continuous grazing
• Deferred grazing
 Zero Grazing
• Zero grazing In this type of grazing system, the
animals are not allowed to go out into
harvested when it is too young it can cause
diarrhoea in animals and it can also cause the
plants to die or stunt their growth. If forage is
harvested when it is too old, it will become
too woody and loose its palatability.
 Advantages of zero grazing
• Zero grazing reduces praedial larceny.
• Allows monitoring and control diseases.
• Highly productive
• Reduces missing animals
• No fencing and water supplies required
• Requires less space
 Disadvantages of zero grazing
• Time consuming as it requires a lot of time to
harvest grass forage and transport it to animals.
• Increased production costs as people have to
employed to cut and transport grass or forage
• Requires proper managing of forage and grass.
• Knowledge of the most suitable time of for
harvesting.
 Simple Rotational Grazing
• Simple rotational grazing is a pasture system in which
more than one pasture area is used and livestock are moved
to different pasture areas during the grazing season.
• Pastures need rest periods to recover from grazing and
allow plants to re-grow.
• Simple rotational grazing usually increases forage yields
and quality.
• Stocking rates can usually be increased.
• Each pasture must have access to water and shelter (or
shade).
 Intensive Rotational Grazing
Intensive rotational grazing is a system with many pastures (at
least 7), often times called paddocks or cells.
• Livestock (animal) are moved from paddock to paddock
based on forage growth and utilization.
• The number of paddocks and frequency of rotation depends
upon many factors, including the class of livestock and
production goals of the manager.
• After 3 days, livestock will start to graze re-growth of plant
material.
• It is usually recommended that livestock be rotated every 3 to
7 days to a new paddock. •
 Advantages of Rotational Grazing
• Reduce soil erosion
• Manure is more evenly distributed in
paddocks.
• Weed control is better, as animals are usually
forced to eat everything in a paddock.
• Limits the compaction of soil.
• Helps to maintain healthy forage and grass.
• Animal wastes add nutrients to the soil
 Disadvantages of Rotational Grazing

• Fencing costs are higher.

• Requires additional labour.
• Starting costs can be very high (these include
materials and labour needed to construct
fences).
• Fence requires proper maintenance.
 Continuous Grazing
• In a continuous grazing system, there is a single
pasture and the animals are allowed to graze in
it for a long period of time such as for a whole
year .
• Continuous grazing is a simple system to
implement and usually practiced where there is
no fencing.
• However, continuous grazing usually results in
poorer forage quality and quantity.
Advantages of Continuous Grazing
• Low start-up costs.
• Most cost-effective method of grazing
• Abundance of forage and grass in the rainy
season requires.
• Less management and resources.
 Disadvantages of Continuous Grazing

• Causes overgrazing.
• Encourages straying of animals.
• Encourages the build- up of internal and
external parasites.
 Strip Grazing
• Strip grazing is a grazing management system
that involves giving livestock a fresh allocation
of pasture each day.
• It is usually organized within a paddock grazing
system and the animals are controlled by the
use of an electric fence.
• Fences are moved once or twice daily to
provide fresh forage.
 Advantage of Strip Grazing
• This is the most labour-intensive.
• Flexibility.
• Strip grazing also results in the highest quality
of feed and the least waste.
• It is a good way of conserving grass for silage.
 Disadvantage of Strip Grazing
• very high maintenance.
• Increased need for labour
• Adequate fencing not only for boundary
fences but also for individual paddocks.
• The necessity of available water for each
paddock
 Deferred Grazing
• Also called rotational rest.
• Deferred grazing is based on growth
requirements of vegetation from germination
until new plants have been established.
 Advantages of Deferred Grazing
• The range can be used while the land are
being reseeded.
• The vigour of the vegetation can be restored
or maintained without the loss of a forage
crop.
• The seed is planted by action of the livestock.
• Fire danger from excess herbage is
eliminated.
Disadvantage of Deferred Grazing
 Inability to defer areas because of lack of stock
water.
 Greater investment required for fencing and water
development.
 Mature forage on the deferred range unit is
usually less nutritive than green forage which may
be available from early cropping and subsequent .
THE END.