Last December I attended and gave a presentation at the 4th National Conference on Grazing Lands.  One of the hot topics was “Ultra High Density Grazing” or “Mob Grazing”.  The basic idea behind this concept is that it’s a method of grazing that mimics the way animals graze in nature.  Like the large herds of grazers in Africa or the bison herds that once roamed this country, animals graze one area intensely before moving along.  The same area is visited again much later, maybe even a year later.  Predators keep the herd tightly grouped which tramples brush and vegetation.  This can be simulated today with herders or electric fence paddocks.  Cattle are packed into an area for a very short grazing period and then moved off.  The area is given a long recovery period before being grazed again.  This type of grazing has shown impressive results in Africa and many parts of the US.

Calves line up for their morning move

We have a permanently electric fenced area in one pasture that creates an area seventy feet wide by three quarters of a mile long.  This fence was installed to keep cattle from lounging on the irrigation ditch banks.  This enclosure is a perfect place to experiment with mob grazing.  Temporary electric fences are erected to create small paddocks.  After some basic calculations I packed in 25 seven weight feeder calves.  I moved them twice daily.  Modifications were made to the paddock sizes after observing how much forage remained after each graze.

Once the electric fence is opened the calves move themselves to the next paddock

I found that the cattle did an excellent job grazing each paddock.  I will need at least 45 days recovery before I can accurately assess the success/failure of this experiment.  One thing I really like is how quickly the cattle figured out that anytime I came around it meant a move to fresh feed.  It is a lot more work than our planned rotational grazing system we currently use, but I really enjoyed seeing the results.  I haven’t weighed the group yet, but I can probably expect gains equal to the calves grazing a more lightly stocked paddock.  I really like how this way of grazing completely eliminates overgrazing as the cattle have moved on before they get a chance to graze the same plant twice. 

Happy to be in fresh feed, the cattle graze happily