2011 UK Tom-Chapman Are-Mob-Grazed-Cattle-The-Perfect-Arable-Break.Pdf
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Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................................... 1 Background ................................................................................................................................ 2 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 4 The Mob-Grazed Grass Plant ..................................................................................................... 7 Three Leaf Grazing ................................................................................................................. 7 Capturing Sunlight.................................................................................................................. 9 Soil Organic Matter and the Carbon: Nitrogen Ratio .......................................................... 11 Soil ........................................................................................................................................ 12 The Prairies: Part 2 ............................................................................................................... 13 The Benefits of Organic Matter ........................................................................................... 13 Mob Grazing ............................................................................................................................. 17 Farming in Nature's Image ................................................................................................... 17 Planned Grazing ................................................................................................................... 18 Holistic Management ........................................................................................................... 19 Stocking Rate –v– Stocking Density ..................................................................................... 19 The Social Bottom Line ........................................................................................................ 20 The Impact of Mob Grazing ................................................................................................. 21 Grazing area ......................................................................................................................... 21 Grouping Mob-Grazed Cattle ............................................................................................... 21 Extended Grazing ................................................................................................................. 22 Bale Feeding and Out-wintering Cattle ............................................................................... 23 Labour, Fencing and Water .................................................................................................. 25 Factory Farming ................................................................................................................... 26 Cattle Breed and Animal Performance .................................................................................... 29 Mob grazing, naturally.... ..................................................................................................... 29 Which Breed? ....................................................................................................................... 29 Breed and Calving Age ......................................................................................................... 30 The Grazing Cow .................................................................................................................. 31 Are mob grazed cattle the perfect arable break? by Tom Chapman A Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust report kindly sponsored by the John Oldacre Foundation A Healthier Diet .................................................................................................................... 32 Breathless cows ................................................................................................................... 32 Self service at the mineral café ............................................................................................ 33 Bull Management ................................................................................................................. 35 Performance figures ............................................................................................................ 36 Livestock in The Arable Rotation ............................................................................................. 38 A Man with a Mission .......................................................................................................... 38 Grass v Crops ........................................................................................................................ 39 Conventional Farm Rotation – Argentina ............................................................................ 39 Organic Farm Rotation – Argentina ..................................................................................... 39 Cocktail Cover Crops ............................................................................................................ 43 Menoken Farm ..................................................................................................................... 43 Animal Impact ...................................................................................................................... 45 Winter grazing ...................................................................................................................... 45 Winter-feeding Sorghum ..................................................................................................... 46 Infrastructure ....................................................................................................................... 46 Cattle Management and the Arable Farm ........................................................................... 49 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................. 51 Recommendations ................................................................................................................... 52 Postscript: After My Nuffield Study ......................................................................................... 53 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. 54 Disclaimer The views expressed in this report are entirely my own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust, or my sponsors, or any other sponsoring body Are mob grazed cattle the perfect arable break? by Tom Chapman A Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust report kindly sponsored by the John Oldacre Foundation 1 Executive Summary The Great Grazing Herds From “The Extermination of the American Bison” by William T Hornaday, reproduced by Project Gutenberg The great herd on the Arkansas [River] through which I passed ……. was, from my own observation, not less than 25 miles wide, and from reports of hunters and others it was about five days in passing a given point, or not less than 50 miles deep. From the top of Pawnee Rock I could see from 6 to 10 miles in almost every direction. This whole vast space was covered with buffalo, looking at a distance like one compact mass, the visual angle not permitting the ground to be seen. I have seen such a sight a great number of times, but never on so large a scale. The term ‘mob grazing’ means keeping large numbers of cattle on a small area of land and moving them frequently. The land then enjoys long periods of rest before the cattle return. It is mimicking how huge herds of wandering bison or wildebeest or caribou used to move through an area, trampling and grazing all around them before they departed, literally, for pastures new, leaving the grasses to grow, mature and reproduce once more. Grass plants have evolved over millions of years under such grazing regimes and it is only during the past few hundred years that we have started using enclosures and fields, exposing the grasses to completely different grazing pressures, involving constant grazing and re-grazing of the immature plants. Grasses and other forage plants are poorly adapted to such treatments and consequently productivity is much reduced. By emulating the huge herds of yesteryear, mob grazing encourages the grass plants to complete their full lifecycle, improving overall capture of sunlight and hence improving the land’s productivity. Additionally, mob grazed cattle trample significant quantities of forage onto the soil surface, feeding the microorganisms and other soil life and increasing the soil organic matter. A happy side-effect of allowing grasses to grow to maturity is that cattle are much healthier. They too have adapted to eat large amounts of bulky forage material with a good combination of fibre, protein and energy. The sheen on their coats and the firmness of their dung, coupled with the growth rates and overall health of their calves is testament to the benefits of mob grazing more mature pastures. Incorporating cattle into an arable rotation offers real financial benefits. Soils become more fertile and, if the right mixture of forage is grown for grazing, significant savings in nitrogenous and other fertilisers can be made. The friability of soils also