Farm406

23 farm406 For irrigated pasture, Montgomery recommends leaving 4 to 6 inches of the plant for recovery and not returning to graze the pasture for 30 days. "People who have changed from a 30-day rotation to daily rotation have seen forage production increase 50 to 60 percent," he says. "Those who change from a 30-day rotation to every seven days don't see as much of an increase, but it still bumps up about 25 percent." HSD grazing creates more diversity in the plant community and a reduction in weed prevalence. "The animals aren't favoring one plant over the other – they eat more uniformly, which allows the tall stature grasses like orchard and tall fescue to come on better," explains Montgomery. "The animals also learn to eat the weeds, which reduces the seed sources and other plants eventually choke them out." On irrigated pastures, HSD operations typically use electric fence to subdivide pastures and above-ground water pipes and temporary water tanks for the forage paddocks. "Once you get the infrastructure, it makes it easier for people," says Montgomery. "You can move 100 animals on an irrigated paddock in 20 minutes a day once you get set up." It can be challenging to graze dryland forage more than once a year without overgrazing certain plant species. However, HSD grazing stimulates the livestock to graze a higher percentage of plants, which can lead to increased profitability, according to fifth generation rancher Zachary Jones, whose family implements a holistic grazing plan similar to HSD south of Harlowton, Mont. Rancher Zachary Jones utilizes mob-like grazing in his holistic management plan for his family ranch near Harlowton, Mt. Courtesy photo.

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