#125 Increase your grass productivity, soil improvement and stocking rate with this simple guideline

Hello, I am Jim Elizondo from Real Wealth Ranching. I have been teaching classes. They focus on boosting profits and enhancing land value simultaneously.

We call it the Total Grazing Academy. We manage four programs: the Total Grazing Program, Adapted Genetics and Selection Guidelines, the Optimal Calving Season, and Nutrition When Grazing.

These courses aim to maximize your stocking rate. It is the main factor in your profits, not weaning weights, daily gains, or anything else.

Your profits will depend on how many productive animals you can maintain at a low cost per year.

These are simple math. The more productive livestock you keep at a low cost, the more you will reduce your annual costs per animal

Wouldn’t you want to have double or triple the number of productive livestock carried at a lower cost per animal than ever?

People are usually put off by this larger number of livestock. They think they will need to spend more on hay in the lean seasons to feed them. But, it is not so in reality.

We follow nature and basic plant physiology. By studying how grass grows, we can quadruple its productivity. Yes, 4 times just by managing our grazing correctly

I am sure you have read that livestock saliva, near your grasses' growth points, helps them rebound much faster after grazing. It is true, that whenever we do a total graze on well-recovered grass the regrowth will be leafier and faster than if the grazing was selective

It's different than what we've been told. We have hundreds of people in the USA doing this and observing it. It's true.

All the wrong theories about selective grazing are, well wrong. They ignored a fact. The stems are less digestible. Like cattle, sheep, and goats, livestock prefer the more digestible leaves. So, they leave the stems when they graze selectively.

The problem is that stems continue to respire. They consume energy stored in roots and crowns. After selective grazing, regrowth will be much less vigorous than after a total graze or high-efficiency grazing of well-recovered plants.

Yes, green leaves produce energy through photosynthesis while stems consume energy by respiring. So, the leaf-to-stem ratio after grazing limits energy for grass growth. It also limits energy storage in the crown and roots.

Their selective grazing methods aim to leave some green leaves ungrazed. But, they end up consuming the best species down to the ground. The not-so-good species are left barely grazed. This affects the % of desirable species in their paddocks. The best species will be overgrazed, while the inferior ones will be over-rested.

And this brings me to the topic I want to teach today:

OVERGRAZING

Overgrazing is re-grazing a grass plant before it recovers. It depletes its energy reserves in the crown and roots. This, in turn, reduces productivity, leafiness, and long-lived soil organic carbon.

Overgrazing creates a desert in low-rainfall areas. It lets pasture return to forest in high-rainfall areas.

Many confuse overgrazing with a high-efficiency graze on well-recovered grass. That is not overgrazing. It is, if you prefer, severe grazing.

In the 3 low-cost steps to increase your productivity big time free masterclass this topic will be explained in depth. First, minimize overgrazing. This will boost grass productivity, improve the soil, and provide leafy pastures for your livestock.

Doing this will increase your grass productivity 4 times at first. It will be higher in subsequent years if you follow the guidelines in the free masterclass.

After you focus on what is happening underground, roots, and crown energy reserves, you will need a grazing program. I called it the Total Grazing Program. It covers the whole year, every day, and multiple years.

It's important. You don't want to minimize overgrazing without knowing how to keep your livestock in top condition year-round.

You see, good body condition is as important to profits as a high stocking rate. Fat is needed for female fertility and for their immune system to function. Give me fatness and I will show you beauty!

Therefore, my motto is fat cows, fat cows, fat cows, so my students do not forge that is our main focus when grazing!

There are many other considerations to create a thriving, profitable, farm or ranch, but the 3 low-cost steps to increase your productivity big time will help you start in the right way without making the huge mistakes most people make when grazing. Mistakes that severely limit their grass productivity, their livestock number, and their soil improvement.

Did you know that trampled residue on the soil surface only builds short-term soil organic carbon? Yes, maybe it will last months only.

But, a leafy pasture after a total graze on well-recovered grass will create long-lived soil organic carbon. It can last a hundred years or more.

Why is this? Because fat soil microbes fed by root exudates of over-mature grasses are converted to humus or long-lived soil organic carbon. Around 80-90% of new humus created per acre per year is created this way.

Interesting! Then why do selective grazing proponents recommend top grazing fast in the spring to keep everything vegetative?

That is the worst thing you can do to your grass, your livestock, and your soil.

Your grass will get overgrazed and top grazing will limit its productivity by 3 to 4 times. If you don't believe observe the productivity of a paddock stockpiled since spring, it can be on your own farm or one of the farms of one of our students close to you.

Then, your livestock. Your livestock will get scours or diarrhea from the lack of fiber and protein excess of top grazing. And they do not feel healthy when they have diarrhea, just as we would not. Nor are they efficient as most of the grass they consume goes out without doing much good. They will overconsume around 40 to 50% more when they top graze due to diarrhea.

Then, your soil. Remember I said that long-lived soil organic carbon is not created by residue being decomposed as was widely believed? It is true and this is the reason they are not getting the results in carbon sequestering they should. Decomposing litter only creates around 10 to 20% of new long lived soil organic carbon. Long lived soil organic carbon is super important and is our soils real fertility!

In the total grazing program, we set aside large areas of the farm or ranch to stockpile. This saves about $300 per cow per year. It also boosts long-lived soil carbon and recruits seedlings of our best forage species.

Conclusions and Recap:

• Your profits will depend on how many productive animals you can maintain at a low cost per year
• This means you want to increase your grass productivity naturally, without added costs or inputs
• You can increase grass production per acre per year around 4 times by minimizing overgrazing 
• Overgrazing happens when grass is grazed before it is recovered enough
• It shortens grass roots and depletes its energy reserves in crown and roots, eventually killing your best forage species
• Selective grazing will create overgrazing at high to very high stocking rates
• Reserve your spot to our free masterclass on 3 low-cost steps to increase your productivity big time, register here: https://www.rwranching.com/steps
• Selective grazing proponents did not consider basic plant physiology which tells us that green leaves produce energy by photosynthesis while stems consume energy by respiring
• They did not consider that livestock will consume the green leaves and best species preferentially, leaving the stems and not so good species behind
• This creates a less leafier pasture at the high to very high stocking rates required for profits and for land improvement
• Trying to keep your whole property vegetative in the spring by top grazing is the worst grazing management possible as it creates scours in your livestock, overgrazing in your best grass plants, and no soil improvement via long lived soil organic carbon
• This long lived soil organic carbon is mostly created when stockpiling paddocks set aside to provide standing hay for the leans season, to save around $300 per cow or sheep equivalent per year
• I am sure you did not consider grazing this way but if you observe what is happening by the road or ditches where livestock are not overgrazing you can get an idea of your land’s potential
• Help nature by managing your grazing correctly, apply the 3 low-cost steps to increase your productivity big time

Remember our motto: fat cows, fat cows, fat cows!

Thank you for listening. I hope you like this. I hope you are eager to attend our free masterclass on how to do more with less. 3 Low-Cost Steps to Increase your Productivity Big Time and improve your land at the same time

Thank you for listening and see you in the free masterclass!

As always, sign up for my free weekly blog at www.rwranching.com and become part of our group

May God bless you!