#95 Myth Buster Series: “Total Grazing doesn’t leave residual to protect the soil”

Hello, welcome to the Fat Cows, Fat Wallet Podcast. I’m your host, Jim Elizondo, creator of Real Wealth Ranching. I am a real rancher with over 30 years of experience in regenerating the land and significantly improving profits on my own ranches and with my consulting clients in MANY different environments. My passion is to help ranchers to achieve the same. If you’re an ambitious farmer or rancher who’s looking to maximize your profitability while improving your land the fastest, you’re in the right place. Let’s get started.

Before we start, I want to invite you to my free class: Triple your Stocking Rate with Lush Pastures and Thriving Livestock, where we will go over very important aspects to achieve success in your grazed property, at the end we will have a Q&A session to answer your questions. This will be of great benefit to you and your land, especially now that Spring is coming and you can start managing for success. there are two options on Feb. 27th at 6PM and Feb. 28th at 12PM both on central time. Save your seat at www.rwranching.com/masterclass.

I have a question for you. Have you already implemented the Total Grazing Program? That doesn’t mean if you have taken my courses, I have plenty of people with good results who have used what I have published online. I’m getting straight to the point here. But listen, we are at the start of 2024, so I think I’m at liberty to say that if you’re a regenerative rancher or an aspiring one, the total grazing program will change your life. I’ve been in the regenerative space for a long time, long enough to know that there might be a few factors holding you back from diving headfirst into Total Grazing. I get it. But after more than thirty-three years in the ranching business, I can truly say that The Total Grazing Program is the number one thing that has catapulted me and my ranches to a level of success I could never, ever have imagined. And the same goes for so many of my students.

With that, I want to take a little bit of your precious time to share the most common myths about The Total Grazing Program that I hear or read out there, most come from people that do not know what is the total grazing program or have not taken my online courses WITH coaching..

If you dream of being a successful rancher or farmer and you want maximum profitability and peace of mind knowing and observing that your grass and land are improving every year, then, today’s episode is going to get you fired up. Let me say it again. You’re going to walk away from today’s episode fired up and ready to start implementing Total Grazing, because guess what. Once you do, you’ll never look back or wish you could just get ahead and make this whole real wealth in your ranch really work. And I genuinely want that for you. So, stick with me. Trust me, you don’t want to miss this as I debunk the most common myth about Total Grazing. And I have a sneaky feeling that you have fallen for it. That’s okay. We are going to dive into it so let’s get started.

Let's kick this off, “Total Grazing doesn’t leave residual behind to protect the soil surface from heat or cold”. I’m going to be upfront about it. We do not focus on leaving residuals when we finish with complete or non-selective grazing.

Here’s the thing. If we focus on what we want which is a high utilization and good, strong, fat roots that produce healthy soil due to its root exudates then, we eliminate so many problems.

Selective grazing has long been promoted and by selective grazing, I mean grazing the top third, grazing the top half, mob grazing, and anywhere where there is no complete grazing, this is selective grazing. Means that the cow selects what they graze and, oh how they are picky! Now, if you haven’t taken the time to notice this do not worry. But back to what I was referring to, because selective grazing has long been promoted, ranchers and farmers have been convinced to leave a lot of residual after grazing, and by residual, I mean leaving 2/3 of the grass, leaving litter or however you want to call it. Basically, leaving what the cow didn’t graze. A large portion of what was originally available.

Some think that the residue protects the soil from erosion caused by water or wind, others think that the residue protects the soil from the sun and high temperatures, and others think that the residue protects the soil from low temperatures.

Let’s remember what residue or residual is… it is what the cattle DID NOT want to graze… so what is it mainly? Non-desirable plants, brown leaves and stems, or like one of my students said the other day, “sticks and stones”. 

Because what does the cow prefer to graze? The leaves and the desirable plants. In fact, because you return faster with top grazing which is selective grazing, guess what the cow is going to select when she comes back? Well, the poor little desirable plant that is barely re-growing, and by grazing it too soon it will be killed, and the non-desirable species will continue to thrive. And you get a shift of species in your land to undesirables.

So, this is what I mean, that if we focus on what we actually want which is a high utilization and strong roots in our desirable forage species, we can avoid this problem and so many others.

Let me ask you a question, what is going to protect the soil better? Sticks and stones or well-covered soil with strong fat roots? What avoids erosion? 

The answer is strong and fat roots and more growing points per square yard!

So how can we achieve that?

As I explained in the previous podcasts and other videos and blogs, under the Total Grazing Program you do a complete or nonselective grazing of fully recovered plants most of the time. You graze it all and we follow with a long rest period because we come back much slower. Sometimes we do selective grazing, but only when it’s muddy and during the calving season which is very short, finally, we stockpile in an area, plus we alternate those areas. So Total Grazing is made up of complete grazing, most of the time, selective grazing just for a few instances, and stockpiling standing hay in area.

So, let’s say that you are in the “complete grazing” phase, and you finished grazing taking all leaves and stems. What does the ground look like? Well, depending on what is the state that you are starting off, you will see a well-covered ground with no spaces between plants but with not many stems and leaves. By the way, there is NO bare soil. If you are leaving much bare soil, then that is not The Total Grazing Program, sorry.

In the total grazing program, we only take down with nonselective grazing fully recovered plants, which means the pre-grazing volume is much higher than under selective grazing which grazes unrecovered plants. This means that litter left behind is more than enough to cover and protect the soil.

This means that we leave enough residue to cover the soil from extreme temperatures and the sun, but more importantly, we create what actually protects the soil which is the number of plants or growth points per square meter. What do I mean by this? Well, no spaces in between the plants. Imagine you are looking down into the ground after doing complete grazing of a heavy-yielding pasture; you will be able to see the closeness of your forage growing points and plant crowns from where new leaves will be produced. It is this closeness of your best species plants and growing points that ensures you have a mat of strong and fat roots underground to protect your soil and above ground to achieve a full solar panel once regrowth commences, it also means high soil life which keeps your soil where it should be by preventing erosion thanks to many intertwined roots.  And plants with thick, deep, and strong roots that are achieved by following the Total grazing program.

By having more desirable plants per square yard we can take better advantage of sunlight, with a much larger solar panel, in order not only to feed our livestock but also to feed the life of the soil with the high energy liquid that the plant releases around its roots to feed the microorganisms in the soil, that in turn make nutrients available to the plant. This is how the relationship of the plant soil life works.

So, to sum it up, after a complete or high harvest efficiency grazing on fully recovered plants, we rotate much, much slower across the property where your livestock are taking off the leaves AND stems and we will again allow the plant to store enough energy in their root reserves BEFORE we come back. So, this means that you have a good solar panel, you have more growing points, and the desirable plants are not killed off, in fact, they grow much stronger, and you start seeing more and more of them in your pastures.

I am so passionate about this because I have seen the results with so many of my students that I am hoping that if you are at a stage where you are ready to understand this, you can grasp it.

We must also emphasize that, just as the cow needs the grass, the grass needs the plant. This is so because the growth points or buds and the new seedlings of the best species in your fields need sunlight to live. When top grazing or selective grazing is done and a lot of stem or residue is left behind, these new seedlings and growing points do not receive enough sunlight and die or stunt their growth.

Imagine a paddock with too many stems left, too much residual or litter left. This doesn’t allow sunlight to reach the growing points or seedlings. You get old or over-mature forage and a lot, a lot of stems. This also means the energy in your forage diminishes.

So, there is a point where excess residue can be harmful to your grass, and there is a point where a lack of residue can leave bare soil.

Under the Total Grazing program, you achieve high harvest efficiency AND you do not leave the soil bare. 

In reality, the residual must be a by-product of a complete grazing. Since it depends on the amount of forage present, BEFORE grazing, which is by the recovery period, determined by maturity, growing conditions, strong and fat roots, and the HUMUS or slow cycling organic matter content of the soil. Humus, by the way, is the stable fraction of organic matter. If you have followed me for a while now you know I talk about humus all the time and I am so passionate about it. If this is the first time you hear about this check out my YouTube channel or blog under the name Real Wealth Ranching.

Now coming back. Under Total grazing we have a high harvest efficiency and many times, this scares ranchers or farmers. And I get it. If it scares you because you were taught to only take 30% of the grass, then for sure this is going to be a big change but let me walk you through it.

Under Total Grazing with complete grazing so I am not talking about the stockpiling in area which is alternated nor the selective grazing when muddy and in the calving or lambing season. I think I need to stress that out because no, we do not do complete grazing all the time on the farm or ranch the whole year. I think that is what most ranchers and farmers have been mistakenly taught. With the complete grazing that we do MOST of the time, not all. We normally achieve… ready to hear this? 80-90% harvest efficiency with our livestock. And I can almost read your mind, “Oh wow, isn’t that just leaving the soil bare”? As I have mentioned, no, the ground is not bare. It is well well covered and please go to my Instagram or Youtube channel so that you can see it for yourself.

So, if we harvest 80-90% this means that we leave 10-20% of the forage that was there BEFORE grazing, as residual.

It is important to remember that the greater the amount of forage before grazing, the greater the amount of residue so it is a % of what was there which means the more forage we produce the more is left as residual to cover the soil, please, please, do not try to leave more residue by doing top third grazing, top half, mob grazing I mean at the end all of these names programs do selective grazing. Because it WILL lead to several unwanted consequences.

I love examples because it really paints the picture of what I am trying to communicate.

So, imagine this. You have your livestock graze in a field that has 4,000 pounds of grass per acre. They graze selectively at half of the available forage and they would leave 2,000 pounds of residual on the ground which is the 50% residual that you would get with the selective grazing. But when the amount of forage is increased thanks to the longer rest time that complete or total grazing allows, let’s say at 10,000 pounds of grass per acre with an 80% harvest efficiency, then the residual would be 2,000 pounds of litter or mulch, and without having to manage specifically to leave more residual when doing top grazing, which at the end is selective grazing.

When the rancher tries to leave more residue or mulch after grazing a field, they incur in top or selective grazing by trying to have livestock trample more and consume less. Would you do that when harvesting corn or soybeans?

I mean, this is not only wasteful, but it goes against profitability, and not only that, but it also goes against how nature works where many diverse species of herbivores under the predatory effect resulted in a complete grazing.

So, you can have more forage produced in your ranch and you can come back much slower, giving a longer rest period to build fat and deep roots, and by having a complete grazing you can leave good residual at the same time, as a by-product.

Remember, The Total Grazing Program does not incur in bare soil or unprotected soil. It is actually the opposite. This is how you are going to protect your soil and regenerate it with strong fat roots and good rest.

As I say, as the cow needs the grass, the grass needs the cow.

So are you ready to take your ranching journey to new heights? If you're passionate about enhancing your grass productivity while reducing costs and effort, we have an exclusive invitation just for you. Join our free masterclass, "Triple your Stocking Rate with Lush Pastures and Thriving Livestock," and embark on a transformative adventure towards a more prosperous and sustainable ranching future. It's all about working smarter, not harder. Less hard work, more free time!

Flexibility is key, so mark your calendar for either Feb. 27th at 6PM or Feb. 28th at 12PM CST. Select the session that suits your schedule. Seats are limited, so don't delay. Reserve your spot at www.rwranching.com/masterclass today. It's your passport to a future of thriving pastures and livestock and this is a great time to get the right and free education to set up your grazing plan now that Spring is started.

Secure your seat today at www.rwranching.com/masterclass, and invite fellow ranchers and land stewards to join this event. Together, we'll embark on a journey towards ranching excellence and prosperity.

May God bless you all :)