Real Wealth Ranching

When we have been total grazing half the ranch in the growing season (total grazing half means it doesn’t get away from the cows and thus maintains higher quality). There is the other half that will have the full growing season to grow, deepen its roots and allow for the full expression of each individual plant.

This is where we enhance the humus production the most by having deeper, stronger roots and having more carbon remain in the soil after the following total grazing on the next non-growing season.

We have observed where this is practiced that the rested or spelled area develops a mellow, darker soil.

In this rested area, there is no human or animal traffic, is where most wildlife will be concentrated and meshes well with a goal of enhancing wildlife habitat which improves biodiversity, essential for good resiliency of the land.
This is where ground resting birds have the best habitat to reproduce unmolested.

It is also the time to recruit seedlings of desirable species...

There is a big difference between selective grazing where the animal is allowed to graze the species and parts of species that it prefers and Total grazing where the animal is not allowed that luxury and has to consume most everything on offer.

To have the cattle thrive under this management the grazing periods need to be short, so the rumen has a constant quality of feed coming into this wonderful batch system that is the rumen.  Around every two hours is the optimum but this will depend on quality of forage on offer.

This takes some experience to do successfully so the cattle are getting enough breaks and area to do well (full gut at the end of the day, good looking manure, pre grazing and post grazing pasture mass).

The benefits to the environment are:

1. Plants have the old growth removed, which allows the sunlight to reach the growing points to where better and more tillers are produced.
2. The animal density needs to be higher to make the animals to achieve total grazing, this...