How to Rotational Graze Sheep Cheaply
If you’ve looked into keeping sheep, chances are you may have heard about rotational grazing. Instead of simply turning your flock out into a large field, you create smaller areas of grass for the sheep to eat and move them onto fresh pasture regularly. There are many benefits of this system, and it does not have to be expensive to set up.
Norfolk Horns in a rotational grazing sytstem
WHAT IS ROTATIONAL GRAZING
You may well have heard about rotational grazing in other forms; it’s often referred to as strip grazing. And when using cattle, mob grazing. The concept is fairly straight forward. Instead of simply fencing one large field and allowing the sheep to pick and choose where and what they eat, paddocks are carved up into much smaller areas. A flock grazes one patch at a time, often only for a few days, before being moved into the next area. They ‘rotate’ across the land until eventually they end up back at the section they started in.
PROS AND CONS
I personally whole-heartedly believe in rotational grazing, but so as not to make it completely biased, I’ve laid out a few pros and cons below.
PROS
Better Pasture - Rotating you sheep across pasture will lead to better grass. Animals are given less time to graze. This means they will not damage plants too much or eradicate one particular favoured food species, all whilst promoting increased growth. They will also open up the soil to the light when eating the grass, allowing the field’s natural seed bed to germinate. This lets wildflowers and soil improving plants, such as clover, to grow. Finally, moving them regularly allows the pasture to be fertilised but prevents a large build-up of dung.
Fewer Parasites - Sheep parasites such as ticks and worms thrive when their host animal is always around. By moving sheep constantly, the number of nasties able to find a host is limited. Over time, this means you can almost eradicate parasite burdens, resulting in less money on controls, a healthier environment as chemicals haven’t been used and happier sheep.
Healthier Sheep - I believe a rotational system leads to healthier sheep. There is always fresh grass and nourishment for the animals as they are never allowed to fully eat everything in their environment. Improved pastures provides an increase in the range of forage, thereby naturally diversifying the diet. Pests and diseases become less problematic too.
Lower Feed Costs - I’ve kept my sheep in a rotational system for over a year. What has the feed cost been? ZERO. Okay; white lie - I keep a few nuts around to keep the flock bucket trained and gave some supplemental nuts to pregnant ewes in spring. I’ve also bought a couple of mineral licks. But in terms of hay and forage, they have had nothing, even through the winter months.
Even with lambing, feed costs were minimal
CONS
Initial Set Up Costs - Carving your field into small segments comes with some cost. However, I do this with relatively cheap electric fencing rather than expensive and permanent stock fence. And I only have one fence system that I move rather than pre-fencing every area.
Increased Labour - You don’t just bung your sheep in a field and leave them to it. You have to move the entire system every few days. However, I find this is the ideal time for flock observation to pick up any potential problems.
Moveable Structures - If you’re placing your sheep in smaller areas, then you’ll need some form of shelter. This isn’t always the case with large fields as sheep will seek out hedges, trees, walls etc if they need shade or protection. However, I have an old trampoline - it’s light, it was free and once covered with a tarp gives the sheep all the shelter they need.
Moveable Resources - As with the shelter, you’ll need water troughs, mineral licks etc that you can move. However, I find a couple of buckets works well. In addition, because you’re consistently moving animals to fresh ground with lush grass, you’ll find they actually drink less as much of their hydration needs come from the forage their eating.
Okay, I admit, I had an answer for all those cons above … but that’s why rotational grazing is SO good!
An old trampoline frame with a tarp makes a light , moveable structure
SET UP COSTS
Now, though initial costs can be expensive, you can still rotationally graze sheep cheaply. On my fields, for example, my perimeter hedgerow is not sheep proof. They’d have a hard time pushing through, but we know sheep … they would try. To have stock fence around would cost thousands, and to do my entire farm, tens of thousands.
That’s why I prefer an electric fence system. It is NOT foolproof, however. Though, in my experience, as long as the majority of sheep stay within the fence, any escapees will not go far. Sheep are flock animals and will not stray. Trained with a good bucket response, and they will be easy to bring back inside the pasture too.
You’ll need:
Electric Fence - use polywire NOT netting. I had a horned sheep get caught in netting and become so stressed she died.
Fence energiser - this converts power from the battery into the fence
Battery - I use a large leisure battery as the charge lasts ages
Connection cables, grounding rod and rod connection cable.
Most energiser packs will come with all the correct components so you should need to buy three things; wire, battery and energiser kit. My kit came in at about £300 but that’s because I spent a lot on the battery and you could get it for less. Sure beats thousands for stock fencing, right?
I’ve laid out all the best gear in my Best Sheep Supplies list, with buy links to make life easy too.
Have I convinced you that rotational grazing is awesome? I hope I have! For me it’s been the perfect way of grazing. It doesn’t take long to move the sheep, and knowing you’re helping both your sheep and soil thrive, is well worth it.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments below.