Last spring I went to Greg Judy's (@gregjudyregenerativerancher) annual grazing school with Ian Mitchell-Innes.
They talked about the magic of ultra high density grazing and how it can totally revitalize farms within a few years. They showed two days worth of pictures, videos, and on farm examples of how this grazing method can exponentially improve soil health. I was completely sold on the value of grazing like this on perennial pasture, but over the past year I began to wonder… could ultra high density grazing have a similar impact on row crop fields?
Today, we are trying to answer that question with a grazing experiment on one of our farms. Our goal is to determine if ultra high density grazing is any more beneficial than the rotational grazing we normally do.
To be more specific we will be grazing a diverse, high biomass cover crop with a mixed herd of cows and calves. This specific herd weighs 27,500 pounds and our goal is to graze at 500,000 and 1,000,000 pounds per acre.
In a few weeks, we will plant the farm in corn. The crop will be maintained like normal throughout the summer. Then in the fall, we will harvest the corn with a yield monitor.
Best case scenario: We'll see a dark green strip where our experiment was on the yield monitor.
Worst case scenario: We'll see a strip of weeds growing this summer because the corn failed to come up.
No matter the outcome, we will soon know what a million pounds per acre looks like, and how that much herd effect changes the soil for better or worse…
00:00 Intro
00:18 Stocking rate vs stock density
01:47 Pen 1: 500,000 lbs/acre, holding pen
02:57 Pen 2: 500,000 lbs/acre, no back fence
04:19 Pen 3: 500,000 lbs/acre, with back fence
07:05 Pen 4: 1,000,000 lbs/acre, with back fence
08:35 Conclusion
Follow Up Videos:
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#cow #grazing #soilhealth #gregjudy #cows #rotationalgrazing #covercrops #farming #corn #regenerativeagriculture
