Looking for an easy introduction to the complex topic of grazing management? Give this bulletin a try—Intensive Grazing: An Introductory Homestudy Course by Burt Smith.
Intensive Grazing starts with information, introducing the three necessities of grazing:
- Objective.
- Flexibility.
- Control.
Next comes the basics of the four tools that are used to balance the three necessities:
- Density.
- Animals.
- Residual.
- Time.
Once these principles are discussed, the beginner is given the opportunity to practice using them in the field. The included exercise walks the grazier through the process of starting a very simple intensive grazing system—from choosing a site, a small herd, and some electric fencing to accurately managing grazing to leave a consistent amount of grass behind.
But there is still more! Next comes some math. A sample problem is provided to teach beginners how to calculate:
- The average area required for the herd for one day.
- The growth rate of the forage.
- The time it will take to replace the grass consumed.
- The number of paddocks that will have to be made before the first one can be grazed again.
- The amount of land required to graze the herd one full cycle.
Then the grazier gets to substitute his own numbers from the field exercise, making the lesson still more practical.
Finally comes a quiz to assess progress on the course, plus a grazing glossary.
This power-packed bulletin condenses the most important points of management-intensive grazing into less than 20 pages. But don’t think for a minute that the topic gets short shrift! This is an extremely well-organized resource with a hands-on bent. Think of it as an essential crash course in grazing.
