2) Rotational Grazing at 1250ft

Rotational grazing is based on the principle of ensuring the grass plant is only grazed once and then allowed enough rest to re-grow and recover its energy reserves ready for the next grazing.  To achieve this an area is grazed for 2-3 days before moving the stock and allowing the grass sufficient time for recovery, typically 16-24 days. 

Aberbranddu has some large fields on their hill block of around 6ha so to follow the target grazing time would require a group of 1000 ewes and their lambs which, although possible would compromise lamb growth.  Groups of 150-200 ewes plus lambs are a sensible target, created once lambs are around 3 weeks old. 

For this project 163 ewes with twins grazed a 12ha (29 acre) block of improved hill ground which has been split into 9 paddocks consisting of 6x 1ha and 3x 2ha.  The reason for the 2 sizes is to show the effects of a 2-3 day grazing vs a 4-5 day grazing event which has lower utilisation and slower recovery. 

As the graph 1 shows the system grew more grass than demand during May so 2ha was removed for silage.  The increasing demand is due to the growth of the lambs and their transition from milk to pasture.  Recently due to cooler weather the growth has been below demand, this meant that the grass covers and the 2ha of silage aftermath have been used as a buffer with a tight grazing residual of 1400kgDMha targeted for the final rotation prior to weaning around the 10th of July. 

An investment of £205/ha was made in fencing and water equipment, including the system design and installation.  Fences are a mix of semi-permanent steel and polywire, powered by a single battery energiser, correctly earthed to ensure minimum of 5000V in the fences.  The water trough moves with the flock being shifted every 2 paddocks. 

The stocking rate of 5/acre is 50% more than the fields would have normally carried, lamb weaning weights will be taken to evaluate their growth to date and their performance monitored post weaning up to sale.  It is also providing an opportunity to measure the grass growing potential of Aberbranddu under rotational management to provide a model for further sub-division. 

Graph 1. Growth vs Demand figures for Aberbranddu