Too few paddocks per grazing group on drystock farms
Improving grazing infrastructure - paddock system, roadways and water provision - on beef farms allows for better control of grass, increased grass growth, improved grazing utilisation, a longer grazing season and may help to increase clover content.
This is very obvious during poor weather conditions and in both the spring and autumn-growing seasons.
Additionally, with good grazing infrastructure cattle are easier to manage, which is particularly important in a one-person operation. With better grazing infrastructure, grass utilised on farms can be increased by either growing more grass and/or improving the utilisation rate.
On many drystock farms, there are too few paddocks per grazing group. As a result, cattle are grazing paddocks for too long, grass regrowth is not ‘protected’ and consequently, growth rate is hindered.
On the other hand, cattle end up grazing excessively high grass covers resulting in poor utilisation and animal performance, and necessitating mechanical topping to remove the heavy residual. Dividing fields into paddocks need not be an elaborate or high-cost project. In the majority of cases, reels and polywire can be used to temporarily split existing fields for grazing. Having adequate drinkers in fields is very important to allow subdivision.
Key steps when setting up a paddock system
1). Create a farm map with precise areas
The first step is create a map of the farm. Ungrazeable areas, walls, ditches and hedgerows will influence where paddocks and farm roadways will go. Talk to your advisor about developing a farm map or use your own paper map. There are also a number of free maps online and apps that can help to map the farm.
2). Paddock size
The aim on beef and sheep farms is to grow grass in three weeks and graze it in three days. Three-day paddocks are the goal. A common question is: how large should paddocks be? As a rule of thumb, a group of 40 suckler cows and 40 weanlings grazing on free-draining, productive ground should be allocated a 2ha paddock. The plan is to have seven to eight paddocks per grazing group. Avoid creating long narrow paddocks to minimise poaching. Aim for a ratio of 2:1 so that paddocks are twice as long as they are wide.
3). Plan the location of drinking points when dividing fields
Water trough location in the paddock is very important. Avoid locating troughs near gateways. Ensure to position water troughs in a central location in the field, which means each trough can serve a minimum of two paddocks. Ensure the drinker is positioned on level ground and balanced with some hard core where necessary. In some cases, you could divide larger, square fields, into four, with one drinker serving many paddocks.
4). Farm roadways
Roadways allow more efficient access to paddocks. They enable easier movement and management of livestock around the farm. Roadways also allow for easier management of grass during difficult grazing conditions. Ultimately, farm budgets will determine which roadway type is chosen. Narrow ‘spur’ roadways can be efficient to use in some areas of the farm, simply created with a reel, polywire and pigtails.
The above article was adapted for use on Teagasc Daily from the paper titled: ‘Beef production from grass forage-based systems’ authored by Edward O’Riordan, Mark McGee, Catherine Egan, Paul Crosson and Peter Doyle, and first published in the BEEF2024 Open Day book. For more insights from this publication, click here.