Rotational Grazing For Animal Productivity

The term ‘rotational grazing’ is very often misinterpreted and has become closely aligned with a very rigid system where decisions based on actual veld condition are rarely considered.

- Izak Hofmeyr

This is according to Prof Kevin Kirkman, a professor in grassland science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg.

The priority of veld management, he says, should be the production of veld grazing animals. “For animal production to be high, animals need to eat short, actively growing grass throughout the summer. As soon as you allow the grass to grow too tall, it loses its quality very quickly, especially in the sour veld regions of the country. However, it may also affect the sweet veld areas to some extent.”

Tall-growing grass that has started going to seed, he explains, has already declined in quality, which means that animal performance will also decrease.

“If one looks at many of the continuous grazing approaches, animal production is generally quite good, unless the stocking rate is too high. The reason is that the animal can move around and select high-quality, actively growing plants. Yet a continuous grazing system is probably not very sustainable. My approach would therefore be to take the best the continuous grazing system has to offer and make it sustainable by allowing plants to recover from grazing.”

Rotating between camps

Prof Kirkman suggests that producers graze their animals during summer in a way that will enhance performance. He uses a so-called Long Tom beer can as an indicator of when a camp should be grazed and when the animals should be removed from that camp.