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Thinking differently about livestock grazing

Two regenerative ag consultants say adaptive grazing can help build healthy soils.

Eric Fuchs with Understanding Ag says adaptive grazing for livestock looks different from conventional grazing.

“The conventional model has cattle turned into a pasture, let them graze wherever they want, feed them hay and a lot of inputs. We’re seeing lots of issues in the livestock industry that aren’t profitable, even with higher prices,” says Fuchs. “What we’re talking about is a lot more grazing management, moving cattle more often and grazing cattle all year without inputs.”

Rodney Saunders with Understanding Ag says one-way farmers can use adaptive grazing to improve a pasture’s soil health is allowing a longer rest period between grazes for regrowth and diversity.

“We really have to extend those rest periods to 70, 80 to 90 or even 120 days in some cases.”

While adaptive grazing isn’t for everyone, Fuchs says it has a positive return on investment for livestock producers who are willing to give it time.

“The biggest expense in livestock production is winter feed. If I can cut 30 to 60 days of winter feed, I can actually reduce lots of costs getting away from having to feed hay or fertilize. We’re not against those things, but if I can cut those expenses back through better management of existing forages, that’s where the ROI is going to go up.”

Brownfield interviewed Fuchs and Saunders at a regenerative agriculture workshop in mid-Missouri.