When it comes to grazing management, some producers have an age old dilemma of “All for One or One for All".

Is it better to graze 25 animals on one acre of land for one day or 1 animal on one acre for 25 days? 

Most people initially go for the second option because it just sounds better.  But… actually, the proper answer may very well be first option: 25 animals on one acre for one day.  The reason for this is that you will have better utilization with option number one.  The animals will be forced to eat all plants and not just the favorable ones.  Furthermore, they will not have the chance to come back and regraze tasty plants over and over again.

Most producers have heard of the term “overgrazing” and know that overgrazing is a bad thing.  However, you may not know that overgrazing typically only happens when plants are grazed repeatedly without being given a chance to recover.  This happens when you have a small number of animals in a large area where they can pick and choose which plants to eat.  They will eat all the ice cream first and then come back to lick the bowl.  If there are a lot of animals in a small area for a short period of time, they are forced to eat their meat and vegetables too and don’t have time to lick the ice cream bowl before they’re kicked out. 

By rotationally grazing your stock and forcing them to eat all species, you will keep a better balance of desirable and less desirable species throughout the pasture. 

If animals were allowed to only selectively graze the tasty plants, it is likely the less tasty plants may eventually take over and dominate the pasture.  This is because they never get knocked down and have to recover.  Meanwhile, the tasty plants all around them are struggling all season long because they keep getting hit over and over and over. 

This theory of intense grazing for short periods of time only works if you have the ability to actually move your stock around. 

Permanent fencing is not always available or cheap to put in.  However, you may consider putting up electric fence or moving your water and mineral sources around to encourage utilization of different areas.  By keeping your water and mineral sources in different areas of the pasture, cattle will be forced to travel between them every day and not just stay in one spot.  This will help reduce overgrazing in specific areas of the pasture.  Ideally, a rotational grazing system would have 5-8 separate paddocks that could be used on rotation throughout the season.  This would give adequate time (a minimum of a week to 10 days) for recovery in each paddock before it is regrazed. 
 
If you are considering changing your grazing regime, it is advised that you consult Mark Volt (NRCS, 970.724.3456) or another professional to make sure you are considering all variables and have an adequate monitoring and adaptive management plan in place. 

References

Dietz, Harland.  1988.  Grass: The Stockman’s crop.  How to harvest more of it. 
McKinney, E. 1997. It May Be Utilization, But is it Management? Rangelands 19(3). 
LeValley, RB.  Chapter 8: Animal Grazing Management. Intermountain Grass & Legume Forage Production Manual. <http://wci.colostate.edu/shtml/ForageManual.shtml>
Brummer, J. Principles of Grazing Management and Grazing Systems for Irrigated Pastures. PowerPoint Presentation.