#96 Myth Buster Series: “If I graze too hard, I will degrade my land”

Hello, I am Jim Elizondo and you all are welcome to this podcast. It makes me very happy to see that more young people are getting involved in the fascinating world of livestock farming. Farming without livestock becomes dependent on costly inputs very fast! If we are serious about improving our land’s fertility and its natural productivity we need to include livestock in our land, and livestock that have their grazing correctly managed by us. 

Before we start, I want to remind you that next week I will be holding our free masterclass, "Triple your Stocking Rate with Lush Pastures and Thriving Livestock". It's time to transform your property with the lush pastures in fertile soil created by thriving livestock. This event is your ticket to making informed decisions that will revolutionize your grazed livestock enterprise. Prepare to witness improvements in both land health and productivity, save your spot by registering at www.rwranching.com/masterclass.The class is free and it is live via Zoom. You have 2 options to choose from, one is this coming Tuesday, Feb. 27th at 6PM Central time and the next one is on Wednesday, Feb. 28th at 12PM Central time.

So make sure you register to get the Zoom link and be able to participate in the live Q&A session. Once again the link is www.rwranching.com/masterclass.

Okay, let’s begin, I will talk about a myth I hear and read about all the time. Now, if this is the first time that you are listening in or you haven’t listened in a while, last week I shared one of the most common reasons people hesitate or don’t move forward with implementing the Total Grazing Program. 

I am on a mission to encourage and support as many people as possible to implement the Total Grazing Program correctly because I’ve seen first-hand how life-changing and business-changing that can be. And I’ve seen it firsthand, of course, not only in my own ranches and for the people I have consulted for, but with hundreds of my students as well.

So the most common reason people don’t move forward to implement the Total Grazing Program is that they may have heard that “Total Grazing doesn’t leave residual behind to protect the soil surface from heat or cold” which was covered in my previous podcast, and number two which is the one we will cover today, is “If I graze too hard I will degrade my land”.

Where does this idea come from? I think it comes from an experiment done by Professor Crider over 70 years ago where he demonstrated that under continuous grazing, you shouldn't graze more than half of the plant so that its roots would not shorten/disappear from the pasture. Sadly the grazing gurus still follow it even though we now have electric fences and can manage much better than under continuous grazing. And I say that I think it comes from there because ALL those who keep repeating this, quote it in their bibliography. 

Unfortunately, people take it as a fact, and although now we have electric fences and we can imitate nature by taking into account the basic needs of the plant by knowing its physiology in-depth, nothing has changed in these 70 years and it continues to be repeated and referred to that experiment which no longer has significance in the modern grazing world.

Today I am going to show you how fast and high harvest efficiency grazing or nonselective grazing as close as possible is the best way to manage your pastures to achieve the highest profitability and the fastest improvement of your soils and pastures.

I ask that if you know of someone who could benefit from listening to this message, please send it to them, as this can help them a great deal to achieve harmony between their pasture, their cattle, and their economic needs.

If you are one of my Total Grazing Program students you know, by doing it yourself, that the Total Grazing program which includes high harvest efficiency of your grass when grazing is how fully recovered grasses respond best when you follow the indications detailed in the online course.

First, we must know that in the total grazing program, we seek, as a priority, to create deep and fat roots in our desirable species.

Very different from the image of the bare ground after a total grazing, right?

You should also take into account that by doing total grazing, the number of cows/day harvested is much higher than if they only consumed 30%.

This is what allows us to give longer rest periods and avoid overgrazing which is re-grazing a plant before it has fully recovered.

We must also know how humus or slow-cycling organic matter is formed. Humus is the true fertility of our soil. It is formed thanks to the high-energy liquid returned via the roots that feed the soil microorganisms which bodes are converted into humus. Up to 80% of the new humus produced per acre per year is formed in this way.

As all the energy produced is created by photosynthesis, we know the importance of the amount of green leaves per square yard. We must also know that the stems do not photosynthesize but they do consume energy by respiring so the ratio of leaf to stem in the regrowth is very important.

What type of grazing will produce more leaves in the regrowth? A selective grazing where they leave the stems behind? Or total grazing where your livestock consume leaves and stems entirely?

It is clear that when the stems are removed, the regrowth will be higher in leaves than if the stems are left consuming part of the energy produced by the leaves that are regrowing.

And if as we saw before, the energy that is left after respiring is partially returned to feed the microorganisms that not only are eventually converted into humus but also make available to the plant the nutrients in the soil that would otherwise be unavailable. Could it be that is the reason that the leaf-to-stem ratio in our forages is very important?

We also have to consider that our livestock are going to perform better by consuming more leaves so again we find another reason to do total grazing instead of selective rotational grazing.

Now I want to tell you that it is important to defer pastures in area for the dry or cold seasons, and by grazing with a high harvest efficiency this is possible and will be of higher quality than if stockpiled under selective rotational grazing. Why? Because the deferred grass has not been grazed since it was allowed to rest, its quality is much higher. In addition, the energy reserves in their roots are intact because they have not been used in stems respiring through the dry season, so the regrowth after total grazing of a deferred field will be more vigorous once growing conditions return. This has allowed me to maintain a high stocking rate without incurring in overgrazing even in years of hard drought where it only rained for two weeks throughout the whole year and at the end of the growing season.

Under total grazing, with high harvest efficiency, the land is not left bare because 80-90% of the available forage is consumed. But remember that production is much higher due to the longer rest periods, we only graze fully recovered pastures, so the litter left after grazing is sufficient to protect the land from the sun and high temperatures. Strong, living roots of desirable plants close together are much more important than leaving a lot of residual for erosion control and soil improvement.

Conclusion and summary:

1. The idea of ​​leaving 50% of the plant as residue after grazing comes from an experiment made 70 years or so ago for set stocking when electric fences were not popular, only barbed wire permanent fences. That idea is now obsolete with current knowledge and we do not need to continue to be bound to it.
2. Under the total grazing program we seek, as a priority, to create deep and fat roots in our desirable species plants. And in our livestock, our priority is to have them in good body condition.
3. Grazing with a high harvest efficiency of fully recovered plants allows for an increase in the stocking rate while improving the leaf-to-stem ratio in the regrowth. 

4. The leaf-to-stem ratio in the plant determines productivity since the green leaf produces energy by photosynthesis while the stem consumes energy by respiring. The energy left after respiring can be used for higher productivity and to create slow-cycling organic matter or more humus with the bodies of soil microorganisms fed by the high-energy exudates of the roots.
   
   No other type of grazing achieves a better leaf-to-stem ratio in the regrowth than high harvest efficiency grazing or total grazing. 

5. Our livestock performs better by consuming more leaves because the leaf has greater digestibility than the stem, so it is also convenient for our livestock to produce more leaves per square yard. 

6. This high-efficiency harvest allows us to defer, in area, entire fields to use them under total grazing in the difficult dry or cold seasons. 

7. After total grazing with a high harvest efficiency, the land is not left bare because the 10 to 20% of the much higher pre-grazing forage mass that remains on the ground is enough to cover it. Remember that since the field is left to rest for a longer time, with a greater quantity of leaves, the production per acre is greater and the residue that remains after grazing is more than sufficient. 

8. The most important thing, and that almost nobody takes into account, is the strong roots of desirable living plants that are close together which the total grazing program creates, are much more efficient in preventing erosion than the amount of residue left by selective grazing.

We are going to cover this in the masterclass and share with you how you can implement the Total Grazing Program in your operation for this coming Spring. Now is really the best time to implement this program because you will get the most benefit right from the start and in the dry or Winter Season you will be getting even better results.

The class is free and it is live via Zoom. You have 2 options to choose from, one is this coming Tuesday, Feb. 27th at 6PM Central time and the next one is on Wednesday, Feb. 28th at 12PM Central time.

So sign up to save your seat at www.rwranching.com/masterclass. I will send you the Zoom link and a couple of reminders so you do not miss it. It truly will change how you see your grazing and how you can build more soil and more abundant leafy forage. So make sure you register to get the Zoom link to be able to participate in the live Q&A session. Once again the link is www.rwranching.com/masterclass.