Grazing Lands

Grazing Lands manages ranches using regenerative principles to improve soil health and biodiversity.

03/31/2025

GRAZING THE RIPARIAN ZONE - It is commonly recommended to ranchers that they fence their livestock out of riparian zones. There are even government programs that pay you to not graze these areas. At one point in my stewardship career, I applied this practice, and probably recommended it to others. I now see the harm in it. Us regenerative folks are always praising the bison herds of pre-settlement North America. We attempt to mimic the effect of their grazing with our management of livestock, but the riparian is where we typically miss it. Nobody dug ponds and drilled wells for the bison, so where do you think they watered? We seek to apply bison-like herd effect to our pastures, but don’t allow any grazing near what once was the only water source? This doesn’t make much sense to me. Of course the bison watered in riparian areas, of course they grazed there, but here’s the key: they left! The advise to fence livestock out completely is tied to the assumption of set-stocked grazing. 365 days of grazing and loafing pressure on a riparian sight obviously causes more erosion, but it is becoming apparent to me that lack of grazing may not be much better. Graze your riparian, utilize that grass, apply herd effect, but move. your. cows!

03/25/2025

VALUE OF A SABBATH ZONE - Check out the difference in early spring growth between the sabbath zone and the next pasture over, just a few yards away. It’s dry. According to the last drought monitor map I looked at we were right on the edge between D3 and D4 drought conditions. That’s not where you want to be here in early spring, but this dry start has really helped me understand the value of a sabbath zone. Both pictures are of little bluestem, one of my favorite native grasses found at Pajarito Ranch. On the sabbath zone (rested all year in 2024 and grazed as winter stockpile) there is significantly more growth. The second picture was taken in the neighboring pasture, just a few yards away. We grazed this pasture twice during the growing season, and acheived a much higher utilization rate, mostly because the grass was kept vegetative for most of the growing season. I am still impressed at the regrowth here with such little moisture (native grasses are amazing) but it is obvious that last year’s sabbath zone is doing much better. Is this due to deeper roots? More ground cover? Both? I’m not sure, but I am adding this to the list of many reasons to have a sabbath zone. We will rotate this treatment around and attempt to give every acre 1 sabbath year out of every 7 years. I’m sure glad to have 740 acres that is off to a head start relative to the rest of the ranch, but still praying for rain!

06/26/2024

Thanks for the conversation!

05/16/2024

This is what missed opportunity looks like! We didn’t rotate fast enough to utilize all of our cool season annuals, and now the best we can do is trample them. Next year we will improve on our early spring grazing strategy.

04/19/2024

An example of poor utilization.

I like to see a cool looking graze line between the previous paddock and the new paddock. In this photo it’s hard to tell which side is grazed. In other parts of the paddock, where there is less brush, the difference is stark. Our stock density was not high enough here to achieve uniform utilization. We are often left with a choice to stay in a paddock too long and do some overgrazing, or leave before we achieve our desired utilization. It hurts to know we are rotationally overgrazing at times, but sometimes that’s what is required to make moves go smoothly. When we get good utilization, the cows want to move, and we can keep the herd together.

04/16/2024

Into the weeds on overgrazing.

Specifically, the two ways that overgrazing can occur:
1.) Stay too long.
-How long is too long? In my last post, I made the generalization that grasses begin to regrow three days after being grazed. However, there is some nuance here. This is typically the case while good growing condidtions are present (adequate soil moisture, temperature, and sunlight). If you’re missing one of those things, you can get away with longer graze periods because grass will not regrow as fast. This is helpful to understand in times of drought because we can slow our rotations down, allowing for more recovery. The real answer to this question is IT DEPENDS! Observation is paramount here. The bottom line is, leave before regrowth is tall enough to be grazed. This allows the plant to use root storage to build a new solar panel without getting hammered by more grazing pressure in the process.

2.) Come back too soon.
-How soon is too soon? I hate to say it again but…it depends. Some look at leaf shape, some count leaves, others look for seed heads. In recent years I have been a seed head guy. My goal was to make one rotation after each rain event keeping everything from seeding out and then slow down, let it all go to seed, and ration out the available forage until the next rain. This worked well in the brush country of deep South Texas, where rainfall events are unpredictable with long dry periods between them. Since joining Grazing Lands, and moving to a wetter area, I am learning that the animals, plants, and soil, all benefit differently from different levels of recovery. This year, we are exploring Dick Richardson’s “Grazing Naturally” method to prioritize soil health, plant health, and animal performance on different portions of the ranch. Look for a post on Dick’s method in the near future!

04/13/2024

Overgrazing is a function of time.

Many times when I hear people refer to overgrazing, they’re actually talking about severe grazing (a topic for another day). Overgrazing does not mean grazing it too short. Overgrazing occurs when the new leaves of a recovering plant are grazed before the plant has fully recovered. We can overgraze in two ways:
1. Come back to a pasture too soon
2. Stay in a pasture too long

Perennial grasses usually start regrowth three days after a grazing event. If your graze periods are longer than four days, you are overgrazing, even if you are rotating weekly. Rotational overgrazing is better than year-round overgrazing, but it is still overgrazing.

We don’t always move before the four day mark but we are working towards it by clearing brush and improving water infrastructure.

04/05/2024

“Plans are worthless but planning is everything” -Dwight D. Eisenhower

The only thing more important than having a plan is being willing to throw it in the garbage and start over. It might hurt our pride for a moment to admit we were wrong, but the pain of proceeding with a flawed plan will be much worse. Plan, implement, stub your toe, re-plan, and go again.

Address

122 E Houston Street
San Antonio, TX
78205

Telephone

+15127492510

Website

http://GrazingLands.com/

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