10/09/2026
Yes, this is such great information 🙌🏼
We are not managing a golf course…we are working to build biology, improve soil and plant health, and therefore creating healthier animals.
Internet: “The grass is too tall. Those sheep obviously aren’t grazing.”
A quick note before we begin: most of the photos I post are taken right after we move the sheep or cows onto a fresh strip. They’re much easier to photograph when they’re busy eating and ignoring me, so yes, the forage often looks tall in those pictures.
But if “too tall” means “it doesn’t look like a golf course,” then, yeah. The Great Grass Detective are correct.
However, nobody is hiring us to manage pastures that way.
Nor should we. We’re managing a biological system, not detailing a putting green. We don’t leave our animals in one place until every plant has been shaved down to a uniform two inches. We move them through sections, let them eat, then give the pasture time to recover.
Why? Because grass needs leaves to regrow. Because bare soil gets hotter and loses moisture faster. Because repeatedly grazing fresh regrowth weakens the plants.
And because with sheep, parasite management is literally a life-or-death proposition. Allow the animals to return to the same short grass, and they’re more likely to graze close to the soil surface, where parasite exposure can be higher.
There may indeed be grass left standing, and there may be weeds the sheep don’t touch. That’s not a “solar grazing” problem, that’s a grazing problem, and it’s one we know how to manage already.
Our fields don’t look uniform. Good. That’s the point. Nature isn’t symmetrical, either.
New blog detailing more of our approach (linked below).
