When starting out, the terminology around grazing systems can be confusing: mob grazing, leader-follower, strip grazing, set stocking, and on and on. But almost every method can be lumped into one of three categories: continuous, rotational, or adaptive multi-paddock grazing.
Continuous Grazing happens when a group of animals is in one large field all the time and is probably the most common form of grazing. This type of grazing almost always results in the most palatable plants being overgrazed and eventually eliminated from the pasture. The best grasses never have a chance to recover because they get eaten as soon as they resprout, and continuously grazed pastures will see a continuous degradation of pasture quality and soil health.
Rotational Grazing is touted by many as the solution to correct the problems associated with continuous grazing. There is lots of variation in rotational grazing styles, hence the varied terminology, but it is a system where animals are moved to new paddocks based on a schedule or plan. This could be as few as three or four paddocks where the herd is moved to a new field every week, to 50 or more paddocks to which the animals are moved every day. In general, the more paddocks the better, to allow for longer recovery periods so that the forage can grow back sufficiently enough to be grazed again. This is a huge improvement over continuous grazing, but there is a better method.
Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) Grazing is sometimes confused with rotational grazing because it also involves moving animals frequently to new paddocks, but it differs in that there is no set schedule or pre-determined paddock sizes. It is a system that relies on high animal density (see last month’s Pasture Pointer), short grazing duration, and long recovery period. It relies on your observation of your animals and the forage quality and quantity to determine what size to make your paddock and how often to move the herd. There may be times when you want a high disturbance event and you may put the equivalent of 800,000 pounds of cattle per acre in a paddock, but maybe for less than one hour before moving them to an 80,000 lb/acre paddock for the rest of the day. The point is that you can vary your density and duration to match site conditions and your goals for the land.
To learn more, here is a great playlist of AMP videos from the Wallace Center:
