A small mindset shift can improve your operation through proactive grazing management.
All too often, producers raising livestock focus their decisions on things like:
- “How do I avoid overgrazing?”
- “How do I get rid of thistle?”
- “I want to prevent erosion?”
Creating a laundry list of things they are trying to avoid.
What if, instead they focused on the things they DO want:
- A lush, diverse, drought-resilient pasture
- Healthy livestock
- Job satisfaction and quality of life
Designing with End Goals in Mind
One way to shift your operation to focus on what you do want, is to think about your pasture goals and design your grazing system with your end goals in mind. This could mean implementing a new grazing management plan so that you can:
- Balance animal needs with forage supply by utilizing adaptive multi-paddock (AMP) grazing (see our Grazing Calculator)
- Add biodiversity to your forage mix
- Prioritize soil health
- Address weeds by targeted grazing to prevent seed production
Or a myriad of other techniques that align with your goals.
Over time, you will see a transition begin to occur. The things you don’t want in your pasture start going away all on their own, without a specific focus on that issue. You will also notice the things you do want continue to improve every year. A key step is to monitor and evaluate pasture health, forage utilization, and animal performance to determine any necessary adjustments.
This technique can be used in almost any aspect of your personal or professional life. It is a paradigm shift for most people, but visualizing success keeps a positive mindset, provides clear direction, increases motivation, and aids in problem solving. But! We suggest trying it out in your pasture first (of course!) and then the sky’s the limit!
Like this blog post?
Be on the lookout for upcoming blog posts about proactively – not reactively! – managing your land and animals!