Chapter 12.4 Determine a grazing management approach

Chapter 12.4 Determine a grazing management approach

“A few basic principles, combined with grazier’s knowledge of their own property can allow the formulation of a grazing management program that will address issues of pasture productivity and sustainability in a local context.” (Tactical Grazing Management)

Any grazing management approach needs to be responsive and flexible enough to manage with variable land systems and seasons, along with the other forces which impact on decision making; hence, systems based on standard approaches or calendar-based programs of management are unlikely to be successful in the long term.

Importantly, the approach that you choose to adopt in your business needs to capture the values which are important to your business health, livestock productivity and the environmental goals you have identified for your property.

There are many grazing management approaches that you can learn about and consider implementing into your operation. Rather than cover the specifics of each approach, this procedure is focused on what the key ‘must do’ tasks are to enable you to decide which approach, or combination of approaches, that you choose to combine will best suit your operation.

It is important to consider that an approach may involve a combination of features of different formal approaches into your customised approach.

The four must dos in this chapter are:

• Identify goals for your grazing management approach, including multiple benefits.
• Assess systems and approaches to grazing management based on sound grazing management principles.
• Learn/adopt/adapt a grazing management system/approach and develop associated infrastructure.
• Monitor and adjust performance.

Identify goals for your grazing management approach (including multiple benefits)

Successful pastoral systems

Grazing management systems that are likely to be successful will have a series of principles which need to be applied to achieve the management objectives and targets. These principles need to allow a grazing manager to capitalise on opportunities offered by good seasons – for example, one strategy may be to respond by increasing stocking rates to match available feed levels and ideally achieve above average production, and at the same time allow natural resource management values to be realised.

Similarly, successful grazing management systems enable producers to manage and reduce risk in poor seasons. For example, you could respond by decreasing stocking rates to match available feed levels and protect the production base by prioritising the maintenance or improvement of the most productive paddocks and areas prone to degradation (e.g., risk of erosion).

As with any management approach that you adopt, ongoing monitoring and management is required. You will need to continue to monitor seasonal conditions and take action according to what conditions are prevailing (coupled with historical observations) and be decisive with your management.

Before any paddock or land system can be managed, it is important that a business plan is created, (see Module 1 Plan for Success) and the management objective is set. Whilst paddocks are the basic management unit, they sit on top of different land systems (land classes) that may or may not neatly fit the dimensions of the paddock. This may require consideration when establishing objectives for the paddocks. In some cases, it may be necessary to consider realignment of paddock boundaries to better fit the land systems. However, in most cases the management objective will focus on existing paddocks, considering the most productive land unit and the feed species that contribute to the productivity of these land units and the paddock.

A land unit is an ecologically consistent tract of land within another boundary (e.g. a paddock). For example, you may have two different land units (sections within one paddock) as you’ve fenced in two land classes.

When appraising paddocks and determining management objectives, there are essentially three options that a pastoral manager can consider:

Establishing the management objective should consider larger scale influences (i.e., property, catchment and region factors) to ensure that all land units are viewed as part of the overall system.

Setting management objectives is a key part of all formalised grazing management approaches, and involves constant revision and updating of the objectives as conditions change and plans develop.

Multiple benefits

The concept of multiple benefits (sometimes described as dual outcomes) seeks to provide environmental benefits in ways that combine with improved production, and ensures that production-focused activities also deliver positive environmental outcomes. In order to make every post a winner, when making management decisions, it is imperative that new management delivers multiple benefits wherever possible.

SIGNPOSTS

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National Landcare Program

For access to all regional natural resource management NRM authorities across Australia go to the website and click on your region. 

MMFS Module 1 Plan for Success

The planning process on most grazing properties is usually informal but creating a plan you can share with others increases your chances of being successful. 

MMFS Module 4 Capable and Confident Producers

This module focuses on the people who are important to your business, whether they are family members, owners or employees, advisors or contractors. It offers practical ways to boost capacity, capability and confidence (in oneself and in others) through more effective communication, long-term planning and leadership. 

Assess systems and approaches to grazing management

There are many approaches of managing the grazing component in the pastoral environment, and for all intents and purposes, they have similar goals and objectives: to facilitate a profitable business, whilst taking care of the natural resources upon and with which the business is operated.

Assessing approaches to grazing management will require you to have completed your business planning followed by identifying specific natural resource management (NRM) goals for your property. Once this is done, determine what changes in operations at the farm and paddock level will assist in achieving the goals.

Compromise is required

There are many factors influencing what grazing management system or part thereof you employ in your pastoral business. The reality is that many factors are on the table and trade-offs are often required from one part of the business to achieve the desired outcome. Achieving a balance between the different objectives will require compromise and the ideal management outcomes may not always be achieved; however, if the principles are adhered to over time, then progress towards the stated objectives will follow.

All successful grazing management systems incorporate a combination of managing the following elements of their system:

• Rest period
• Graze period
• Stock pressure (stocking rate)
• Soil fertility
• Location of watering points
• Fire
• Weed management and control.

Table 12.1 outlines the features of the most commonly used grazing management practices in the Australian rangelands by Fisher et al (2005) in ‘Management of total grazing pressure’ and management issues associated with each.

Table 12.1 Features and management issues associated with different grazing strategies.
Source: Fisher, A., et al. 2004. Review of total grazing pressure management issues and priorities for biodiversity conservation in rangelands: A resource to aid NRM planning. Desert Knowledge CRC Project Report No. 3 (August 2004); Desert Knowledge CRC and Tropical Savannas Management CRC, Alice Springs, adapted by AWI and MLA

You can use a similar format to come up with your own summary table.

Surprisingly, given the diversity of rangeland types across Australia, the variety of grazing management systems in use for domestic livestock in the rangelands is relatively few, and those that are commonly used have usually developed through practical experience over many years.

Learn/adopt/adapt a grazing management approach and develop associated infrastructure

There are many processes and products available to assist you in optimising your grazing management and resource base. The challenge lies in identifying the key points of each approach and determining which elements will facilitate outcomes which relate to your property management plan and business plan.

Do some research into the various approaches (Table 12.1 above is a good place to start) and determine which elements are most applicable to your situation. One way of doing this effectively is to list the priorities of your plans, as well as the components of your grazing management approach, and then evaluate each grazing management approach according to the values and priorities in your plans. This will help you narrow down which approaches are the most suited to your business, and in doing so, will save time by not needing to do in-depth research of all approaches.

Sometimes a certain component of an approach will be particularly well-suited to your operation – it is perfectly acceptable to find a way to adapt this into your current approach.

Upon identification of your desired approach to grazing management, you will need to assess how your current infrastructure will accommodate this approach. You may find that you need to enhance infrastructure in one area to adopt your approach and this will need to be incorporated into your property planning process. Development may take several years, and a gradual approach may be required to avoid unnecessary risk during the development phase of implementing your approach if it is different to your current one.

Look up your local natural resource management (NRM) organisation to find out if there are any financial incentives available for NRM projects that align with development of your grazing management approach. Such incentives may allow you to fast-track your development plans, but be sure to assess the statuatory and reporting requirements for such projects before embarking on them.

Monitor and adjust performance

It is extremely important that processes are developed to monitor the grazing system by considering the pasture, soil and landscape condition. Two key reasons to monitor are:

• To track progress; and
• Collect information to make tactical decisions.

Other elements of monitoring your business, which are important to monitor are:

• Animal performance.
• Financial performance.
• Systems health.

These performance indicators are excellent indicators of how your plans are being implemented, and how your overall business goals are being met.

When monitoring the system, the indicators that are assessed can be split into two broad groups:

1. Lead indicators tend to be seen earlier; they are generally a precursor indicator rather than an end result. For example, in some regions lower than average autumn rainfall will delay the germination of feed and a key date for assessing rainfall received can be an alert to assess feed on offer and stocking rates.
2. Lag indicators tend to be seen later and are generally an end result. For example, low or falling condition score is the result of sheep not having enough feed of adequate nutritional value. By the time feed quality and quantity have fallen enough to impact on condition score, management options are reduced.

A number of tools are available to assist you with monitoring the performance and condition of elements of your business.

To assist in assessing change in condition of paddocks and resources on the property, it is useful to adopt a formal monitoring system. These systems allow for objective assessment of different factors affecting productivity including: the balance of palatable and less palatable species, recruitment of new palatable species, the level of bare ground, the level of grazing utilisation of key grazing species, condition of watering points, and changes in weed populations or density.

Maintain a photo record

Monitoring progress is critical in long-term projects because it is impossible to remember what things were like at the start and how much ‘progress’ is being made, especially with the ups and downs of the seasons.

A sequence of photos taken over a period of time can provide a rich source of information to monitor short- and longer-term change resulting from management decisions, climatic conditions/impacts and natural events. Use tool 5.9 from MMFS Module 5 Protect your natural assets to establish and maintain photopoints.

The ‘before and after’ photos in tool 5.10 from MMFS Module 5 Protect Your Farm’s Natural Assets show how well photos can visually record progress towards your vision over the years.

Set up your monitoring site(s) in a logical fashion and record their coordinates or include their locations in your Property Management Plan, so that others are aware of the location of these.

Commit to regular monitoring

Define the best month/s to assess the condition of your natural resources, pests and weeds, then take measurements (photos, assessments, counts, etc.) at that time. The timing will vary according to your rainfall pattern (see chapter 8.1 in MMFS Module 8 Turn Pasture into Product):

• Winter and uniform rainfall zones: late autumn (before the break) is often the ‘worst’ for vegetation, groundcover, birds and insects, while mid-spring is the ‘best’.
• Summer rainfall zones: spring and autumn can also be the most appropriate periods, but autumn will sometimes be ‘better’ than spring.

Seasonal variations can modify the times, but experience has shown that the twice per-year/stronger-and-weaker approach is sufficiently robust over time.

Use the tools suggested in this and other chapters to monitor change in soil, pastures, salinity, soil pH, remnant vegetation or any of the key resources you have identified.

Whichever tool or combination of tools you use, clearly identify your monitoring sites and come back to the same areas each time you monitor to allow progressive assessment and identification of changes.

Monitor long-term impacts

Use the monitoring tools repeatedly over time to determine if the condition of your key resources is moving towards or away from your management objective. Collect information over a number of years so you can clearly see trends over time.

Don’t commit to a program that is too demanding over time. The most important thing is to monitor the priority sites at about the same time each year to establish trends. Write these dates in your calendar or diary and commit to implementing your strategy over time.

Monitoring performance

To ensure that progress is made towards your business objectives, it is important that monitoring is undertaken on a regular basis. The factors monitored should include animal performance targets: lambing, weaning, kilograms of lamb weaned, kilograms of wool cut, wool strength, adult sheep mortality rates, land system and catchment health (e.g., erosion, bare ground, scalded areas, wetlands health, etc.); and grazing system (e.g., productive plants, weeds, recruitment, feed on offer, etc.).

SIGNPOSTS

READ

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Investigating intensive grazing systems in Northern Australia Volume I: Final report

Producers face increasing environmental and financial pressures to remain productive and viable. While cases of deteriorating condition of grazing land have been linked to poor management of stocking rate, there has been increasing interest and investment in intensive grazing systems, especially cell grazing, which provide greater control of the location, duration, intensity and timing of grazing.

Investigating intensive grazing systems in Northern Australia Volume II: Appendix 1

Reports from the nine properties involved in the trial, including rainfall and soil data, pasture growth and trial results.  

Investigating intensive grazing systems in Northern Australia Volume III: Appendix 2

Methodologies and analysis from the trial, including diet quality, climate and rainfall and vegetation cover estimates.

Management of total grazing pressure

Total grazing pressure means the combined grazing pressure exerted by all stock – domestic and wild, native and feral – on the vegetation, soil and water resources of rangeland landscapes.

Planned grazing management

Using planned grazing to optimise productivity and environmental outcomes on their property. Planned grazing is the use of a range of management tools, such as rest and graze periods, stock density and watering points, to create a particular landscape that meets the goals of the land manager.

Pastoral profits guide

This guide will assist pastoralists to meet their specific livestock production, and financial objectives through the better alignment of feed demand (stocking rate) to feed supply (carry capacity).

The glove box guide to tactical grazing management for the semi arid woodlands

This guide has been prepared for graziers in the semi-arid woodlands who wish topractise tactical grazing management on their properties. Managing the grazing of key species to ensure their survival and regeneration is the challenge facing all pastoral managers.

Best management practices for extensive grazing enterprises

This publication describes, in broad terms, those arid and semi-arid areas of New South Wales commonly referred to as rangelands and the management principles that underlie the sustainable utilisation of these areas by extensive grazing industries.

Ecosystem Management Understanding (EMU™)

A land management program for pastoralists and other land users to re-cover their land and enhance productivity. EMU introduces land users to the ecological management of landscapes and habitats by learning to recognize and read landscape processes, condition and trend, and to capture rainwater onsite.

Grazing Strategies

Successful graziers use a range of grazing techniques and varying approaches according to the needs of their sheep and pasture throughout the year (or a series of years).

Native pastures

A low-input feed source and play an important role in supporting improved, perennial pastures and maintaining the richness of biodiversity on-farm. The key to their long-term sustainability is to recognise the specific needs palatable perennial grasses and employ grazing strategies that encourage and maintain their productivity.

ATTEND

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Grazing Fundamentals EDGE®

A one-day workshop that gives producers a broad understanding of the environment in which they operate and the core principles behind successfully maintaining grazing land condition and long-term productivity.

Grazing Land Management EDGE®

Designed for producers to develop a thorough understanding of the grazing land environment in which they operate to strategically manage their grazing business to optimise land condition and productivity in the long-term and begin developing grazing land management plans for their properties.