Reasons to Use Rotational Grazing on a Homestead

I never really gave pasture management and rotational grazing any thought when we first started raising livestock. You just throw them in a pasture and they’ll eat. The grass will grow back and repeat, right? Same as a lawnmower. (Except you’re new mower doubles as fertilizer.)

I’ve spent most of my life living in farm country, that’s what it looks like all the other farms are doing, so it must be right.

After struggling with marginal pasture because we weren’t managing our livestock for good grass growth, we began to see the quality of our pasture go down… and when you’re working on a small scale, every inch counts. Over the years we learned about the rotational grazing systems that were being used on small farms and wondered if we could transfer those management techniques to an even smaller scale and reap any benefits. It turns out there are many advantages to using rotational grazing on a homestead. We’ve come to see that it follows patterns of rest that can be seen in creation and have watched our pastures improve a little more every year.

Whether you’re raising chickens, sheep, goats, cows, alpacas, rabbits, or pigs on your homestead, if you are pasture raising them you should spend some time researching rotational grazing, learning the benefits of rotationally grazing your livestock, and get started. Within a few short years, you’ll begin to see an amazing difference!

I’m over at The Homesteader’s of America sharing more about our experience with using rotational grazing on our eight-acre homestead. (We have raised chickens, pigs, cattle, and sheep.) You should see the difference between our property and our neighbors- it is shocking!

Visit Homesteader’s of America to Learn the Reasons to Graze Rotationally on your Homestead

Resources for Rotational Grazing

Graze Magazine
Farming Magazine