Grazing

Livestock grazing is an important management practice on agricultural lands in the U.S. While grazing provides essential nutrients for livestock, it also contributes to nutrient cycling that builds healthy pasture soils. To increase soil tilth, graziers must manage their livestock to prevent overgrazing.

Three key principles apply here: grazing period (animals should not remain on pastures long enough to cause plant decline), recovery period (pastures need adequate rest after grazing to allow plants to fully recover before the next grazing period), and residual (leaving enough plant residue after grazing to allow for the plant to fully regrow and to provide adequate soil cover).

Managed grazing, i.e., following these three basic principles, fosters ecosystem integrity and resiliency and ensures optimum forage growth to maintain livestock productivity. These principles and more are discussed extensively here in the ATTRA grazing section.  

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Staff Expert

Lee Rinehart

Lee Rinehart

Linda Coffey

Linda Coffey

Photo of Buck Holsinger explains the use of polywire at the Armed to Farm training at Holsinger Homestead Farm, August 2024.
Photo of Mr. Brooks setting up a small paddock for the Safe to Fail Grazing Trial
Texas Grazing Lands Coalition meets with Servando Leal in the field.
cattle in mud
Cattle grazing sorghum/sudan grass in a rotational grazing system.
Very dense and compacted soil clod breaking off in horizontal plates underneath a 3-inch sod laye
Very dense and compacted soil clod breaking off in horizontal plates underneath a 3-inch sod laye
Healthy soil in hands