The name of this technology is pasture management, an extremely important tool for those who work with livestock and one of the main factors responsible for increasing the profitability of farms. In this text, we will give you several practical tips to help you stop wasting money and never make mistakes when managing pastures again. There are several ways to manage pasture and we at SIA use Rotational Grazing, the most modern technology available today when it comes to this topic.

This management is a Brazilian technology developed by the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul by the team led by professor Paulo Carvalho, a grazing ecology research group, and this technology has already been used on thousands of properties in southern Brazil, but also in the center -west, in the cerrado and in the Northern Region of Brazil. An extremely consolidated technology.

Now let’s move on to practical tips so you don’t make mistakes when handling things again:

Always work within optimal heights.

Whatever method you work with, never exceed the limit heights. Never let it grow so much that it goes beyond its prime or never lower it to more than the limit height, optimal height is the biggest management tip. Always within the optimal heights, you won’t go wrong.

Train the eye.

A tape measure to measure the height of the pasture is very important for you to train your eye. So, in the first handling, take a training, take measurements, walk well in the areas, analyze the average height of the paddocks, but calibrate by eye. Over time you will see that you no longer need the tape measure and it becomes much easier to use. Train your eye and that of your team!

Keep few pickets.

Most people are used to working with rotational or rotational grazing, working with many paddocks, small paddocks that they have the illusion that they will manage better. This is different in Rotatínuo, as we work with optimal heights that when we remove the animals only lower 40% of the entry height, leaving a lot of leaves left. The pasture grows super fast, the animal eats the top of the pasture (the filet mignon from the pasture) and there is still a lot of leaves left and, quickly, the pastures grow. Tropical pastures never exceed 4 or 5 paddocks and temperate pastures work with 8 to 12 paddocks.

Adjust the right load. Work with an ideal load of animals.

This is one of the biggest mistakes we see. Sometimes people work at the optimum height, make few pickets, but make a mistake when adjusting the load. And normally for more, more animals are placed than would fit in the area. For example, a tropical pasture can vary from a load of Um/ha per hectare up to 4.5, or even 8 Um/ha, it varies a lot depending on the level of technology being used and also the rainfall and fertilization that is being done.

If there is too much food, load more. If you see that the pasture starts to tighten a lot before the time you work with a lighter load.

Never shave pastures!

Always work with ideal heights and never go below the exit height, the limit height that we talk about for Rotatínuo. Why is it so important to cherish this time? Because when it rains again, returns to normal conditions, the pastures will grow quickly again. If you think that “you’re going to have to go down a little more, because the condition isn’t helping.” When it rains again, the pasture will have few leaves and it will take too long to sprout again.

And then, the tragedy is complete. So, hold on to your heart and don’t clear the pastures!