Plant Diversity Co.
Mob grazing
Cool Season Cover & Full Season Cover
Multi-species Blends
Getting Started with Mob Grazing (Graze Fallow)
Our multi-species cover crops were developed to utilize plant diversity, root exudates & soil biology to mimic the natural ruminant grazing system. Keep in mind, the productive soils we farm today weren’t built by monocultures, heavy tillage & synthetic fertilizer but by ruminant animals, mob grazing diverse grasslands.
Improve water infiltration and water holding capacity of your soil by balancing the C:N ratio.
Access unavailable (insoluble) nutrients in your soil profile.
Maximize photosynthesis to feed soil biology.
establishment
Seeding conditions
Cool Season Cover: Sow as early as possible
Full Season Cover: The ideal soil temperature for the blend to be seeded is anything north of 6 degrees Celsius. To ensure the germinating plants have equal chances to compete for sunlight, we need the soil temperature to be warm enough for the warm season crops in the blend to establish themselves.
The seed depth we are trying to hit is 3 ⁄4 of an inch (2 centimetres) or up to 1 inch if moisture is available there.
establishment
Weed control
If weed pressure is an issue or you have a history of problem weeds on the field you selected, we recommend a pre-burn herbicide application (with no residual).
Seedling & Vegetation
Establishment
Once the crop is germinated, the lower plant population can cause the plant stand to look thin. This is a very important portion of the blend’s life. The battle for sunlight is afoot and we need to depress the cereal population, so the slower establishing crops can get a fair shot at sunlight before the cereals dominate the canopy. Once a hierarchy has been established, the plants form a symbiotic relationship and from then, rapid biomass production will take place.
Image: ideal residue to leave
The Process
mOB GRAZING Process
Grazing can be less predictable but the trade-off goes as follows:
Turning the cows out earlier will result in smaller surface residue, but faster and more plentiful regrowth.
Turning the cows out when the crop is more mature will result in greater surface biomass, but much less regrowth.
Rotational mob grazing will always achieve the most desired results, and the more pounds per acre of live animal you can run per paddock, the greater the positive impact you will have on your soil.
We would recommend making moves every 2-3 days (more frequent if possible)
We would like to run a minimum of 20,000 Ibs/acre (15-20 cows/ac/day) stocking density in order for animals to create a vegetative residue on the soil surface.
Once the crop reaches symbiosis, the crop will grow rapidly as the mycorrhizal network is established. It is wise to turn the cows out earlier than later, to try and stay ahead of the rapid growth. The photos below show cows grazing the first paddock on two different crops.
In this photo, the cows were turned out after the cool season plants had started to head and reach reproduction, and the cows will have to run through quickly to keep up with the maturing crop.
In the second photo (below) it shows the first paddock grazed while all the crops are still vegetative. This makes managing the maturing crop a little easier. The desired time to start grazing the blend would be between the maturities of these two photos.
FULL SEASON COVER
what to leave for residue?
Crop maturity can become a problem if stock density is not high enough. If the crop is maturing faster than the cows can keep up, we would recommend running the livestock over the land as quickly as possible. Even if residue mat is not achieved with faster moves or bigger paddocks, the livestock will trim plants and set maturity back to a vegetative state, sequestering more carbon for the soil biology, optimizing re-growth potential.
The re-growth should be grazed again later in the fall, but be sure to leave 50% of biomass as residue.
The above photo would be an example of about the ideal maturity, to leave proper residue and maximize re-growth.
Multi-species Blends
The Regrowth
Plant species have been selected to maximize regrowth potential for late fall grazing - a balanced, diverse cattle feed (energy + protein).
High Precip: Expect Cool Season Plants to compose the majority of regrowth biomass.
Low Precip: Expect Warm Season Plants to compose the majority of regrowth biomass.
*Moisture throughout the year will also determine regrowth potential.
C:N Ratio
Residue management
The power of stimulated and functioning soil biology. Residue from 1st graze almost completely gone.
Why? We have balanced the C:N Ratio of above-ground biomass, the ideal microbial diet.
Image: 29 days after grazing.
Full Season Cover
“why” mob grazing
Mob Grazing
Benchmarking
It is important to document the positive effect plant diversity has on soil aggregation and water infiltration. It is good to know before the crop has been seeded how quickly water can be infiltrated. Please follow the Water Infiltration Protocol & be sure to record your results.
Water Infiltration Kit.