Pasture Management: The Cluck-N-Oink Crew

Matt has been experimenting with rotational methods that enhance the health of our pastures but that reduce our labor load in moving the critters regularly. We move our chickens and pigs very frequently and decided to try a shared fence set-up during the cool months when wallowing isn’t necessary for the pigs.

The strategy is to use a shared net set-up and only have to set up one new pen for each move. The following groups then use the previously set-up net paddock and reduce the amount of fence moving significantly. It also enables us to move the groups more often because less of our labor is spent moving overall. What we get is a nice, tidy, lightly tilled field ready for spring sunshine to make the seeds in the soil sprout. Chicken manure is especially helpful to jump-start a barren pasture to a-growing. 

So far it’s working very well. These groups move together every 2-3 days. This allows minimal parasite build-up, access to fresh pasture constantly, and good manure distribution across the farm. Right now the Cluck-N-Oink crew is fertilizing our north pasture, the one most damaged by overgrazing prior to our arrival. That field was pretty representative of most old cow pastures in East Texas–yielding poor, very slow growth, little ground cover, and hungry cows. 

We hope to see a dramatic improvement in grass growth when spring arrives! Pigs and chickens work wonders on pasture to jump-start microbial activity, clean up dead growth, and stir up the seed bed exposing viable forage seed to moisture and sunlight. In a few years we will probably not even be able to see the ground anymore because the sod will thicken and protect it!