Management options
Improving soil health
In livestock enterprises, grazing management is
the most important influence on soil health and
function. Planned grazing optimises soil nutrient
cycling, water infiltration, pasture composition and
forage quality – and minimises evaporation rates
and soil erosion.
Implementing a planned grazing regime is
strongly recommended to improve a poor score
on any one of the key soil health indicators on
the Bullseye Score Card. This can help improve
key soil health properties such as soil structure,
groundcover, water infiltration and soil organism
diversity.
There are a number of terms used for planned
grazing, including rotational grazing, managed
grazing, time controlled grazing, natural grazing
and holistic grazing. Whatever the term, here are
the key points to any effective grazing approach.
1. Maintain high levels of groundcover at
all times. More than 70% at most times is a
critical target.
2. Adjust stocking rate to ensure
sustainable utilisation of available forage.
Develop a forage budget using sustainable
utilisation rates. This will ensure long-term
pasture vigour, protection of growing
points and a competitive edge against
weed invasion. A forage budget maximises
diet quality for cattle and ensures
adequate residual ground cover levels that
will promote infiltration and reduce runoff
during the next wet season.
3. Aim for even grazing pressure across all
areas of each paddock. Use management
options that promote evenness of grazing
including subdivisions, watering points,
fencing to land type and self-herding
tactics.
Self-herding is a behaviour and landscape
based approach to managing animals and
grazing pressure across the landscape. It
includes using a range of tactics including
guidance fences and tracks, signals and
attractants and sometimes fire to manage
grazing pressure across landscapes. More
information is available at selfherding.com.
4. Allow adequate recovery periods for
pasture recovery by moving stock between
areas, including wet season spelling. Have
a good number of subdivisions or use self-
herding tactics to allow areas to be rested
adequately, depending on season and
rainfall.
5. Maintain pasture species diversity and
maintain a balance between trees and
grasses. This is achieved through being
able to control animals on and off areas. In
some situations sowing alternative pasture
species is also useful. Appropriate use of
fire can promote 3P grasses such as black
speargrass, and manage the density of
woody plants.
RASH MANUAL - 23