Pros & Cons Using The Continuous Grazing Method

Continuous grazing involves a large area that the animals graze onGrazing.ie for a long period of time. Advantages to continuous grazing include:

PROS

• Very little time to setup.

As a boundary fence is a that is needed with this setup means that there is very little time taken. Most farmers would have an already existing fence installed around the boundary of the field. An electric fence system would then have to be installed around the boundary if there is no existing electric fence already. There is very little maintenance time required with the fencing setup.

• Small infrastructure cost.

As one of the only costs to this method is the electric fencing aspect this is why there is so little cost involved. Kick the cattle out on grass and maybe check on them every so often.

There are more cons to continuous grazing. Some disadvantages are:

CONS

• Forage is eaten too close to the ground.

This is an issue as it affects the regrowth time.

• Over & Under Fertilised Areas.

The soil tends to compact in some areas and manure and urine is not deposited evenly, meaning some areas are over-fertilized and some areas are under-fertilized. And cows tend to select around certain weeds, which will lead to a weed problem as those weeds go to seed and the desirable grasses and legumes don’t get a chance to reseed.