If the trend holds, in just over a month we will be entering the fifth year of “drought”, as highlighted by two popular drought indexes in the charts below. Here we share what we have learned about utilizing Regenerative Ag Grazing Principles through this recent drought.
Regenerative Grazing Management
There are number of names that describe the type of grazing management we apply at DS Family Farm. When we started our journey of grazing cattle in 2011, “Mob Grazing” was kind of the hip name for Holistic Planned Grazing. Other names include, Intensive Grazing Management, Adaptive Multi-Paddock grazing, and Rational grazing. All of these names try to imply that this type of grazing management is not a traditional “Set Stock” or “Rotational” grazing system. Most recently, “Regenerative Ag” has lumped these non traditional grazing systems under an overall umbrella of Regenerative Grazing Management.
To put our grazing management in simple terms, we like Joel Salatin’s mantra of, “FRESH GRASS AND MOVE“. Joel refers to grazing managers as an Orchestra Maestro. We orchestrate the movement of the animals across the landscape for the benefit of the pastures and animals (stewarding God’s creation). Animal health and pasture health are in sync when animals are presented a daily smorgasbord of fresh forages. This type of grazing management is counter intuitive to our minds, because it looks like we are “wasting” grass, leaving “unused” grass behind. Resting and recovering grass is the secret sauce of this system.
Overgrazing is a TIME factor, not how many animals are grazing
Traditional “set stock” grazing is when you place a number of animals in an area and leave them there for a set amount of TIME. The problem is that overgrazing never happens to an entire area, overgrazing happens plant by plant. If we put some cows in an area and leave them there for a week, some plants will be “favored” and “overgrazed” while other plants won’t be grazed at all. Holistic Planned Grazing teaches that once a plant is grazed, it goes into “shock” for about two days, before it tries to regrow. If the cows are there for a week, grazed favored plants try to regrow, the fresh regrowth is grazed, and the result is an “overgrazed plant”.
To get around this problem of “overgrazing”, simply move your herd before those plants try to regrow. When you enter an area to graze, be sure to have your next area ready to graze within in about 2.5 days. This will prevent “overgrazing”. Not only do frequent moves prevent overgrazing of plants, but numerous other benefits happen to the land and animals.
“Overgraze” to increase forage production
In the image below we add a chart of the “number of standard animal units” grazed (see blue line chart), below the two “drought” charts. In our animal units chart we added two lines:
- The lower Black Line = USDA Set Stocking Rate for the area we graze
- This is the number of animal units recommended for the area we graze if using set stock grazing.
- The GREEN Line = 2X USDA Set Stocking Rate for the area we graze
- Note that we are almost always “overgrazing” according to USDA recommended rates, and sometimes overgrazing by two times the recommended stocking rate (follow the blue line of animal units chart).
Chart Notes through dry spell
At the start of the current dry spell, 7/15/2021, we were grazing at 2X the recommended stocking rate. By early 2023, following recommended “drought indicators”, we decided to “DESTOCK” the farm. We destocked animals to the recommended rate (black line). Note: during a drought, even at the USDA recommended rate, we would be over stocked.
Here is what has happened:
- After destocking through 2023, we grew an incredible amount of forage, we appeared under stocked!
- We kept the lower stocking rate for 2024 and again grew an incredible amount of forage, again we appeared under stocked!
- Based on the forage we grew in 2023 and 2024, in the severity of the drought, we decided to restock animals.
- By 3/15/2025 we had restocked animals back to 2X the recommended rate (see bottom blue line chart).
- In 2025, we again grew an incredible amount of forage, and following animal harvest, restocked back to 2X the recommended rate going into the 2026 growing season (3/15/2026).
The 2026 growing season is currently about 10 days behind average. Our pastures have received little moisture between the first of October 2025 through the last week of May 2026. Recent rains have given us great hope for the rest of the 2026 growing season. Will we eventually get in trouble with this type of grazing management? Time will tell, but for now we will continue down this path of stewardship, and see where the good Lord leads us.