The basics of regenerative grazing

While regenerative farming involves a vast range of techniques that are context specific to different properties, these basic tips provide a way to get started. •

If you use fertilisers, ensure they support a living soil biology (i.e. don’t use urea). • Ensure your grazing management allows pasture to rest and grow, before being grazed again. This allows roots to grow deep into the soil, and supports your pasture to photosynthesise, therefore feeding lots of sugars to the biology in the soil.

There are two different approaches to achieve this: •

Grow pasture high, and graze it back to ideally no more than a third of its height (certainly graze no more than half its height), and trample the rest into the ground; OR • Grow pasture high until the perennial grasses have a few dead leaves at the base, then graze it to the ground. Here is some helpful information on this approach https://www.handfortheland.com/resources.

Frequent shifting of your stock is key. If your stock is in a paddock for more than about three days at a time, then it’s very likely that you are degenerating your landscape, and are lowering your rainfall infiltration. •

Embrace and observe your pasture weeds – they are usually trying to heal problems caused by your management. Don’t spray them – using herbicides damages your soil ecology, which you are wanting to support and grow – but instead focus on perfecting your regenerative grazing management; you’ll find that weeds such as thistles will disappear eventually. Some weeds, such as giant buttercup, can simply be embraced as providing diversity to the pasture mix. An experienced regenerative dairy farmer I know has simply stopped considering it a problem. Presto! Weed problem solved. •

Increase the diversity of pastures. This is a popular strategy in regenerative grazing. Some experienced regenerative farmers consider it a fad, and I agree that spraying an existing pasture then sowing a diverse pasture mix onto bare soil is counterproductive. But many regenerative farmers have successfully sowed diverse species into existing pastures. Consider species with different root structures, including those with deep tap roots to pierce the deeper compacted soil layers that are often found in pastoral landscapes. Many farmers also find that by adopting regenerative grazing management, their pasture diversity increases over time, without a single seed being sown by humans.

Regenerative agriculture group Quorum Sense is an excellent resource for those interested in regenerative grazing management: www.quorumsense.org.nz.