Develop multispecies grazing system to improve pastures

CANTON, Ill. — A multispecies grazing system can result in several benefits including more uniform grazing, reduced herbicide use, eliminating unwanted plants and the potential for more profit.

“We have so many invasive plants in the state of Illinois and sheep and goats will eat a vast majority of them,” said Teresa Steckler, University of Illinois Extension commercial agriculture specialist.

“It won’t be an overnight fix,” said Steckler during a presentation at the Illinois Forage Institute, hosted by the Illinois Forage and Grassland Council in partnership with the Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition.

“It is going to take some time, but they will clean up the pastures of plants that you don’t want.”

Cattle, sheep and goats each like different types of plants — grass, forbs or browse.

“Understand your animals and what they prefer,” Steckler said. “Think about what you have to provide them to maximize their rate of gain while minimizing the inputs.”

Goats like to browse.

“I like to see goats with their heads up because then they have less parasite issues,” Steckler said. “Goats have a high tolerance for tannins and bitters, so it is perfect for them to go through autumn olive and clean that up.”

However, if there are saplings in the pasture that a producer wants to keep, she recommends putting a fence around them before grazing goats.

“Goats are like deer, they are constantly moving,” she said. “They will eat plants that they know will satisfy their nutritional needs.”

Sheep will eat grass and they will do some browse, Steckler said, but for the most part they prefer forbs.

“Sheep will graze plants really close to the ground and they can handle more difficult terrain,” she noted.

“Cattle like to graze grass and they like the taller grasses because they have the long tongue to wrap around them,” she said.

Cattle eat three to five meals per day.

“Their largest meals are early in the morning and late in the day,” the specialist said. “Most of the grazing will be during the daylight, but you will see some grazing at night.”

From a nutritional standpoint, Steckler said, for producers who are grazing all three, she recommends the goats graze first followed by sheep and then cattle.

“Vegetative management is the nice thing about goats,” she said. “My goats have cleaned out bushy honeysuckle and out West they are using flocks of sheep and goats to clean out underbrush.”

A research study done at Ohio State University showed that goats eliminated 92% of the multiflora rose in one year.

“However, it took four years to eradicate the multiflora rose,” Steckler said.

West Virginia researchers grazed goats and were able to reduce the brush cover from 45% down to 15% in one season.

“It is going to take multiple times for the goats going over the pastures to kill it out,” the specialist said. “And once you get the brush beat down, the more nutritional grasses will have an opportunity to grow.”

In southern Illinois, Steckler said, sericea lespedeza is out of control.

“You will see an impact from grazing goats in the first year,” she said. “But with the huge seed bank, you will be fighting this for several years.”

It is important for livestock producers to match the resources on their farm with the animals.

“The weather is so variable that it seems to me that we need a little more buffer for stocking rate,” Steckler said.

“You can probably graze five to six sheep per acre and for goats six to eight head per acre,” she said. “For brush eradication, I put 35 goats on one acre and they were there for two days and then I moved them to the next acre.”

Goats must have a good fence for two reasons — to keep them in the pasture and to keep the predators out.

“There are all kinds of predators and in southern Illinois. Bobcats are becoming a problem and they are moving north,” the specialist said.

To reduce problems with parasites, Steckler recommends rotating pastures so that the sheep and goats are removed for at least 40 days.

“That depends on your season. If you have a really wet season, you may have to extend that,” she said. “But if you extend it, the grass may get too tall, so it is a juggling game and it all comes down to management.”

Monitoring the grass height is important.

“I don’t like the forage to get less than 6 inches,” Steckler said. “And don’t put feedstuffs on the ground.”

“Use recordkeeping to find the weak points in your production and be willing to make a few changes,” she said.