Pasture Management with Small Ruminants

Learn a new way to manage your property.

article image
Photo by Karen K. Will
These animals provide not only rich, organic fertilizers to help build soil, they can also provide endless hours of entertainment.

Once part of most diversified and subsistence farms, four-stomached ungulates such as cattle, sheep, and goats are designed to harvest the solar energy that’s already been captured by plants. It is because they eat that converted solar energy to use as fuel for themselves that they can provide us with such a plethora of products and services. Farmers and homesteaders of old knew that the road to real wealth was paved with photons, neatly converted to food, fiber, fertilizer and mechanical work, and heat (at one time, many northern farmhouses were attached to the barn so the animals’ body heat could heat the house). So important was the harvesting of light energy through animals that no farm could be without them.

As modern agriculture became industrialized, it also became less diversified. Farmers started specializing in just a few crops or one kind of animal. And the ecological balance on the farm has been way out of whack ever since. When animals are moved off the land and into the prison-like torture chambers we currently call feeding operations, the animal benefit to the land, the farmer’s mental health and wellbeing, and the environment are lost. Perhaps most unfortunately, any semblance of self-sustainability was lost the moment agriculturists were brainwashed into adopting these methods. One of the principal flaws with current industrialized agricultural models is that it requires vast quantities of a finite energy source (petroleum) — ironically captured from the sun — through the very photosynthesis process that only partially fuels industrial ag — and stored in rich and highly concentrated deposits millions or more years ago.

Manage for the Ecosystem You Want

We’ve discussed the incredible power of hogs for tilling the ground and removing stumps and the like. But what do you do if you want to convert or restore an overgrown scrubland into productive grassland? You could opt for some quality time in the seat of a large diesel-fuel-guzzling machine and doze, shred, or otherwise destroy that unwanted vegetation. But, though operating heavy equipment can be fun, it is hard on a body and hard on the land, and it’s noisy, smelly, and pretty expensive. It’s also quick. But the 21st century homesteader has nothing, if not time. Your place won’t be built in a day, so take it one day at a time and marvel at your progress — employing a progression of animals to restore (and later maintain) a grassland can be soothing rather than jarring, and you’ll end up with something useful even as your land is being restored.

Likewise, if you wish to open up the understory in a woodlot, or clear heavy growth between rows of fruit trees or cultivated vines, well-managed groups of animals can help you make it all happen, and you won’t need to spend a dime on feed or fuel. In fact, you may well add value through increased animal numbers and/or through the products they offer while making a living from the growth you’re trying to get rid of.

  • Updated on May 24, 2022
  • Originally Published on Mar 9, 2020
Tagged with: goat, manage sucker growth, manage woody vegetation, pasture management, sheep
Comments (0) Join others in the discussion!
    Online Store Logo
    Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368