Focus on Grass: A 2025 Review of Grazing Systems

The nature of beef and sheep farming is changing once again; farmers might consider reviewing their enterprises to make the most of product price whilst keeping in control of fixed costs. Rotational grazing holds high potential for many farms to do this. Farms may consider review areas such as beef-to-sheep ratios, wintering strategies, and contingency planning. Strategic investments in infrastructure and equipment further strengthen system adaptability, ensuring efficiency and profitability in a changing agricultural landscape. 

Although farmgate prices are currently favourable and variable costs relatively manageable; for many, areas such as inflation, interest rates, rising wages, and infrastructure costs are adding increasing pressure. Are there strategies to leverage product price opportunities without escalating fixed costs? Farms with established infrastructure and skilled labour might consider increasing output and aligning with supply gaps, such as earlier lambing or autumn calving. Conversely, farms with limited infrastructure may explore ways to enhance productivity with minimal additional investment, reviewing farm enterprises/farming systems, and focusing specifically on grazing management. 

Increasing Output per Hectare  

Output per hectare is influenced by:  

1. Flock or herd efficiency (number of lambs or calves reared per dam) 
2. Stocking rate 
3. Animal growth 

While greater production attained through increased fertiliser and feed inputs is currently economically appealing, it is environmentally unsustainable. Achieving these goals via grass, without increasing variable costs is possible with good grazing management. 

Rotational Grazing 

Rotational grazing boosts grass utilisation. Farmers transitioning from set stocking to rotational grazing have doubled their output, from an increased stocking rate and/or improved animal performance. 

• Sheep: Set stocking or lax rotational grazing is often suitable until weaning, after which, fit weaned ewes can be rotationally grazed tightly to tidy up the grass and make is go further. Rotational grazing into the winter will benefit pasture quality and reduce pressure on other winter-feeding systems.  
• Cattle: One wire electric fencing and creep grazing offers the ability to graze the pasture well for quality with the cows and keep the calves growing on the best grass in nearby paddocks.  

Leader-follower approaches where the priority stock graze ahead of the lesser priority stock are great to balance the grazing pressure to maintain pasture quality while keeping priority stock growing.  

Pasture Species 

Many farms could benefit significantly from more white clover. In the Smart Grass Trials in Ireland, researchers found that adding white clover increased the average weaning weight of lambs by 1.6kg, with six-species swards further adding 0.8kg. While additional species hold value, they require different management compared to standard white clover-ryegrass pastures. I suggest that white clover should be the starting point for farms lacking clover. Encouraging clover in established swards involves tight grazing management in spring, maintaining soil fertility, and minimising herbicide use. 

Key Questions to Consider 

Sell Finished or Store? This depends on each farm’s specific context. Switching from fat to store sales requires planning to ensure you benefit from increased grass availability by raising stock numbers. There is potential for flexibility here too but be careful – for instance, opting to keep lambs longer in a year where there is a good fat lamb price could run into trouble if the business has not planned ahead. It would increase the risk of a grass shortage for the ewe flock, potentially impacting next year’s lamb crop. Have a plan A, be flexible but also keep a long-term perspective. 

Adjusting the Beef:Sheep Ratio: Farms with potential for outwintering cows might increase the beef-to-sheep ratio. Increasing cattle and reducing sheep numbers on such a farm can reduce workload, improve grazing management and reduce the parasite burden for each species. However, this is only cost-beneficial if the wintering can be cheap. Approximately, one 750 kg cow rearing a calf to be sold at weaning is worth eight 75kg ewes with lambs sold at weaning, so a farm with 90 cows and 750 sheep would have a beef:sheep ratio of 49:51 (750÷8 = 94 cow equivalents, making the total cow equivalent number 184, 94÷184 gives a ewe proportion of 51%). Around 50:50 is beneficial for clean grazing; however, the changing market may favour a 40:60 ratio.  

Wintering Policy: Changing weather patterns necessitate reviewing traditional wintering approaches. Grass remains the most resilient winter resource - consider deferred grazing, bale grazing, or rotational grazing early in winter to alleviate pressure on winter feed supplies. 

System Flexibility for Weather Extremes? Evaluate system resilience to cope with weather extremes. Adapt strategies quickly to stay ahead when faced with prolonged dry spells in summer, flooding or heavy snowfall in winter. 

Silage Management: If consistently left with surplus silage at the end of winter, consider reducing silage area for increased summer grazing. Are you making the right quality silage for your chosen system/s? If silage-based rations are required for ewes in late pregnancy or finishing livestock, early cut high quality silage is needed, whereas suckler cow silage can be made later in the season. 

Create Buffer Areas? Identify areas that can serve as buffers when grass supply is short in the main grazing area, such as laneways or rough ground. Defer these areas to provide forage in summer. 

Capital Investment for Flexibility? Consider capital investments that enhance farm resilience and flexibility, such as acquiring a bale wrapper for opportunistic silage making. 

5 Top Tips 

1. Implement rotational grazing: Transition from set stocking to rotational grazing to increase output by improving grass utilisation and stocking rates. 
2. Optimise pasture species: Introduce white clover to increase lamb weaning weights and improve pasture management. 
3. Plan for flexibility: Develop adaptable strategies like the leader-follower grazing approach, deferred grazing, create buffer areas and plan for adverse weather.  
4. What key pieces of kit can you buy/rent to build flexibility into your system? 
5. Keep reviewing your system, what has worked in the past might not work in the future.  

Poppy Frater, Sheep and Grassland Specialist, poppy.frater@sac.co.uk

Unearthed is the exclusive SAC Consulting members' monthly newsletter. Unearthed offers insights and tips from our experts on what we think is in store for farming and crofting in the coming months in order to protect and enhance your business.

Posted by Unearthed News on 15/04/2025