Presented by Birgit Martin of Pure Island Beef, Anita O’Brien, Grazing Mentor, and Christine O’Reilly, Forage & Grazing Specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
Watch each video from this event to learn about grazing tips, water systems, setting up fencing, working with net fencing, electric fencing tips, grass growth and managing grazing.
Birgit Martin provides an overview of her operation, Pure Island Beef, and why rotational grazing is so important for the farm.
The Manitoulin Island Pasture Walk in 2023 was delivered as part of the Farm Resilience Mentorship (FaRM) Program’s Advanced Grazing Systems.
Partners:
Ontario Forage Council https://onforagenetwork.ca/
Farmers for Climate Solutions https://farmersforclimatesolutions.ca/
Canadian Forage and Grasslands Association https://www.canadianfga.ca/en/
cuz set stalking or just putting cattle out without rotating doesn’t get that cycle of regrowth happening in the root [Music] system uh we are a cow CAF operation through the finish so we finish all our cattle uh either grain or grass finished we do both uh um both types of finishing and we direct Market all of our cattle as well we have our own brand it’s called Pure Island beef and so we um um with the current cattle prices maybe not everything will go through our brand but uh we historically well at least since about um I think about uh 2014 to 2015 in there almost all of our cattle have gone through our brand so we use local avatars um and either send them out as carcasses from the abattoir to butcher shops um or have them fully processed into cuts and then we have a couple country markets that sell our sell our beef not very much gets sold on manat Tulin given the size of the community we’re in here so our biggest um markets are Sunbury and Toronto our core herd is um U pure red short horn and Angus Cattle and then we have a herd of cross spreads of those two breeds and then we also when um when the gentleman that sold this Farm sold to Henning we bought his herd and it’s a charlet based herd it’s up on the hill there right now um but we’ve been breeding them short horn um and um and there’s a few black cows up there as well but the breeding program is to to get a British um British Bull on them the goal is to have all of those obviously 50% British but the rest of our herd is 100% British given that we have uh three households involved um the the the cow herd is significant it’s uh it’s about I think about right now about 320 cows um calvs and earings and then um we also do some custom grazing and the custom grazing um herd is part of what we’ll be talking about today there’s a group of 112 steers on this side of the road right now and then in silver water on the farm we have another 300ish uh steers that we’re custom grazing the herds get wintered out um fully in the winter only the wean Cales and the finishing cattle are in Barns or yards um so we winter the cows either in Hay Fields pastures or crop land where there is where we want the manure and where there’s shelter nearby uh and easy access to to water that’s open for the winter as well um so and we also have three different cing seasons so we have one group that calves in March it’s our smallest group and then our biggest group on a couple of properties Cavin May and then we have another fall cin group so again to spread out the cattle available for marketing at any one time of the year um our primary crop is forage we do grow uh we grow grain um wheat barley and we also grow corn for grain and for silage corn silage uh and we do a bit of canola as well as a cash crop um the other thing we do and you can see it in the distance here uh that was winter wheat and all of our wheat is UND seeded to red clover so um as a cover crop and also for Grazing In the Fall so at some point when that grows up a little bit more either the cows or these steers whoever needs the pasture will be rotating through that as well with regards to the pasturing um we do rotational grazing um on essentially everything it it varies a little bit property to property as to how intensive the rotation is but we rotate rotationally graze and we do it because rotational grazing builds a resilient pasture system and manit Tulin is the driest region in the province um uh Prince Edward County I think is second um it’s a it’s a little um it’s ironic because we’re completely surrounded by water but um we have the lowest rainfall um data of any County or District in the province so we need to work constantly on keeping our our pastures in the state that they can recover anytime that there is a rain when we do get rain uh there’s a piece on the far end towards town and then it split straight across the top uh into a 100 Acre 80 180 acre chunk and a 300 acre Chu so it gets a little bit of rest maybe not quite what it should but it’s already made an improvement over grazing it as one unit because the cows hardly ever really utilize the very back because the best Pond is at the front and the salt and mineral historically was always at the front so we’re trying to rotate by moving the salt mineral getting them to the other side of the dividing fence which we put across um and then making use of the water that is at the back so that they don’t always want to come to the front I wanted to get into a little bit for those that are uh looking for some more technical information about the rotational why it’s important um the the founding principle of rotational grazing is the rest period and that’s so that the obviously the top growth can regrow for the cattle gr but also that the roots recover um because as if you constantly remove top growth you also are limiting root growth and the top The Roots will mirror the top um so a pasture that is continuously grazed to just an inch or two of height that’s all the root mass that will be below it regardless of the depth of soil and then even if you do get rain it can’t really recover because there’s no root system to take advantage of it so roughly you have to you you don’t want to REM be constantly removing a huge percentage because every time you remove a lot of growth The Roots stop growing but it’s also the reason why uh Farmers for climate Solutions and cfga are interested in rotational grazing is because as you take off the top growth and and do slow down the root growth when you let it rest again and the root growth restarts you get all the um the sugars Etc um moving through the plant to the road systems feeding microbes and then over time through the processes in the soil soil those um microbes and plant materials from the roots that Slough off will become part of a more complex system and become soil stable carbon and and that’s what we want for for carbon sequestration and that’s why um that’s why the funding programs are in place to in um encourage rotational grazing because set stocking or just putting cattle out without rotating doesn’t get that cycle of regrowth happening in the root system and so we have to have rotational grazing to get that um regrowth of the roots that encourages the the um stable carbon in the soil and the key also is not to disturb that soil carbon um with tillage so if it isn’t a rotation um keeping the tillage to a minimum till system or we’ve recently acquired a no till drill as well so so to keep the carbon in the soil we have to reduce tillage and also to keep carbon in the soil we can’t let it be over uh the pastures be overg grazed by rotationally grazing you are constantly getting the livestock back into vegetative growth uh and the key is to manage the rotation so that in the spring things don’t get ahead of you it is really tough to do um you have to either have a herd big enough to stay on top of it or you have to have a fall back of perhaps mechanically harvesting some Fields so that things don’t get too mature uh because the digestability um and the protein levels obviously decline as as maturity advances and the cattle just won’t graze it like they’ll they’ll uh they’ll trample it or just leave it standing if it’s too mature um so if you can rotationally Grace and keep it vegetative the quality of the feed is far far better um you’re getting into you know um uh 80 to 90 % digestability in leafy material versus only 50 to 60% digestability in mature growth and protein levels if it’s mature maybe of only 8 to 10% versus High Teens low 20s in in Lush growth so it’s a vast difference in nutritional qu uh quality as well