Section 1: Capturing Sunlight
- Ruminant . . . . . . the marvel of the rumen, its main functions
Section 2: Grazing Techniques
- Disconnected Height and Mass . . . . . . pastures contain pounds of forage, not inches
- Opening a Door . . . . . . estimating the amount of forage in a pasture, available mass
- Animals and Acres . . . . . . the forage growth curve, the 5-Day Rule
- Regrowth . . . . . . protecting young regrowth, Principle #1: the 5-Day Rule
- Principled Grazing . . . . . . Principles #2, #3, and #4 of good grazing
- The Eyes Have It . . . . . . estimating forage mass, microwave ovens, a non-square square
- The Wedge . . . . . . an important tool: the grazing wedge
- Fuzzy Logic . . . . . . stocking rate, stocking density
- Calculating Density . . . . . . how to use stocking density for grazing decisions
- Cookie-Cutter Grazing . . . . . . differences: rotational grazing versus MIG, problems with the rotation in rotational grazing
- Mobs and Other Types of Grazing . . . . . . ultra-high stocking densities, mob grazing, differences from MIG
- Breakthrough! A Grazing Shorthand . . . . . . easy numerical method for describing a grazing system
- How Many Sheep Does It Take . . .? . . . . . . Animal Units, what they really mean
- It May Not Seem Like Much . . . . . . surprising effects of increasing forage yield or DM percentage by only 20%
- Let’s Take a Walk . . . . . . pasture walk #1
- Fields of Dreams . . . . . . pasture walk #2
- Out onto the Grass . . . . . . pasture walk #3
- Setting Things Up . . . . . . newcomer’s MIG #1, the big picture, forage inventory for the year, forage needs
- The Next Steps . . . . . . newcomer’s MIG #2, soil types, renovation decisions, fencing, water
- At the Gate . . . . . . starting MIG #1: first decisions, soil fertility, forage selection, ARG tip
- The Electric Field . . . . . . starting MIG #2: fencing, water, minerals
- Ready, Set, Graze . . . . . . starting MIG #3: grazing cells, when to move animals
Section 3: Soils, Soil Fertility, Fertilization
- Cash and Carry . . . . . . soil nutrients lost in hay
- The Real Cost of Hay . . . . . . making hay or buying hay, which is better when fertilizer prices are high?
- Nutrients Lost, Hay Versus Lamb . . . . . . comparing the loss of soil nutrients in hay versus grazing
- Sticker Shock . . . . . . nine options for coping with high fertilizer prices
- Efficient Nitrogen . . . . . . managing the N cycle, tips for using N efficiently, fixing and recycling N
- Fertilizing by the Numbers . . . . . . T-SUM 200 rule for nitrogen application
- Like a Dance for Nitrogen . . . . . . how do bacteria invade legume roots, form nodules, fix nitrogen?
- Fixing Things with Nitrogen . . . . . . diazotrophs, cyanobacteria, fixing nitrogen
- Flying Blind, or Not . . . . . . soil tests: pH, Buffer Index, OM, CEC
- The Dirt on Soil Tests . . . . . . soil tests: when & how to take soil samples
- Well-Grounded Decisions . . . . . . soil tests: micronutrients, mixed pastures, soil series
- Looking for Nitrogen Answers . . . . . . nitrogen fertility trial: goals, designing the on-farm experiment
- How Much Nitrogen Is Too Much? . . . . . . nitrogen fertility trial: N treatments, experimental design, forage yields, ANR, NUE
- Results: Our Nitrogen Trial . . . . . . nitrogen fertility trial: forage nutritional values, soil pH, residual N. Working together.
- The Money Pit . . . . . . to renovate or not? What to plant? What to change?
Section 4: Forage Growth & Storage
- Spring Flush . . . . . . grazing early in the spring, damage to pastures, options
- Competition, Success, Pasture . . . . . . results of set-stocking, plant response
- Saving for Summer . . . . . . on-farm forage trial: summer stockpiling of alternative forages
- Dry Times, Stretching Feeds . . . . . . dry year, not enough feed, practical options
- Hard Decisions . . . . . . drought strategies, reduce feed needs, add feed resources
- Water Breakthroughs . . . . . . irrigation: pod-line systems, K-Line
- Water, Water – Wouldn’t It Be Nice? . . . . . . irrigation: supplemental irrigation in wet climates, pod-line systems
- Old Hay, Good Hay? . . . . . . hay: quality over time
- Four Guys and a Barn Fire . . . . . . hay: heat-damage, the Maillard Reaction
- Pickled Forage . . . . . . silage: the ensiling process, balage, the A.I.V. Method
- Balage in a Pickle . . . . . . silage: balage, things that can go wrong
Section 5: Forage Quality
- Keeping Score . . . . . . Relative Feed Value
- A Quality Acronym . . . . . . Relative Forage Quality
- The NDF Alphabet . . . . . . NDF adjustments, ash, starch, Maillard products, effective fiber
- Fiber Digestion, Time, and Distance . . . . . . fiber digestibility, TTNDFD
- Sticky Fiber and Feeding Minerals . . . . . . CEC effects of fiber in the GI tract, mineral availability
- Growth without Clover . . . . . . nutritional quality of spring grass
Section 6: The Science & Business of Grazing
- The Buck Stops Here . . . . . . decisions, we are all CEOs on our farms and ranches
- Managing the Science of Grazing . . . . . . why good scientific studies on MIG systems are scarce
- Two Cultures . . . . . . dichotomy between the scientists and the graziers who practice MIG
- Deciding To Rent or Pass . . . . . . should you rent a field or not?
- Not Horsing Around . . . . . . Kentucky bluegrass: why is it so valuable? To whom? A bigger picture.
- Optimistically Speaking . . . . . . the business of converting sunlight into livestock through intensive grazing
Section 7: I Wonder . . .
- Dinosaur Dreams . . . . . . the largest dinosaurs: anatomy, nutrition, fiber. Seriously.
Section 8: Intensively Managed Grazing Systems – A Textbook
- Author’s Note & Acknowledgement
- Intensively Managed Grazing Systems
- Forage Growth
- Measuring Pasture Mass
- Other Techniques for Estimating Pasture Mass
- Phases of Forage Growth
- Types of Grazing Systems
- Set-Stocking
- Rotational Grazing
- Management-Intensive Grazing (MIG)
- The Grazing Wedge
- Additional Things to Consider
- Grazing Period
- Stocking Density
- Stocking Rate
- Sacrifice Area
- Dry Matter Intake
- Water
- Minerals
- Fencing
- Soil Fertility
- Pasture Renovation
- Multispecies Grazing
- Selected References