Swath Grazing Sheep

Swath grazing is growing a crop for the purpose of cutting when green and leaving it lie in swaths for later feeding. It is one means of extending the grazing season thus cutting back on the amount of hay being fed during the winter feeding season.

Many people are familiar with this method for cattle but fewer are doing so with sheep. The principles are largely the same.

A crop planted for swath grazing is cut when still green just as it begins to head out but before the heads can mature.

This method of feeding requires equipment to seed and cut the crop. If you do not use equipment for any other purpose then it is likely cost prohibitive to purchase it for this purpose only. You may chose to rent equipment, hire someone to do the job or work out an arrangement with a neighbour.

Try to seed the crop as late in the spring as possible for the growing season so you can cut the crop as late as possible in the fall. This will decrease the amount of time the crop lays in swaths.

Conventional crops like oats and hull-less barley are often used in Saskatchewan. Less conventional crops are millet and stockpiled forage.

We have used millet with sheep and found it to be suitable and palatable to the sheep. We chose Golden German Millet since it has a waxy leaf coat, making it more resistant to weathering and rotting in the swaths.

They come onto the millet early in the winter after a time of not having access to excess amounts of green feed so they seek out the green millet readily enough. Later on however, when presented with an alternative hay source they do not stay to clean up the millet as we would like.

Forages can be cut for winter grazing but in most areas they mature earlier in the growing season and thus are cut earlier. Then the forage lies in swaths longer and is prone to rotting if not grazed soon enough. Most ranchers will stick with hardier cereal crops they can cut later on yet still retain some green.

Since swath grazing is utilized in the winter season the weather will sometimes prevent the stock from cleaning an area efficiently enough (snow becomes too deep or freezing rain creates an ice layer). One management option is to allow the stock to return to clean up the feeding area in the spring. The downfall of this is encountering a spring that is too wet.

If the stock have cleaned up the grazing area efficiently the field is pretty clean with well distributed manure along the rows.

If the stock have not cleaned up efficiently enough there will be residue remaining in rows. There is the option of harrowing the field the following spring to spread this. This of course only adds to the cost and should be avoided if possible.

You may need to keep an area of land that is not seeded to grass. Some ranchers will rotate the areas used, taking grass areas out of grass production every so many years and using them as needed. Others rent land outside of their own and winter feed on rented land thus keeping all their owned land in grass.

We choose not to fertilize any crop we plant for swath grazing as artificial fertilizers are cost prohibitive for us and not the greatest for soil health in the long term. The short term benefit of boosted growth through artificial fertilizers is just that - short term and not worth it.

If you are also doing bale grazing you can swap bale grazing and swath grazing areas with ease. An area that has been bale grazed for a couple years will be rich with natural fertilizer and make a decent area for growing a grazing crop without the need for any artificial fertilizer. The bale graze area can then be set up on the previous years swath grazing area.

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