Sheep Industry News June 2023

Intensively Grazing in North Carolina

R unning 100 ewes on 10 (and a half) acres, John Brasfield has an operation that Western producers can only imagine. Welcome to North Carolina, where intensive grazing and high stocking rates aren’t just a dream, they’re a reality. The 2022 winner of the North Carolina Sheep Producers Association Shepherd Award, John currently serves as vice president of the association (and has served as president in the past). As a retired livestock agent and county extension director, he knows a thing or two about managing forage and livestock. And he’s learned quite a bit about raising sheep since getting into the industry in 1987. Mostly a club lamb producer, John and his wife, Laurie, run a commercial operation and sell registered breeding stock and freezer lamb. They lamb in both the winter and spring to provide lambs for both spring and fall shows. “We have a small ethnic market, and when we have extra lambs or cull ewes, I ship them to New Holland (Penn.),” John said. The King, N.C., producer trained for his livestock career when he earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Virginia Tech and a master’s degree in animal science/nutri tion from North Carolina State University. His wife has a bachelor’s degree in horticulture that comes in handy, as well. “We purchased our farm in July 1986. I almost named the

farm ‘Speculation Farm’ because we did not know how long our experiment would last,” John said. “I have a feeling that we are now in it for the long haul. We run about 100 ewes. We raise both registered Dorsets and Hamp-Suffolk cross sheep.” As purchased, the farm didn’t look like the type of place that would support 100 ewes. But the use of fertilizer those first few years helped build soil health. Since 1990, the only fertilizer on the place has been all-natural, provided and ap plied by John’s own flock. “The farm was solid broom straw when we first purchased it,” he said. “To newcomers, intensive grazing may seem pretty complicated. All the talk about stocking rates and rest periods can be intimidating or just plain confusing. There is nothing terribly mysterious about intensive grazing. One reason is a simple matter of economics. After three years of intensive grazing, our pastures rebounded and became productive again. We are able to accomplish this type of management style by using temporary polywire electric fence with both store-bought and homemade reels.” John divided the land into 20 half-acre paddocks and grazes each paddock for three to four days, on average. “Concentrating sheep on paddocks creates competition for food. Like mowing your lawn, everything is consumed,” he said. “At the same time, the sheep are applying fertilizer to the paddocks. In my opinion undergrazing is worse than overgrazing. The ‘summer slump’ in production is a critical time. You need to make sure that you have enough paddocks so that the plants get sufficient rest during this period of slow growth. During the spring lush growth, I open up the paddocks to let the sheep top off the fast-growing forage in order to keep it at the vegetative stage. Spring is not the time to intensify grazing, unless you want to make hay in other pastures. “Late summer, I select paddocks for fall and winter grazing in order to extend the grazing season. Exam ples are stockpiling fescue or planting winter annuals. I also keep a few paddocks in reserve for early spring grazing. Just remember the last paddock grazed in the winter recovers the slowest in the spring. More pad docks means longer rest periods for the plants. I have come to the conclusion that in order to earn a degree in intensive grazing management, you must go through three grazing seasons and one drought.” Special thanks to Dr. Emily Cope with North Carolina Cooperative Extension for her assistance with this article on John Brasfield.

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