Another Mob Grazing Benefit - Fescue Seed

I've mentioned this in a past blog post, but a not so obvious benefit to mob grazing is the ability to harvest seed from pastures yet to be grazed. Although we currently have more cows at the goat ranch than we have ever had there (over 600 head) we still had nearly half the ranch that had not been grazed by mid-June. We cut those pastures for seed and with the price of seed this year, did quite well. Cutting the seed also removes the seed heads from the pastures that can carry fungus and harm eyes. I suggest rotating where you cut seed so that you can maintain a seed bank, but cutting this seed has many advantages, not the least of which is a nice paycheck. It's been record hot this summer and very dry, yet we still have around 400 acres that we have yet to graze. A huge benefit to managed grazing is knowing how many grazing days you have left at any given time. We calculate that if we don't get another rain, we have around 65 days of grazing left, which should allow us to get to early September with the cows and calves we want to send to market. Until then, I will continue to hope that it starts raining and prices will rebound.