Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.

— Henry Ford

Mob Grazing Seminar and Field Day

Tina and I attended the 2007 Ultra High Stock Density Event in Creighton & Newport Nebraska. Yesterday, Allan Savory, founder of Holistic Management; Chad Peterson, Nebraska’s ultra high stock density grazier; and Neil Dennis, Canada’s ultra high stock density grazier, spoke and showed photos of their work. About 250 people attended the talks on Friday in Creighton.

Today we spent all day at one of Chad Peterson’s ranches near Newport.

We rode flatbed trailers out to where the mob was grazing.

The mob consisted of 443 pair.

Nate Chisholm and his wife Ashley set up a second lead fence.

Then they pulled up the lead fence letting the cattle have a new grazing area.

They pulled the water and mineral troughs up to the new grazing area.

The cattle get right to “work” with their grazing duties.

The water and mineral are right up close to the grazing area so the cattle don’t have far to walk.

A close-up of the girls at work.

I’m listening intently to the Allan, Chad and Neil respond to questions.

Here’s the water system. They have so much water here, there is no float on the trough. The water just runs in one end and out the other in a long pipe so the excess runs out beyond the cattle impact area.

This is something Chad designed, metal guides for the two wires so the top wire goes over the vehicle and the bottom wire goes below it so he can do through any fence on the property without using a gate.

Heading back to headquarters for lunch of buffalo BBQ.

Here’s some ground recently grazed.

After lunch we headed to an area grazed about a month ago.

The left side of the fence is a neighbor’s property that’s continuously grazed. On the right has been mob grazed.

Turning around, you can see this interesting wet area. Chad’s property is on the left this time.

Here’s looking at the pond from the other side, so Chad’s property is to the right.

Again, his is on the right. Notice the higher quality water plants and look of the water on the mob grazed side?

On the drive back from the field day, Tina took this photo of a neat windmill thinking that was cattle in the background. When we looked at the photo on the computer, we saw they were bison!

What a wonderful learning experience this was! Thanks to the Knox County Extension Office and Terry Gompert for setting this all up!

3 Responses

  1. Hi! I just came accross this post in a Google search. I know it’s a couple years old, but I hoped you might remember how that water trough is fed.
    Thanks for the post and great pictures!

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