More On High Stock Density Grazing

I am very much impressed with the results that the professional graziers are seeing in this method of farming. Now, when I read something, my eyes are drawn to the words high stock density grazing. I was reading an article lately that did just that. The article wasn't about cattle and grazing practices. It was about chickens. Pasured chickens, to be precise. The farmer had come to the realization that he had inadvertantly been practicing High Stock Density Grazing (HSDG) with, of all things, his chickens.

This farmer is doing what many more farmers are doing, pasturing chickens in a mobile pen (tractor, as we call them) and moving them on a daily basis, providing the birds new grass and lots of sunshine and fresh air with no hormones or antibiotics or any other unnatural substances.

In reading this article, I found out that he has a density in his pens that allow for about 1 square foot per bird. Thus, he is achieving the benefits of higher concentrations of Nitrogen from the manure, carbon build up in the soil from trampling, and increased microbial activity. So, as I'm reading this, I thought about it for a moment and realized that this is what we are doing. We have a pen that, when the birds get bigger, they have about one square foot per bird. We too have been practicing HSDG, without even knowing it.

I thought about it some more. We are nowhere near the size nor flock of the gentleman in the article. But we are putting density in our one and only tractor (next spring we will build another one to make a total of two), moving them twice a day, and we have seen the results. Last June, after we had butchered the birds, I noticed the ground on which I had moved the tractor for five weeks. The birds always left a perfect square where the tractor had been, the grass was eaten and there was lots of manure. The first few spots the tractor had been were green and beautiful. The grass had grown back thicker and looked much healthier than it had. There was a progression of growth in all the spots the tractor had been; from tall and green on the first spots and progressively shorter until the last spot which was still eaten and full of manure.

I turned the cows out on it and they ran to the new growth and devoured it. I was amazed how quickly they were grabbing and eating that good stuff. But that is my point here. We were practicing HSDG, without knowing it, on a very small scale. We saw the results. This has gotten me excited to see what the rest of the pastures will look like in the spring. We have one pasture that we finished the birds on in late September. It was too late in the year to notice any growth, but next spring-look out! It also has me excited to slowly build our flocks and stocking rates to achieve even more benefits. Add the cattle into the mix and we can really improve the soil on our property in a relatively short period of time.

To think, I had been considering putting fewer birds in the tractor because I was affraid they were too dense. Now, I think, I will leve it at the current density and build another tractor!

(You can see various pictures of our tractor on this blog. I have included one in this article also. It is made of PVC pipe, outdoor glue, chicken wire and a left over piece of vinyl for cover. The dementions are 6x6x6x3feet high.)