Article Summary: Intensive grazing systems push rotational grazing to its full potential, offering a way for dairy and beef farmers to significantly increase pasture productivity and profitability. In this article, we focus on two powerful intensive strategies: cell grazing (time-controlled grazing) and mob grazing. We explain how cell grazing divides land into many small paddocks (“cells”) to support short grazing periods and long rest periods, while mob grazing uses extremely high stocking density for very brief grazings. Both methods can dramatically improve pasture utilisation, soil fertility, and even carbon sequestration. We also discuss practical steps to implement these systems and how technology like Pasture.io supports intensive grazing with automated pasture measurements and grazing data for precise management. By adopting intensive grazing, dairy and beef producers can maximise milk per hectare or weight gain per acre, all while regenerating their pastures.
Introduction: What Is Intensive Grazing?
“Intensive grazing” often refers to rotational grazing systems that require a high level of management and frequent animal movement. Unlike a simple rotation with weekly moves, intensive systems might move animals daily or even multiple times per day. The goal is to ensure optimal pasture usage and recovery, translating into more feed harvested by the herd and faster regrowth of plants. Two hallmark examples of intensive grazing are cell grazing and mob grazing. Both involve high stock density (many animals in a small area), short grazing bouts, and long rest periods for pastures.
Why go intensive? Because it can unleash the productive capacity of both your grass and your livestock. When managed well, intensive grazing can:
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Increase stocking rate and carrying capacity – meaning you can feed more cows per hectare without buying extra feed, since the pasture regrows faster and less is wasted. Some farmers have seen the carrying capacity of their land double by switching from continuous to intensive rotational grazing.
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Boost forage yields – more of the grass grown is eaten (or trampled to benefit soil) rather than left to die. Intensive grazing typically utilises 70% or more of the forage vs. ~30-50% under continuous grazing, effectively yielding more edible grass. One source notes that every 1% increase in harvest efficiency yields a 4% increase in carrying capacity.
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Improve animal performance – counterintuitive as it sounds (since each grazing period is short), livestock often perform better because they are consistently eating fresh, high-quality forage. For instance, milk production often increases when dairy cows are rotated more frequently onto lush pasture at the right stage of growth. Beef cattle can put on weight faster when grazing young regrowth rather than picking among mature, stemmy grass.
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Enhance soil and pasture health – intensive grazing done right mimics the natural grazing patterns of wild herbivores like bison or wildebeest, which stayed bunched and kept moving. This pattern can improve soil structure and fertility, increase plant diversity, and even sequester carbon in the soil by allowing ample recovery and trampling organic matter into the ground.
However, intensive grazing is also management-heavy. It requires a commitment to moving animals frequently and careful monitoring of pasture conditions. That’s where modern tools help (more on that later). First, let’s break down our two main intensive systems.
Cell Grazing: Many Paddocks, Optimised Rest
Cell grazing, also known as time-controlled grazing, is a form of rotational grazing characterized by a large number of small paddocks (cells) and a well-planned rotation that prevents re-grazing a cell before it has fully recovered. It was popularised in places like Australia’s Outback and Africa’s savannas to restore overgrazed rangeland. The basic setup might involve subdividing a farm into, say, 20–30 paddocks instead of 5–6, using electric fences. Livestock are moved frequently – possibly every 1-3 days – such that each paddock gets a long rest (often 60+ days) before being grazed again.
Key features of cell grazing include:
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Short Grazing Duration: Animals might graze a given cell for only 1 day (or a few days for very large cells), ensuring they eat a layer off the top and then move on before overgrazing any area or regrazing new regrowth.
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Long Recovery: By the time the herd returns, the pasture plants have regrown to a robust state (commonly, waiting for 3-4 new leaves on grasses like ryegrass) and replenished root reserves. Early cell grazing proponents like Allan Savory and Stan Parsons emphasized not grazing until grass had fully recovered and sometimes even gone to seed. One form, rest-rotation, might even rest a paddock a full year. However, typically, recovery in cell grazing is a few months.
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High Stock Density: When the herd is bunched in one cell, the stocking density is high (though not as extreme as mob grazing below). This results in even grazing and trampling. Cows eat more uniformly across the paddock, and their manure is concentrated, then they leave – depositing nutrients that will fuel regrowth while not staying long enough to cause damage.
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No Set Schedule: Unlike fixed rotational grazing, cell grazing is adaptive. If rainfall is good and grass grows fast, you might shorten the cycle (animals return to the first cell sooner because it’s ready). If conditions are dry, you lengthen rest periods. It’s truly grass-growth-driven grazing. Pasture.io’s guidance echoes this: “rotate paddocks based on pasture cover levels, not in a set sequence”, which is exactly what cell grazing entails.
The benefits of cell grazing have been well-documented. By increasing rest and spreading grazing pressure, farmers have seen dramatic improvements in pasture composition and yield. Cell grazing offers several benefits, including improved pasture health, environmental enhancement, reduced inputs needed, and increased profit margins. Because pastures are allowed to fully express growth, their root systems deepen, organic matter accumulates, and resilience to drought improves. In fact, cell grazing can help mitigate the impact of droughts – well-rested pastures have more root reserves and ground cover to survive dry periods. When rain returns, they rebound quickly, having been not continuously nibbled down during the dry spell.
From a financial standpoint, healthier pastures and higher utilisation mean you spend less on reseeding, weed control, and purchased feed. One study in Australia found that a cell grazing operation maintained or even slightly increased stock-carrying capacity during a drought, whereas continuous grazing farms had to de-stock heavily – a huge economic advantage for the cell graziers.
Implementing cell grazing: If you’re a dairy or beef farmer used to fewer paddocks, transitioning to a cell system may seem daunting. The good news is you don’t necessarily need permanent fences dividing 30 paddocks right away. Many cell graziers use a hub-and-spoke or wagon wheel design: a central water source with paddocks radiating out. Each large paddock can be subdivided with portable electric fencing into smaller cells during grazing. Tools like poly wire reels and step-in posts make this flexible. Technograzing is a commercial approach that uses semi-permanent lanes and movable wires to create a grid of mini paddocks (cells) that can be shifted easily. It also moves water via quick-connect pipes so each cell gets water access. The design brilliance of techno grazing is how efficiently one can shift fences and animals, making high-frequency moves less laborious.
Technology can assist in planning the cell layout and rotation. Pasture.io, for instance, allows farmers to map their paddocks and even draw in subdivisions on a digital farm map. You can experiment with cell sizes and see areas (in hectares or acres) to decide how many animals for how long a cell will last. Once running, Pasture.io keeps track of grazing records: you’ll know exactly when Paddock 7 was last grazed and can ensure it’s had X days rest before you go back. This is crucial in cell grazing, where memory might fail over dozens of moves – the app becomes your brain. Moreover, Pasture.io’s satellite biomass data can tell you when a cell has regrown sufficiently (e.g., back to 2500 kg DM/ha). This aligns with cell grazing’s principle of full recovery, taking the guesswork out of it.
Mob Grazing: High Impact, Long Rest
Mob grazing takes intensity to the extreme. It involves herding livestock at extremely high density onto a small area, letting them graze (and trample) for a very short time, and then moving them off and not returning for a long time. It’s “mob” in the sense of a crowd of animals tightly grouped, which impacts the land heavily but briefly.
A typical mob grazing scenario: You have 100 cattle on one acre for half a day (this would be a stocking density of ~100,000 lbs/acre if they average 1000 lbs each). In that half-day, they will eat some of the grass but also trample a significant portion into the ground because they are bumping shoulders and hungry to compete for forage. After a few hours, you move them to the next acre, leaving the first one looking messy – trampled grass, manure everywhere, very little green leaf untouched. Then you let that trampled acre rest for 2-3 months or more so it can regrow.
This method is almost the opposite of the old idea of “take half, leave half” (where you want animals to eat 50% and leave 50% standing). In mob grazing, you might intentionally have them take 30% and trample 70% into litter. The logic is that trampling is not waste – it’s feeding the soil. The thick layer of litter becomes mulch that conserves moisture and eventually decomposes, adding organic matter to the soil. Over time, mob grazing can build soil fertility and structure rapidly.
Benefits for Pasture and Soil: Mob grazing results in a carpet of crushed plant material that protects soil from erosion and sun. It encourages microbial activity and earthworms. Many practitioners report improved soil carbon content and water infiltration after a few years of mobbing pastures. The long rest period (often 60-120 days) means plants can regrow deep roots, and some species that wouldn’t survive frequent grazing (like native bunchgrasses or wildflowers) can reappear, increasing biodiversity.
For the animals, one might worry that trampling 70% means they aren’t eating much. However, because you move them frequently, they’re always getting a fresh “salad bar” regularly. They also tend to eat very quickly in a mob setting – competition drives intake. If managed carefully (ensuring they still get their required dry matter intake by adjusting how much area you give them or how long they stay), cows can perform well. An advantage is that all plants are eaten or trampled, so cows ingest a greater variety of species (which can mean a more balanced diet, including mineral-rich forbs, etc., albeit diluted by more fibre from mature grass). Health-wise, mob grazing is great for checking animal condition: with every move, you see the whole herd get up and walk, making it easy to spot any limping or ill individuals.
Challenges: Mob grazing requires daily (or more frequent) moves, which is a labour commitment. You also need access to water in each move – sometimes solved by using portable water tubs that you move with the herd, or by planning the grazing sequence near a water point. Also, not every pasture or farm layout is conducive to easy moves. Some farmers do strip-mob grazing by giving a “strip” to a mob each day with a back fence to prevent back-grazing the regrowth.
How Tech Helps: Since mob grazing is about impacting land and then resting it, tracking the rest period is crucial. You might have 40+ paddock segments in a mob rotation to allow a 40-60 day rest. Pasture.io can keep a calendar of these moves. It also can show you visually on a map or list which paddock is due for grazing next based on days since the last graze. Another benefit is measuring the outcome: mob grazing proponents often want to see how much litter was left vs. eaten. While satellites can’t directly measure litter easily, Pasture.io’s frequent biomass readings might show, for example, that after a mob move, available pasture dropped to a low number (because much was trampled) and then how quickly it rebounds. Over a season, you could compare total forage grown in mobbed paddocks vs. others. This data helps fine-tune the balance of graze/trample. If you notice you’re consistently leaving too much (maybe animal performance suffers), you could adjust by increasing the area per mob slightly (to let them eat more) or vice versa.
Boosting Milk and Meat: The Payoff of Intensive Systems
Implementing cell or mob grazing requires a shift in how you manage daily chores, but it can pay off handsomely. Here are some of the production gains and sustainability wins these intensive systems can deliver, especially when combined with savvy management and tools:
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Higher Stocking Rates: With more efficient pasture use and regrowth, you can carry more animals on the same land. This could mean a bigger dairy herd without buying more acres, or finishing more beef cattle per season. A study in the UK on techno-grazing (a form of cell grazing) found farms increased their stocking rate by up to 2x, with proportional increases in meat output per hectare, yet the pastures remained in excellent condition. One grazing equipment manufacturer claimed a well-managed rotational system could “increase farm carrying capacity by 69%”, though results vary, that points to significant potential.
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Increased Milk Production: For dairy, the quality of forage is paramount. Intensive grazing ensures cows often eat young, leafy grass which is high in energy and protein, rather than over-mature forage. Irish and New Zealand dairy systems, which are leaders in pasture-based milk production, rely on relatively intensive rotations (cows moved to fresh pasture after each milking or at least daily). By aligning grazing with peak nutritional value of the sward, cows can produce more milk from grass. There’s also the concept of grazing residuals – leaving the right amount of grass. Intensive grazing trains cows to graze to a target residual (e.g., 4–5 cm height). Pasture.io’s feed wedge and data on pre- and post-grazing covers help farmers hit those targets consistently, resulting in excellent pasture quality for subsequent rotations. The outcome is more milk solids per hectare – essentially turning grass into milk efficiently.
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Better Weight Gains: Beef cattle in intensive rotations or mobs can achieve respectable weight gains, often comparable to or better than continuous grazing, once they adapt to the routine. More uniform intake of quality forage and less parasite exposure (another benefit – leaving paddocks ungrazed for 60+ days can break parasite lifecycles) contribute to healthy, growing animals. If using a leader-follower in a cell system, you can ensure finishing cattle always get the best bite. Pasture.io can assist by tracking multiple herds as mentioned – you might label one herd “Finishers” (leaders) and another “Stockers” (followers) and see how each paddock contributed to each group’s diet.
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Soil Restoration and Fertility: Both cell and mob grazing can rehabilitate poor pastures over time. We’ve touched on how litter and rest build soil life. Another aspect is nutrient distribution. Intensive grazing can greatly reduce the “camping effect”, where cows concentrate dung in certain spots. With a large herd tightly grouped, yes they dung a lot in one spot, but then that spot rests – nutrients infiltrate rather than being repeatedly added to the same spot. And by moving the herd systematically, pretty much every part of the paddock gets manure at some point. Rotational grazing “recycles nutrients more evenly across the entire paddock”, boosting overall fertility. Farmers often find their fertilizer needs drop after a few years of intensive grazing because the nutrient cycle becomes more closed and efficient.
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Resilience to Weather Extremes: A big selling point for intensive, regenerative grazing is resilience. Deep-rooted, rested plants survive drought better. Covered, organic-rich soil handles heavy rain without eroding and holds more moisture. After a drought, pastures managed intensively green up faster (thanks to root reserves and higher organic matter). There are documented cases where during drought, rotationally grazed farms kept reasonable production while neighboring continuously grazed farms turned into dirt and had to sell cattle. With climate change causing erratic weather, this resilience is a major benefit. Additionally, more carbon in soils (a byproduct of leaving more residue) can mitigate climate change – there’s interest in carbon credits for grazing practices like AMP grazing that sequester carbon.
The Role of Pasture.io in Intensive Grazing
Managing intensive grazing can feel like juggling – lots of paddocks, constant moves, measuring growth, etc. Pasture.io functions like an assistant juggler, keeping many balls in the air for you:
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It automates measuring grass growth and availability, which is crucial for deciding how big a break to give or when a paddock is ready again. You get updates every 1-2 days, something impossible manually on a large scale.
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It keeps grazing records meticulously. Every move logged builds a dataset that you can analyze. The platform can show you that, for example, Paddock 12 produced 20% more feed this year than last (after implementing cell grazing) – proof of concept for your efforts. Or maybe it shows a drop, telling you something’s off that you can investigate.
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It offers a predictive feed wedge and growth forecasts, which help in planning the rotation. If you see a projected slowdown in growth 10 days out (perhaps due to season change), you might adjust rotation speed now (slow it down to stretch feed or consider supplement) to avoid running short. Essentially, it helps you be proactive rather than reactive, which is vital in intensive systems where timing is everything.
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Pasture.io is accessible on the go – so when you’re out moving fences for a mob, you can pull up your phone and input that move or check the next one. You don’t have to be in the office to use it; it’s designed for paddock-side decision-making.
To illustrate, say you’re mob grazing a beef herd through 40 paddocks. Without a tool, you might carry a clipboard or try to remember the last dates. With Pasture.io, you open the app, mark paddock 5 grazed today, and immediately you see it scheduled out, say, 40 days for the next graze. If in 30 days the satellite shows it’s already well-grown, you might move it up in the rotation. The app lets you shuffle plans easily. Also, if you integrated weather data, it could note “rain forecast in 3 days” which might influence whether you mob a certain paddock now or wait (mobbing on very wet ground can cause pugging, for instance, so you might skip to a drier paddock).
Conclusion: Is Intensive Grazing Right for You?
Intensive grazing systems like cell and mob grazing represent a pinnacle of pasture management – extracting incredible productivity while improving the land. They’re particularly attractive for farmers aiming to maximize output on limited land, cut costs on feed and fertilizer, or restore degraded fields. Dairy farmers pushing for low-input, grass-fed milk or beef producers seeking grass-finishing with regenerative practices are among those who can gain the most.
However, success requires knowledge, observation, and adaptability. Start small if you’re unsure: maybe split a few paddocks into cells and try quicker moves, or mob graze a part of your farm as a trial. Monitor animal health (ensure they’re getting enough – intensive doesn’t mean starving them, it means managing intake timing) and monitor pastures (they should maintain or improve in vigour; if you see them declining, adjust your plan).
Remember that intensive does not mean abusive – it’s not overgrazing. It’s planned grazing with intention. Overgrazing is leaving animals too long such that plants are bitten too short or too frequently. Intensive grazing avoids that by strict timing and recovery. In fact, some call these systems “Ultra High Stock Density (UHSD) grazing” or “Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) grazing” to highlight the adaptiveness and avoid the negative connotation of the word “intensive.” The animals are densely stocked, but for brief periods – that nuance is everything.
In the end, whether you adopt cell grazing, mob grazing, or a hybrid, the principles are similar: graze lightly, rest deeply, and observe closely. By doing so, you tap into natural processes that make your farm more productive and resilient. You’ll likely see richer green pastures, more earthworms underfoot, content animals, and a fuller wallet from the efficiencies gained. And with digital tools like Pasture.io taking care of the tracking and measuring, you can confidently intensify your grazing knowing you have the data to back your decisions. Intensive grazing, when done right, truly allows you to maximise milk and meat per acre while healing the land – a satisfying win-win for any pasture-based farmer.
Until we meet again, Happy Grazing!
- The Dedicated Team of Pasture.io, 2025-02-13