![]() Wallace, who was the sheep operations manager at the U.S. Wallace uses holistic-planned grazing mapped out on a spreadsheet to give guidance to his rotations through the grazing year. ![]() ![]() Other than those exceptions, the herd runs together year-round and uses the same mineral. They return to the herd in May when young goat kids are a month old. Goats are drylotted from January to April to provide protection from the winter elements and to kid. Their land is a mixture of mid-tall grass prairie, former cropland and abandoned cattle feedlots.Ĭows calve mid-April, while sheep are put in a separate paddock in May for lambing, before returning to the herd. The Wallaces currently run 40 cows, 230 ewes and 40 nannies on several hundred acres that are cross-fenced into small paddocks for rotational grazing. "Because of the different species' preference, multispecies grazing works without negatively impacting the performance of the animal or sustainability of the resources," Wallace says. ![]() Wallace points out that because of the diverse range of plant species on the land, diversification of animals grazing the land also is important.Ĭattle prefer taller, coarse grasses sheep prefer forbs, shorter annual grasses and weedy species and goats browse brush and cedar trees, he says. Wallace and his wife, Fran, own and operate Double M Ranch and have been grazing sheep, cattle and goats together since 2000. "I believe there is an opportunity to benefit the range and economically benefit the operator." That's what Nelson, Neb., rancher Mike Wallace says of multispecies grazing, which involves grazing two or even three species of livestock together on rangeland. ![]()
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