Sepp's Rotational Grazing

Do you know how Sepp is able to run his animal through his hugelbeds/ gardens? In videos it appears that he has the terrace path that the cows graze and fruits such as apples fall from the terrace above.


Does he use any type of fencing to keep more adventurous animals (ie goats) at bay?

Does he used a fixed shelter and run them through various paddocks? (much like Paul's Chickens 2.0)

What does he do for water? Just let them drink out the ponds/streams?



Thanks,

Jared




....In Sepp we trust...

I do not have animals yet, but sure it questions me about animals wanting to eat the same as me!!!
And what about surface needs, if I have to separate veggie zone and animal zone!

Even when Paul talks about rotating hens in paddocks, by removing chicks only 1 months, when carots grow in 5 months?
Well, I do not understand how to keep my food and animal food in the same places....

Many people collect and bring fresh food to animals, which is too much work.
But I agree that I am able to select my way, and that animals' way can be a bad surprise!

I don't think the animals and veggies are necessarily sharing the same place as this could lead to fecal contamination and much of your food being eaten. However, it is a good practice to let your chicken or pigs clean up your garden in the fall or graze animals in between rows of veggies or fruits during the growing season. The nitrogen is able to leach into the plant beds without direct contact.

You can also let the animals graze an area before you have planted but it is best to allow at least two month before planting after animals were on the area. Fresh manure is often too hot for young seedlings and seed germination.

Sepp definitely has different areas for the human gardens as opposed to the animal gardens. Granted he harvests the tree crops from within the paddocks but for his vegetables he is growing these in separate garden.

Grazing the terraces and letting the fruit fall from the slopes is one of the great techniques he has for keeping the animals off of the trees while still receiving the befits of their production. The other approach he is taking is to let the system mature before it is grazed. I'd imagine that he wouldn't graze a paddock with infant tree crops without taking special precautions. He is certainly using fencing to create the paddocks, electric in most cases as it is movable and cheap. As for fencing around the trees, I didn't see anything like that. These are now mature systems so there is really no need (animals don't often mess with the trees when there is fruit all over the ground). He may have used something at an earlier stage of development, this I don't know.

He is using a couple of fixed shelters throughout the property that give the animals access to a large number of paddocks (similar to Paul's Chickens 2.0). The animal shelter usually has a yard, with an alley to the different paddocks. As for water there is a line that gravity feeds to each shelter. He also has traditional Austrian springs all over the property. He will also graze some animals through the aquatic systems at times. He is particularly fond of a breed of pig that loves to swim (Turopolije), and has also raised water buffalo that graze the ponds.

I should have known Sepp in his infinite wisdom would have all the answers...

I suppose the animals would not bother the mature trees as long as there is ample fruit. I have seen some hungry pigs and cows girdle mature trees.

Gravity fed water seems like the best solution to daily watering chores. Moving troughs daily with a tractor is cumbersome and impossible in muddy conditions/ steep hillsides.

I hope to learn the art of spring construction in the near future although it doesn't seem to be a very forgiving exercise. A failed attempt could result in landslides and spoiled aquifers.

Thanks for the reply!



"Any fool can count the seeds in an apple. Only Sepp can count all the apples in one seed"

Jared Gulliford wrote:I hope to learn the art of spring construction in the near future

Sepp will be covering this in great detail during the California intensive this May. We will be casing a spring during the workshop for people to gain hands on experience with his system.

Awesome! I'm sure those attending will learn a great deal. I hope to secure funds to join as well.

How much time of the year he has fruits for animals? What about the rest of the year? What are grazing the animals? Some grass under those same trees?
Do you have something like a ratio how much surface, how many trees, per animal, according to the specie, and roughly of course...

I have little space for animals, and here this would be different, as even avocado leaves would be grazed... And my chesnut nearly disappeared with my neighbour's goats!

And my linked question, about manure: is it thus only for those same trees? Does he move and bring some to veggies gardens? (I mean after composting, but can he compost some of this animal manure or is it all for the place where the animals drop it...)

If fruits there are only for animls, then I think I can conclude that growing trees is worth more than growing something else when you have animals! Am I right, is it more productive and less work than growing other crops as animal food? Was it the start of his idea for feeding animals?

BTW, I forgot and this is not really a question but a statement: if herbs close to the ground are not very compatible with fresh manure,
for hygiena or because of non roganic form of the nitrogen,
then harvesting fruits in the air seems highly compatible with breeding animals at the same place!

About climate, well problem if dry, if they do not have anything tastier than leaves or bark, then...
And I have the steepness, but with terraces haha, so no rolling fruits!

For Holzer's techniques there are no set ratios, schedules, or schematics. It is different for every climate, landscape, and human. It is about action and observation. Try something, observe what happens, and then adjust based on what you find. There is such diversity and productivity in the landscape that there is always something for the animals to eat. In the winter they will even dig for turnips and radishes stored underneath the blanket of snow.

I got the impression that Sepp is to a certain extent using the animals as his harvesting force. Harvesting is made more difficult with poly-culture systems. If you are using animals to do a lot of this harvesting, and then selling the animal product for a good price, then you are again letting the animals do a lot of the work for you.

Xisca, in your case I don't think I would introduce large animals onto the landscape until it was producing too much for you to be able to harvest by yourself. Animals can be a great benefit to the landscape, but in highly disturbed landscapes with little productivity trying to graze animals can make the problems even worse. I don't think Sepp is harvesting manure for his veggies, although he did mention adding humus in the form of composted tree prunings.

The trees are just one part of the agroforestry systems, there is a diverse poly-culture beneath, with tons of animal forage for the different times of year. Trees are a big component of these systems (and the most profitable) as they provide an important mother function for the landscape. But he is not just growing trees, there is everything you can image growing underneath as support species, medicines, and animal forage.

I don't think that anything at the Krameterhof is only for one purpose, it is all interconnected. The fundamental law of ecology is that ecosystem function (any measure you define) is positively correlated with inter-connectedness.