Fodder Production and Grassland Management

DEFERRED AND ROTATIONAL GRAZING

• This system is useful for grasslands where annual species predominate and where seeding of the perennial species is desired to maintain the density of the grass cover.
• The grass land is divided into three compartments and grazing is allowed in rotation, so that each compartment is grazed for the grazing season and protected afterwards, until the seed mature.
• By the time the animals are let into the 3^rd compartment, the seeds would have matured and got shed. In subsequent years, the same order is followed for each compartment in rotation, so that in 3 years the grasses in each compartment would have produced enough seed with the partial protection afforded to the grasses.
• Eg. In this deferred and rotational type of grazing, the grazing area is divided into four compartments. The calving interval of grazing animals is reduced to 25 months as against 36-42 months under traditional open grazing.

Year	Compartment closed to grazing	Months of grazing in different compartments
		July-Oct Jan-Apr	Aug-Nov Feb-May	Sep-Dec Mar-Jun
1 st	A	B	C	D
2 nd	B	C	D	A
3 rd	C	D	A	B
4 th	D	A	B	C