In a nutshell, we use a small strand of poly wire to keep our animals together in a herd as they would be in the wild. We move them frequently in order to give the land the benefit of even fertilizer distribution and maximum trample, referred to as animal impact. Small paddocks within the pasture also encourage the animals try something else by eating a variety of forages, including some of the more nutritious, but less palatable options. Traditionally these plans are referred to as weeds. The plants that the animals will not eat, they trample. This helps keep the weed population under control. Remember, diversity is king, and a plant is only a weed if a cow will not eat it.
The poly wire also mimics the predators of the past keeping the animals in a herd. The herd impact helps stimulate and awaken the soil microbes mimicking the natural herd impact of wild grazing animals. Moving the animals frequently allows the land to rest and increases the time between grazing. The land needs the animals and the light trampling for stimulation, but it requires a rest period to benefit. Animals should not be allowed to graze each spot again until it is fully recovered. This is where our job comes in. We subdivide our permanent pasture into small paddocks and move the animals frequently, from 1-5 times daily. This mimics how they would have lived and evolved in the wild. We monitor the paddocks and move the animals after the have eaten the best, leaving plenty of plant life to make a recovery.
Man and technology have come a long way since that first field was plowed and first pasture fenced, but we believe that Mother Nature had it right all along and think it is our responsibility to try to mimic the Natural Model as closely as possible.