pasture monitoring

We monitor the grazing in our pastures by photographing them the day cows enter and then repeating the photo the day the cows leave the pasture.  We attempt to place enough cows in a pasture to eat 50% of the grass in 1 month then move them to a new pasture during the grass growing season.  A pasture grazed in the spring often has enough growth that it can be regrazed in the winter dormant period with little damage.  We reserve some pastures for winter grazing only.  This helps with the sustainability of our pastures without damaging the native grasses.