Finding the optimal stocking rate to maximise production is a key challenge of livestock grazing enterprises. The grazing features in AgriWebb allow you to identify room for opportunity based on your historic records, for example, identifying which paddocks may be under or over grazed and how quickly they bounce back after being grazed.
This article walks through the features available in AgriWebb to help inform your grazing management objectives and implement desired improvements.
For the purposes of this article, we are using AE / DSE / LSU as our animal unit rating examples, but you can choose whichever unit rating you wish through your farm settings. Check out our full guide to Animal Units to learn how to select the default unit for your operation
Gathering your Grazing data
The first step in the process is to make sure you are capturing the relevant data points to later review and analyse. Within AgriWebb (on performance plans), you will be able to record the following data points as paddock records: Feed on offer, pasture growth rate and target residual forage amounts.
Best practice is to update these records in real time as you conduct livestock movements in and out of the paddocks so the data stays up to date. A note here is to ensure the livestock in AgriWebb have an accurate stocking load/animal unit selected. Refer to the guide on animal units and how to update them here: Animal Units.
The pasture records will need to be input by the user, however for those in Australia, there is an integration with Cibo labs available to automatically capture total standing dry matter (TSD) estimates via satellite imagery to automate the pasture availability data collection.
Input Pasture Records on the Mobile App
On your mobile device you will be able to add this data through the ‘Map’ tab as seen in the image below. Make sure you have selected the Paddock option at the top of the page.
Then, clicking on the desired paddock will present you with the Paddock Dialogue page with all the current grazing information.
Select ‘Paddock Record’ at the bottom of the screen to bring up the record options that can be made in regards to both forage measurements and treatments against the paddock.
Once your desired record has been selected and the information has been input in, the Paddock Dialogue page should then reflect the change with updated readings.
Input Pasture Records on the Web App
Find your desired paddock and click into the paddock dialogue for the paddock, in the top right hand corner you will then find the “ Create Paddock Record” button.
Furthermore you can also navigate to this through the paddock tab on the web portal, which is found within the toolbar on the left hand side.
Clicking into this will then allow for you to make any forage records against the paddock from the options that are available, these being- Feed on offer, Target Residual and Pasture Growth Rate.
These will then be updated on the Paddock Dialogue page on the right hand side to represent the changes that have been made.
Automatic Forage Recording
Through our partnership with Cibo Labs you will be able to have your forage data automatically flow through to your AgriWebb account. The data will flow through in line with your Cibo Pasture Key updates which are typically every 5 days. You can see in the image below the data which is pushed through to AgriWebb. See more detail in the Cibo Labs article here.
Ensure Animal Units are recorded correctly
If you are moving your animals frequently on AgriWebb or the DSE values need adjusting, you may need to update these ratings.
In the paddock dialogue you will want to select ‘Mobs’ at the top of the page > Create Mob Record > DSE for our Web based platform.
Similarly on the App you will want to follow similar steps to those above. Select the desired paddock> Mobs > Animal Record > DSE.
When creating a movement record, it will also present you with the opportunity to update this information in the grazing plan window, refreshing all of your forage information. (Note this is only available on our mob based subscriptions)
Visualising Forage Data through Map Insights
With the forage data now readily available within AgriWebb, you are able to project it across your Farm Maps to give you valuable insights into how your paddocks are performing. You may look to utilise this to identify the number of days grazed for a paddock or the current stocking rates across the property.
On the Mobile App, select the cog symbol to show the map settings. Under insights, select change to see the different options.
On the Web App, go to Insights in the top left corner.
When monitoring or planning your grazing rotations, consider the following:
Grazing days remaining
This is calculated by AgriWebb based on Feed on Offer (FOO), Pasture Growth Rate, Stocking Rate, Planned Supplemental Feed and Target Residual set by users. This can be useful to help identify which mobs need to be moved next. To read about how grazing days remaining are calculated, click the link to find out more!
How are Grazing Days Remaining Calculated?
In the mob platform, the following data points are required to calculate how many grazing days are available in a paddock:
Current FOO (feed on offer)
Target Residual
Animal Units (DSE/AE/LSE)
Pasture Growth Rate
AgriWebb's calculation for Grazing Days Remaining is as follows:
(Current FOO) - (Target Residual) / (Consumption Rate*) - (Pasture Growth Rate)
Consumption Rate
The consumption rate is calculated from the animal units recorded against the mob. For reference, AgriWebb uses the industry standard of 1 DSE = 1kg. However, you can see all values for animal units for different countries by logging into the Web App and heading to Account > Farm Settings > Animal Units. Further details can also be found in our article on Animal Units.
Pasture Growth Rate
If the value for pasture growth rate is not updated, it defaults to 0 and the above calculation for Grazing Days Remaining will only use the value from the FOO field.
In the IAM platform, there is slightly more flexibility to calculate stocking loads and units (which will arrive in the mob platform in time) which are explained in our article on Animal Units (Individuals).
Days Empty (Spelling Period)
This is useful to help identify which paddocks your mobs should be moved to next, by quickly identifying which paddocks have been spelled the longest.
Feed on Offer (FOO)
This is updated either manually by users or automatically via the Cibo Labs integration. This is useful to help identify which paddocks your mobs should be moved to next, by quickly identifying which paddocks have the most feed on offer.
Plan Paddock Rotations using Forage Data
The Rotational Planner gives you the option to automatically show the forage data while planning which paddocks to graze so that you can see the available feed on offer alongside the rest days and livestock load.
You can navigate to this tool on the Web App through our Grazing tab on the main navigation bar.
Planning paddock rotations using cell or strip grazing
AgriWebb allows you to create cells within your paddocks and include these in the grazing plan. See the article on Cell Grazing for more information on how this works.
Grazing multiple paddocks at once
AgriWebb allows you to connect paddocks using gates. When paddocks are connected by gates, the grazing data is updated to account for the connected paddocks.
Before starting your grazing plan, it is best practice to open the gates between paddocks first. Then, as you create your grazing plan, the combined grazing area will be reflected. There is no option to open gates from the grazing planner.
Reporting on Historic Grazing Information
Grazing Chart
The grazing chart report provides a holistic view of rotations across the farm. This gives a historical view of all livestock movements, even if they are not part of a planned rotation.
Rotations can be viewed across various periods, using the date picker like on other reports. The report will default to a rolling 12 month view, but you can reduce to just see the last month or few months if you prefer. The report shows ALL your paddocks on farm.
Paddock Grazing Intensity Report
Select Paddock grazing intensity from the Reports section.
Livestock load (DSE Day), Livestock load (DSE Day/ha), Number of days grazed, days empty and grazing percentage across all your paddocks will be displayed here.
Note "Grazing %" is a calculation based on the number of days grazed within the selected date period, expressed as a percentage.
AgriWebb's calculation for Grazing % is as follows:
Days Empty + Days Grazed = Total Days in Period
Number of Grazed Days / Total Days = Grazing %
DSE load by Paddock Report
Select DSE load by paddock from the Reports section.
The opening, closing and average stocking rate from across all your paddocks is displayed here. At the top of the page toggle across to view Stocking Rate (ha/DSE), Rainfall (DSE/ha/100mm) and the Cumulative Stocking Load information from your operation.