Multi-paddock adaptive management grazing was found to support superior vegetation biomass and composure as well as higher soil quality and soil carbon levels. 

Nature-based Intervention:

Multi-paddock adaptive grazing (henceforth: multi-paddock) consists of rotating livestock at higher densities for shorter periods of time while adapting rotational cycles to climatic conditions. This technique is based on the theory of mimicking the natural grazing patterns of herds of large, migratory herbivores which used to inhabit the great North American plains and would group together and move quickly in response to predation pressures. This is in contrast to conventional grazing management styles, where livestock are kept continuously on a few very large paddocks at lighter stocking densities, where they tend to repeatedly overgraze certain plants, often leading to lower nutritional outcomes for the cattle.

Overview of context and outcomes:

The results of a study conducted in a north Texas tall grass prairie suggests that multi-paddock adaptive management grazing yields better ecological and climate outcomes than other management alternatives. The study compared multi-paddock to light continuous and heavy continuous grazing sites, as well as control sites that were ungrazed. Each of these sites had been under their respective management regimes (eg. multi-paddock, heavy continuous) for at least nine years prior to the study. The results of the study found that the multi-paddock sites had superior vegetation biomass and composure and also had properties of higher soil quality such as higher soil organic matter, cation exchange capacity, fungal/bacterial ratio and aggregate stability, indicating higher water and nutrient-holding capacities.