Cattle Management Maps – the step by step visual farm plan

Cattle farming occurs in three-dimensions, out on pasture, so this can be very useful to have the ability to visualize, on a map, your cattle administration methods for each a part of your cattle enterprise.

The best strategy to design your administration technique is to plan each a part of your online business on separate clear map overlays that you may lay over your farm base map. 

Creating layered farm maps will assist information each step of your online business – from the development of your electrical fence infrastructure and livestock water system, to the day-to-day grazing methods that you’ll use in each summer time and winter, and proper by to how you’ll handle your pasture rotation throughout calving, grass-finishing, weaning, and cattle breeding.

The extra planning you do upfront, on paper, the better it turns into to reply to the continuously altering variables which are a part of this climate and livestock-dependent enterprise. The maps you attract your farm plan are key to your success within the grass-fed beef business.

Creating easy map layers

Plan your infrastructure in levels utilizing a number of clear overlays, reminiscent of velum, tracing paper, or onion paper. Lay these transparencies over your clear easy farm map so you possibly can present or conceal particular person components of your plan as you want them. Don’t draw immediately on the farm map.

Utilizing photo-editing software program as a substitute of hand-drawn maps

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The individually editable layers make it quite simple and straightforward to switch your farm plan at any time as your grazing techniques and cattle administration methods evolve, with out having to redraw new maps from scratch. Each a part of your cattle administration plan can get its personal devoted layer – you possibly can create as many layers as you need.

Begin by making a base layer – simplified topographic and geographic data solely

Begin your farm plan by making a base map as a clear layer
overlaid on an air picture or scaled topographic map of your farm. This
turns into your background layer or base layer. (Utilizing a map that’s to
scale is extraordinarily vital to your grazing administration and makes it
quite simple to order supplies, like wire, posts, or pipe to your
cattle water system, just by measuring the distances in your farm map.

In your base layer, hint the define of your farm and add topographic
and geographic options like rivers, ponds, forests, roads, corral
areas, swamps, and so on. This base layer permits you to see vital
options throughout planning whereas permitting you to cover the visible muddle
of your air picture just by quickly ‘hiding’ the air picture
beneath.

How you can get free air images of your farm

To seize screenshots of those maps and switch them to your laptop use the Snipping Instrument, supplied free on most Home windows working techniques, or obtain one of many many free display screen seize packages out there on the net, reminiscent of PicPick or Screenpresso or my favourite open-source display screen seize instrument Greenshot.

Create particular person layers for every element of your cattle administration plan

 Create further clear map layers for every particular person element of your farm plan, reminiscent of to your electrical fence infrastructure, water strains, winter grazing rotations, directions for calving on pasture, and so on.

Planning in layers permits you to plan every element of your cattle administration plan individually, with out overwhelming your map with the whole lot without delay. Merely overlay whichever transparencies are related to you at any given time and take away the remainder.

Adobe Photoshop Components permits you to present or conceal particular person layers just by clicking the eyeball within the field subsequent to every particular person layer, as proven within the display screen seize on the fitting. For instance, throughout the winter you possibly can conceal your summer time water infrastructure and summer time grazing rotation just by selecting to cover these layers. Your calving season grazing technique will be hidden till you want it simply in time for calving or you possibly can quickly present or conceal your underlying air picture as you want it. Every particular person layer will be refined and re-edited as your grazing technique evolves from 12 months to 12 months.

Instance farm plan, in layers…

Comply with the hyperlink to see a easy example of an actual farm plan that makes use of this layered strategy to individually handle every element of the year-round cattle administration plan.

Coping with Present Cattle Fences

Don’t draw current cattle fencing into your farm base map. Throughout your planning course of you need to view the farm as if it is a clear slate to have the ability to design essentially the most environment friendly and most versatile cattle administration technique.

Present fences distort your view and tie you right into a earlier cattle administration technique that will or might not be the very best match to your grass-fed beef manufacturing objectives. As soon as the planning course of is full, current fences that line up will be stored, the remainder will be torn down.

The only-wire electrical fences used for the corridors of your electric fence grid are so low-cost and straightforward to construct that there merely is not any purpose to hold onto current cattle fencing that does not suit your program. Comply with the hyperlink to be taught extra tips on how to deal with existing cattle fences in your cattle management plan.

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   Cattle Management Map Layers