The general pattern is to feed each cow individually with a ration balanced to her particular needs. That is improbable with grazing because the forage intake cannot be measured. Also, the nutritional quality of the pasture changes with varying stages of maturity and climate. Overlooked in the above pattern are the advantages derived from intensive grazing of forages. These advantages can be both economic and ecological.
Emphasis is placed on the intensive aspect of grazing.
Through modern fencing technology, it is now relatively easy to partition larger pastures into small segments that provide 12 to 24 hours of forage requirement. Fencing difficulty has been one of the barriers to adoption of intensive grazing in the past. Lately, cost, efficiency, and portability of electrified fencing have become highly acceptable. The basis of seasonal dairying is a 12-month calving interval with all the cows calving together in a brief time frame, such as eight weeks. Thus, with all cows calving together, ten months later, all cows can be turned dry together resulting in a closure of the milking facility for about seven weeks each year.