Description: In Management Intensive Rotational Grazing (MIRG) systems, livestock obtain a substantial portion of their feed through the intensive use of improved pastures during the grazing season. MIRG operators attempt to boost the profitability of their operations through reducing overall capital investments in facilities and equipment and decreasing expenditures on a wide range of inputs. This graph depicts the use of MIRG on Wisconsin dairy farms among respondents to our periodic mail surveys of state dairy operators. We define those dairy farms using MIRG as farms that relied on pastures to meet some portion of their milking herd's forage needs during the grazing season and moved their cows to a new paddock at least once a week. Reported use of MIRG rose from 7 percent in 1994 to nearly 22 percent in 1999.
Source: PATS Dairy Farmer Polls, 1994, 1995, 1997, 199
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