Jim Ledford, 4 L Livestock
Transition to Managed-Intensive Grazing
Grant Award: $6,000
Jim is transitioning his cattle operation to year-round Managed-Intensive Grazing, the next step in becoming a profitable and sustainable business. He is purchasing and installing a fencing system, creating a perimeter and dividing the pasture into smaller paddocks through which he rotates the herd.
The benefits of this rotational grazing system are numerous. It maximizes herd numbers, reduces feed costs, optimizes land space, and maintains grasslands in an ecologically sound way to protect streams, creeks and river banks.
“This project shows how best grazing, water quality improvements and soil management can be used,” Jim said.
The new system also allows him to raise grass-fed beef for retail and wholesale markets. Currently he primarily sells through a video market with the Southeast Livestock Exchange, with Blalock Meats in Georgia, and through the Western North Carolina Regional Livestock Center.
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