Site Background
About the Location
Bar 7 Ranch is located in Rock Creek, British Columbia, on an open natural grassland with hills and a forested north slope.
About the Farm
Doug and Erika Fossen run a commercial cow/calf ranch on 2,300 deeded acres and government range. They are the recipients of the 2022 The Environmental Stewardship Award (TESA).
Rotational Grazing
They practise rotational grazing on a very large scale on their deeded acres and government range. During the grazing season, they move through approximately 32 pastures ranging from 200 acres to 2,000 acres each.
Agronomic Details
The Fossens received the Razor Grazor at the end of May and have used it numerous times since. It has kept the cow/calf pairs from grazing freshly seeded ground on the range and from going through a weak fence onto lower ground on the range. They also fenced horses into a small area, fenced out standing corn from cow/calf pairs and used it to divide up corn grazing.
For water, they use a pump and set up in two different locations. One worked well but the second was a little too high of an elevation lift. They have plans to bury some main-line for next year. The solar panels seems to keep the batteries charged well.
Project Overview
The Fossens had never tried a Razor Grazor but had heard of them. They were offered the opportunity and were very excited to try it. They have not used single-strand electric grazing very much because of the work that goes into rolling wire and setting out posts, but with the Razor Grazor the job is so much faster. It really makes the job quick and thus the Fossens have used it a lot.
For very big pastures, the Razon Grazor is not feasible. The Fossens use it around their home and on smaller areas.
Funding for this project [in part] has been provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Agricultural Climate Solutions – On-Farm Climate Action Fund.
