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 practice 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 Razer Grazer at the end of May 2023 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 2024. The solar panels seems to keep the batteries charged well.
Project Overview
The Fossens had never tried a Razer Grazer 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 Razer Grazer 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 Razer Grazer is not feasible. The Fossens use it around their home and on smaller areas.
What Happened
The Fossens used the Razer Grazer all year long. They started using it to keep their corn grazing safe until the snow came then used it to keep the cows from going into the trees during winter feeding and the manure out on the field. In the early spring of 2024, they used it to keep the cows and calves from grazing the fragile hillside above their field. The results of this looked good for the fall with more grass and litter on the steep hills. They then used it out on range in a few key areas to prevent drift into hard-to-manage private land and to contain the cows. They then used it to keep the cows out of their grazing corn as they prepared for winter.
Overall, the Fossens say the Razer Grazer is a great tool that help them make small changes to their management without building hard fence and to try new management on areas they use.
The Fossens also have an off-site water trough they keep full using a solar panel, pump and battery. They say it works well and they hope to get another system working in 2025 on a different trough.
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.
