Paddock Planner - Design Paddock Layouts and Grazing Rotation

Rotational grazing works because pasture recovers between grazings instead of being nibbled the moment it regrows. The design questions are practical ones: how many paddocks, how do stock move between them, and can every paddock water a mob. A visual plan answers all three before any wire goes up.

Paddock count is driven by rest period. If pasture needs 30 days of recovery and stock stay 2 to 3 days per paddock, you are looking at 10 to 15 paddocks; longer rests mean more paddocks or bigger mobs. Sketch different subdivisions on the plan and compare them side by side before committing.

Laneway design makes or breaks daily shifts. A central laneway connecting every paddock to the yards and water means one person can move a mob in minutes. Lay the laneway out first, then hang paddocks off it, and check every gate placement on the plan.

Water from every paddock is non-negotiable. Map troughs and supply lines with the fence layout, and use the per-paddock stats to match paddock size to mob size so each break lasts the number of days your rotation needs.

Horse properties have their own paddock logic: safety and welfare come before grass utilization. The best horse layouts are planned around how horses actually behave - they run fence lines, they stress when isolated, and they wreck wet ground quickly.

Safe fencing layouts avoid acute corners and dead-end alleys where a chased horse can be trapped. Rounded or angled corners, generous gateways, and clear sight lines all show up immediately when you draw the layout to scale.

Shelter and sacrifice paddocks keep horses comfortable year round. Place shelters where horses can escape wind and sun, and plan a sacrifice paddock - a smaller area that takes the winter damage so your main pasture does not.

Companionship sight lines matter more than most layouts allow for. Horses settle when they can see their neighbors, so arrange paddocks so no horse is ever visually isolated. On the plan, check the sight lines from each paddock before you finalize fence positions.