Summer temperatures and moisture conditions generally mean our cool season grass pastures exhibit slower growth. This slower growth calls for a different management strategy than was used in spring and early summer. As pasture growth slows, the rotation through the paddocks also must slow because it will take a longer rest period for grass to grow back to grazing height. Remember providing adequate rest periods is one of the key principles of rotational grazing. The challenge is in how to slow down the rotation without violating the other key grazing principle of take half, leave half. It is vital adequate leaf cover be left in a paddock for several reasons. First, by allowing at least 50 percent of the plant to remain after a grazing pass the plant root system continues to provide nutrients and moisture to the plant. Remove more than 50 percent and the plant begins to experience large diebacks in roots, slowing down plant recovery. Second, leaving 50 percent or more of the plant insures there is adequate leaf tissue to permit the plant to continue the photosynthesis process without drawing upon carbohydrate reserves in the roots. Finally, that leaf cover that remains acts to shade the soil, reducing evaporation moisture loss and helping to keep the soil cooler, conditions that can help to keep the plant actively growing. The temptation is to speed up the rotation to prevent livestock from overgrazing a paddock. This may work in the short run, but eventually the grazier will find the livestock returning to a paddock that maybe only has 5 or 6 inches of growth instead of 8 to 10 inches. At this point the livestock can only graze off 1 or 2 inches before overgrazing; which is tough to manage. During drought conditions its possible a quick rotation sees livestock returning to a paddock where no growth recovery has occurred. So, how should this be managed? First, to really have some management options to slow down rotations during the summer months requires a minimum of 6 to 8 paddocks. Second, do what can be done to keep pastures in a vegetative stage. Its hard to tell what take half, leave half looks like when the paddock is full of seed heads. This means make sure the seed heads are mowed off before we get into the heat of summer. Next, look ahead, monitor growth in those paddocks livestock will be grazing in the future. The grazier has to have some system of measuring grass growth in order to manage. By monitoring the growth in future paddocks you can determine how long livestock will need to stay in each paddock. If you reach a point where re-growth does not permit you to move livestock out of a paddock until it is overgrazed, then the grazier must make a decision to sacrifice a paddock. This involves holding livestock in a paddock and feeding hay as the paddock is overgrazed. When grass re-growth in other paddocks resumes or increases, then the grazing rotation can be started again. This strategy prevents other paddocks from being overgrazed and allows adequate rest periods to be maintained. Another option may be to add additional grazing paddocks by incorporating a hay field or maybe a neighbor's unused pasture into the rotation during the summer. Summer grazing can be a challenge and requires that the grazier have the discipline and management ability to follow the key grazing principles.