The mysterious pasture circles
News outlets jump at a chance to film mysterious, celestial, crop circles and wax paranormal about their meaning. I wish they showed the same enthusiasm for “pasture circles” and their real benefit to feeding our biological systems. Maybe we can get cows to strategically poop as a cool art form instead of just a life-giving soil amendment.
From the pasture context, these biological spheres represent the most famous fertilizer there is. In 2026 terms, it’s the most reasonably priced. However, you must notice and manage your two- and four-legged walking manure spreaders’ impact to get a true sense of their worth.
This perspective really shows up when you’re visiting grazing farms and ranches experiencing D2 and D3 droughts. Amongst the browned-out plants where these “pasture circles of joy” are, the forage growth is usually three times that of the existing sward. It is a huge visual improvement if you can “see” it.
Upon further investigation, the pies are contributing a fertilizer bomb to the local plant community as well as food for the dung beetles, earthworms and other insects which attract animals who eat those critters and spread the fertility too. There are dollars connected to these pies. Fertility alone says the dairy and beef cows are contributing around $0.75 to $1.50 per cow per day worth of nutrients with these “rings of profit.”
This is also a repugnance circle which gives the plants a break from grazing to show their full expression (because it tastes like a toilet). This allows for the proliferation of beneficial shade, furthering the cooling effect for the microbes to operate. Upon turning over the soil circle underneath, the biology and water infiltration has significantly improved. The circles are also influencing an infinite community of neighboring plants and animals as they break down and spread the wealth into the sharing roots.
So the big question is how do we create these circles of opportunity in a cohesive way?
One humorous way is to augment virtual fence collars with a remote button that would strategically inspire the animals to poop on command. A more logical way to make an impact is by using portable fencing and stock density with frequent enough moves to concentrate pies and urine in areas that need such a treatment.
South African holistic management educator and mob grazing expert Ian Mitchell-Innes employs a nightly “mobile camp” for his herd to gain targeted impact. New York grazier and 2026 “Ultimate Grazing School” host John Burns uses a recipe of moving a close-knit “flerd” of beeves and sheep every 20 minutes for two hours to get the manure distribution he’s looking for to jumpstart the soil biology. Still other farmers use attractants such as pasture shape strategies, portable mineral feeders and water tubs to mimic a bunching-up effect.
Pennsylvania grass farmer Russ Wilson and retired PA-NRCS Conservationist Tim Elder sandwiched 50 cow/calf pairs into an eighth of an acre for demonstration purposes at a pasture walk and literally ran out of flags to mark all the pies and urine patches that were achieved from one short grazing impact event.
“Stock density is the most powerful tool in the grazier’s toolbox when it comes to managing an effective nutrient cycle. High stock density greatly increases the amount of area affected by dung and urine in every grazing cycle – whereas nutrient deposition under low stock density, as in continuous grazing, barely feed the soil microbes,” said grazing consultant Jim Gerrish.
I’ve seen it countless times: If you commit to improving a sward with animal impact as a tool for a specific context, the rewards are great. However, it does take a bit more understanding, effort, time and tools to make happen. It’s not an all-or-nothing scenario or size-centric – it’s completely flexible given your context and management style. Measuring the response of an activity that strives for a pasture circle every three to six feet in a designated paddock would be a great goal.
If all this cow “pie-ology” jargon has you intrigued, try putting a dollar on every pie at the next pasture walk and see what the response might be to stock density, especially from the children. Contrast that with “few circles of joy” and how discontented youngsters will get chasing long distances for just a buck’s worth of effort. It’s no big secret that dollars still motivate change.
Are you ready to grow more forage? The answer may be under your poopy feet.
Want to create more “pasture circles” and see the effects of impactful land management? Register for the 2026 Ultimate Grazing School on Sept. 8 and 9 in Lindley, NY, at Evermore Farms, sponsored by NatGLC, Farm Credit Northeast’s AgEnhancement Program, New York Soil Health, the Upper Susquehanna Coalition, Country Folks and King’s AgriSeeds.
Register today at grazinglands.org/events/ultimate-grazing-schoo-troy-bishopp.
