Field (agriculture)

Rotational grazing with pasture divided into paddocks, each grazed in turn for a short period

A Black sheep on a New Zealand paddock with Lake Rotorua in the background

In Australian and New Zealand English, any agricultural field may be called a paddock, especially if for keeping sheep or cattle. If stock are grazed there, the space may be called a run, e.g. sheep run; cattle run.[2] The term paddock is used more specifically in animal husbandry for a system in which grazing land is divided into small areas, paddocks, and the stock graze each paddock in turn for a short period. Paddock grazing systems may be designed with, for example, 6 or 11 paddocks used in rotation.[3]

A paddock is normally fenced, usually by wire, and often defined by its natural boundaries, or is otherwise considered distinct. A back paddock is a smaller field that is situated away from the farm house; possibly land of lesser quality.[4] The equivalent concept in North America and the UK is a pasture.

In Australia the word seems to have had its current meaning since at least 1807[5] and in New Zealand since at least 1842.[6] However, the English meaning of "field" was used earlier in Australia[7] and is still occasionally used.[8] Similarly, meadow was in early use[9] and has appeared later, for example, in 2004.[10] Field remains in regular use in Australasia in expressions such as football field, Field Day and field trip.

In a new style of intensive farming developed in North America, a paddock is a small (perhaps 1 acre) temporary subdivision of a pasture made with electric fencing, which is intensely grazed for a day and then left to rest for perhaps 80 days or more.[11]

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  A green field or paddock with Hereford cattle
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  A summer field
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  Spring fields with trees, Majorca, Spain, 2004
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  Sown fields in an open field system of farming
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  Wheat Field Under Clouded Sky by Vincent van Gogh, July 1890
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  Paddy field