I think the size of herd you run as 1 group is almost limitless. Zach and Shannon Jones in Montana, together with his cousin, are running 3-4000 head in one group. Last I heard of him in the Stockman Grassfarmer he was talking about making plans to accomodate 10,000 in one group. The would be a sight to see. I've seen 2000 in one group and the litter left behind was an absolute mat of forage and manure. The regrowth was unbelievable. Even in dry years, the place where I witnessed that system was green while the neighbours - and my place - were brown. Same rainfall, same conditions, different management.
Will you build soil? Without a doubt, as long as you move them quickly and don't overgraze. If you leave that many critters in 1 place for even a few hours too long, they'llsend your program backwards and as Bootheel said, animal performance ultimately suffers.
Just work out the math. If your quarters are carrying 3000lbs of dry matter per acre right now, and we say yearlings will eat 30lbs per day, then you could sustain 100 yearlings per acre for a day. However, bear in mind that is eating every pound of forage. That will send your land backwards. If you set a target of eating 50% and leaving 50%, you would be able to sustain 50 head per acre for 1 day. If you want to do 1200 yearlings that means they'll consume a quarter in 6.7 days. This is all theoretical and obviously changes depending on your production and various other factors
Anyway, at that rate, they'll go through your other 11 quarter section paddocks in 73.7 days. Will the first one be fully recovered in that amount of time? This year with the rain we had we saw some paddocks recover in 60 days, which I have never seen in this country in my life. We're usually 120 days +. And by recovery I mean the plant has flowered again. Recovery is about plant life cycles, not shooting up 6" and looking green
I think Bootheel has some wise words for you about starting slow - you can always add more cattle. However, if you think you can handle all this and have the water, go for it. I've always been one to jump in and learn the hard way. Sometimes it works, sometimes it don't, at least I have the experience and knowledge of what it was like to try. :lol: As Don Campbell says in Holistic Management - There are no mistakes, only learning opportunities.