Pasture & Range: March 2008

The growing season of 2007 brought much needed range recovery in many areas of the country. To characterize the improvement of some rangeland from poor to very good within a single growing season would be an understatement in many cases. The amount and timing of the rainfall in 2007 was very unusual and very infrequent for most areas. Some of the same locations that benefited from above-average annual rainfall last spring and summer have been suffering under drought conditions since fall. Knowing that it is unlikely that we will have another spring and summer like 2007 and that drier conditions are more likely the situation that will prevail, it becomes paramount that managers of rangelands do everything that they can to maintain the condition of the range.

Rangeland has always been a very important resource in many areas of the world. In the transition zone from range to introduced pastures that exists in a line roughly along Interstate 35, this revelation is starting to hit more people. As input prices for diesel, herbicide and, maybe most importantly, nitrogen skyrocket, we hear more interest in managing native plant communities than ever before. Becoming educated in the right areas and then applying the information correctly is the simple answer to keeping native plant communities productive and healthy.

I'll narrow the list down to four broad topics that rangeland managers need to be informed on.

Number one is to understand how grass grows and responds to grazing. I wrote an Ag News & Views article in 2001 entitled "Grass Mechanics 101" that can give you a start on this topic.

Number two is learning to identify plants. Rangelands, especially healthy ones, can be very diverse. We have a plant image gallery on the Noble Foundation Web site that is very useful for this purpose.

Number three is to understand livestock grazing preferences. We know that livestock will select some plants over others (as well as during different seasons). With a diverse plant community, managing to keep your good plants in high numbers can be a challenge if you are not skilled in this area. On-the-job training or watching livestock grazing behavior is normally the best way to acquire this skill.

Number four is knowing livestock forage requirements. Kinds (e.g., cattle versus horses) and classes (e.g., steers versus mature cows) of livestock have different nutritional requirements - sometimes vastly different. Therefore, it is extremely important to be able to match the forage demand of the livestock that you are managing with the supply of rangeland available (correct stocking rate).

There are many resources available through the Noble Foundation, Extension Service and others to help you in this area. This article is meant to stimulate your interest and motivate you to learn more in these four broad areas. Here are some important reminders.

• The majority of native grasses that livestock prefer are bunch grasses, while most managed, introduced grasses are sod-forming grasses.
• Different growth habits require different management.
• Many introduced grasses have more active growing points than native grasses which allow them to re-grow faster after grazing or haying.
• Proper rest periods after grazing or haying should be matched to an adequate re-growth period and often should be different for native and introduced grasses.
• Native plant communities are often diverse, while introduced plant communities are often monocultures.
• Differences in growth rates of grasses can alter palatability of grasses for different kinds of livestock during different seasons of the year.
• Don't stock based on a good rainfall year.