By Miles Dabovich
Texas Agrilife Extension Service Agent
As posted on the High Plains Journal Web site, April 3, 2008.

It's without a doubt that we will remember the summer of 2007 with all the rain we got--and I know that the flood victims in our county wished it never happened and would like to forget about it. The one thing the rains did is to bring back much needed recovery to our pastures and rangelands. In an article from Matt Mattox of the Noble Foundation he states that it is unlikely that we will have another summer like 2007 and that drier conditions will again prevail. When we think about the last five months of 2007, I would say this prediction could be right. And when that happens, it's important that landowners and managers take the necessary steps to hold on to that grass and maintain a healthy range condition.

Rangeland is a vital resource in our area for livestock, horse and wildlife production. And taking the right steps on utilizing but not abusing your grass resource becomes important when the rains don't come. With the price of fertilizer, I think proper management will become even more vital for improved pastures because we all know that we're going to have to be looking at cutting our costs. So things such as soil tests and proper utilization will become valuable tools.

In Matt's newsletter he states that there are four basic topics that you need to know.

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. There is a plant image gallery on the Noble Foundation website 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.

This article appeared on High Plains Journal, www.hpj.com, on April 3, 2008.