| | Managing pastures well is a real win-win situation both for the farmer and for the environment,” says Albert Kuipers, the Forage Technician/Manager for the Grey Wooded Forage Association. He explains that sustainable grazing management improves forage productivity, lowers input costs, increases net returns and reduces environmental impacts.
“Whether you’re managing tame or native forage species, the basic principles are exactly the same. After the plants have been grazed, they need to have the appropriate rest to grow into maturity before they are grazed again. The whole idea is to prevent the animals from grazing the same plant again, a second time, just when the plant is starting to grow back,” notes Kuipers. Providing appropriate rest periods ensures healthy, productive plants that provide good grazing.
Effective rest periods can be best accomplished through a rotational grazing system, where cattle graze a series of small pastures, rather than a continuous grazing system, where cattle graze a single large pasture all season long. Kuipers says, “[In rotational grazing] basically, you give the cattle just enough area to graze it to the point where you want it grazed to, and then you move them along [to the next piece of pasture].”
A rancher who has a combination of tame and native pastures can set up a grazing system that makes the most of both types. Kuipers notes that the key difference between native and tame pasture species is that most native species tend to grow much more slowly. To accommodate this difference, the rancher could put the cattle on the tame pastures in early spring, allowing the native pastures time to get a good start. He says, “Several of the tame species work quite well for earlier spring grazing.”
Kuipers noted, “Another practice is putting animals on tame pastures pretty much throughout the growing season and saving the native pastures for winter grazing. Improvements are being observed in their native pasture health from doing that.” Some native plants are especially good at retaining their nutrients over the winter, which is another reason why some ranchers use native pastures for winter season grazing. In addition, winter grazing costs much less than a traditional winter-feeding system.
“Whether you’re talking about summer or winter grazing, basically you’re managing for healthier grass and a healthier forage stand. Regardless of whether they are tame or native, healthier stands tend to produce more forage. I’ve seen quite often where, in a continuously grazed pasture, some of the best species tend to be lost [because the cattle overgraze]. And the species that are left, the ones that can survive under continuous grazing, tend to miniaturize. So over time the carrying capacity of the pasture slowly decreases. By turning around and managing the pasture well, you can slowly increase its carrying capacity,” explains Kuipers.
He adds, “With sustainable grazing, one of the advantages is increased net returns because you are getting more forage with less physical inputs. However, it does require the manager to spend a fair bit of time monitoring what is going on and thinking things over on how to get the best job done.”
Kuipers notes that well managed pastures offer important environmental benefits. For instance, a good cover of forage plants holds moisture, topsoil and nutrients better than an overgrazed pasture. On overgrazed land, rainfall and snowmelt tends to run off, rather than soaking into the soil. This runoff can carry nutrients and soil into nearby creeks and ponds, decreasing the health of both the land and water. Healthy pastureland also provides for wildlife habitat (see Developing Producer-Friendly Practices to Conserve Rare Species).
He says, “Most farmers have the environment as a priority. They are living in the environment and they can see what is going on when things aren’t working well. I’ve seen over the last few years that many farmers are working at reducing their footprint on the environment.”
For more grazing management information. Some great options for producers who want to learn more about grazing management are:
- Grazing schools (see Grazing School ‘Marathon’ in the Milk River Basin), including some that are specifically for women
- Alberta Public Lands agrologists, PFRA staff, and municipal or producer group rural extension staff
- Grazing mentors and grazing clubs (see Graziers Helping Graziers)
- Alberta Agriculture’s Call Centre (toll-free in Alberta at 310-FARM)
- Western Canadian Grazing Conference
- Websites like www.foragebeef.ca, www.cowsandfish.org and www:srd.alberta.ca
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