Search Results

Woody encroachment of trees can be managed to save cattle stocking rates and water loss. Rod Voss, NRCS Rangeland Management Specialist in Mitchell, South Dakota, discusses the importance of using prescribed burns to control red cedars in pastures—before they turn valuable grazing land into a forest. Listen to his podcast interview with Robin “Buz” Kloot on Growing Resilience podcasts. ​ “South Dakota is on the front edge of a slow-moving tree glacier that, left unchecked, can cut pasture stocking rates by 70 percent,” says Rod Voss, NRCS rangeland management specialist from Mitchell, SD. Eastern red cedar is an invasive juniper species that can change pasture diversity within a ranch generation, especially since fire and buffalo aren’t around to keep it in check. Its encroachment is often overlooked because the pasture takeover starts slow. From Texas to Nebraska, southern and High Plains states have learned the value of prescribed burning to battle these trees for years. “As I drive the roads along the James and Missouri River valleys in the southern South Dakota counties of Charles Mix and Gregory, you see a significant number of red cedar beginning to overtake pastures,” Voss says. “It’s South Dakota’s turn to make sure we don’t transition from a grassland ecosystem to a forest ecosystem.” Fire as a managed tool Within the NRCS, Voss says a newly signed agreement between Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas and South Dakota will prioritize this woody encroachment issue. “We need to get landowners involved and help support them as we prove the value of prescribed burn management plans to manage red cedar before it gets out of hand.” One local effort by landowners helped form the Mid-Missouri River Prescribed Burn Association in Gregory, Charles Mix, Brule and Lyman Counties. “They’re independently working to address the red cedar issue, now getting support from NRCS and SDSU to help develop detailed burn plans and conduct the prescribed burn,” Voss says. Prescribed burn plan critical These landowners learned from Nebraska prescribed burn association members regarding organizational structure, planning and conducting safe burns. A prescribed burn plan is critically important because it lays out a strategy to conduct the burn. “The idea behind it is to make you think through how to make a burn go correctly and identify all the potential issues that might not go correctly—so that you have that in your mind before you start the fire,” Voss says. Safety is your number one concern, as is accomplishing your objective, whether it’s eastern red cedar control or perhaps invasive cool-season species control. “Part of writing the plan is to figure out the burn size and complexity and the number of experienced people you need. There are resources out there. The Mid-Missouri River Prescribed Burn Association can be very helpful,” Voss adds. Tree size matters Prescribed burns have proven to be very effective and economical on smaller red cedars. Voss says 90 to 95% of three to four-foot-tall trees will get killed by a prescribed grass burn. “Once they reach six feet tall, a grass fire only kills about 70 to 75% of them. And the big trees, 20-foot or more, won’t be killed without building ladder fuels or stocking piles.” Red cedar growth accelerates as they get older. For the first three to five years, these trees don't grow very rapidly. But during the fifth to the ninth year, they grow exponentially faster. “It takes a recognition of the problem and education. If you see a tree in your pasture or grazing land, you don't really consider that a problem,” Voss says. But pretty soon, you see four, then eight, then 16. Before you know it, the first trees are 20 feet tall and producing berries. Over 20 to 30 years, you’ve lost a significant amount of grass production underneath those cedar trees.” ​ Here’s more of what Voss had to say in this podcast: “We need more prescribed burn associations in South Dakota. The White River and the Cheyenne River both have a lot of woody encroachment starting to show up, and we need to pay attention at look at dealing with those issues now.” “The Prescribed Burn Association requires everyone to carry insurance, so check with your insurance agent to make sure that you're covered for a prescribed burn.” I think our plant communities are reflecting that lack of fire, and as a result, we see an increase in trees as well as an increase in invasive grasses, such as smooth bromegrass and Kentucky bluegrass. If we modify our understanding of the ecosystem to understand that fire is a necessary component on this grassland, then it can actually work for us and restore the diversity that our native grasslands have always had.”

Pat Guptill, long time South Dakota cattle rancher and proponent of Year Round Grazing, explains what it is, why it works and how to get started. By Mike Cox Pat Guptill lives in Quinn, South Dakota, a small town just north of the Badlands National Park, on a 7000 acre ranch. In a recent Growing Resilience podcast, he gave great insight into Adaptive Grazing Management. In this conversation with Buz Kloot, he discusses Year Round Grazing. Pat says the primary reasons for doing Year Round Grazing is to reduce costs and eliminate winter cattle work. "Calving in sync with nature isn't all a bed of roses. No matter what you do, if you own cattle you're going to have issues. But do I want to be out there working with cattle in a blizzard or on green grass at 65, 70 degrees?" When Pat Guptill gets questions about Year Round Grazing, they range from, "Can you teach me that?" to, "You're gonna go broke." There is a wide range of beliefs on this subject based on many factors. "But one of the things that we haven't understood is when you calve away from when Mother Nature says you should; usually when the deer have their babies, that's when (your cows) should be having babies. Okay? The farther away from that point you get, the higher the input cost is going to be." According to Guptill, the first thing a rancher should do if he's beginning Year Round Grazing, is to get the calving process in sync with Nature. Have babies when the deer and bison do, typically in May. Once this is achieved, everything else should fall into place. Perception is a major reason some folks don't try this method. "Let's say we're going to calve in March. Now that cow has to be in body conditions, score five and a half to six, or she won't re-breed real easy." Pat's cows run about a 4 body condition score (BCS) in March, which doesn't look good to ranchers used to calving that early. To have a cow at a BCS of 5-6 to calve in March requires that rancher to feed mama cows all winter with high quality feed. That's really expensive. "The whole thought process is let that cow slip all winter and then when March arrives, she starts to gain. That's what the Buffalo did and our cows are not going to fall apart if we let them slip, if we're calving at the right time for our area. Does that kind of make sense?" Pat can have cows at a 5-6 BCS on May 20, ready for calving, and not spend anywhere near as much on premium feed. 80% of winter feed costs is preparing cows for March calving. Hay may still be necessary for winter grazing as insurance, but the rancher can determine when and how much hay to feed based on weather and grass conditions. As long as cattle are able to graze, hay isn't necessary. If ice forms, or high protein grass isn't available, then hay may be required. However, feeding hay isn’t part of the daily winter routine for Pat. During Winter, cattle can graze in the snow, but not on ice. With the snow, they use their snouts to move snow aside to reach grass. Water isn't as necessary when cattle are snow grazing. They will eat a few mouthfuls of grass then lick the snow for moisture. Hay is drier and requires water tanks to be filled, and the surface ice broken regularly. "Study more and do the paperwork. Figure the savings. We can't make our cattle worth more but we can reduce cost input." Pat has also found that calving in late Spring results in more pounds sold. "Our cattle may be smaller at sale but there are more of them." Pat suggests to anybody that wants to start this, they need to "put their feet under the table with somebody that's already doing it," and sit down and figure. One afternoon, a cup of drinking coffee, and visit; and a lot of things will fall in place for them. "A lot of us have done this. We've already made mistakes. There's no sense other people making our mistakes. You go make your own mistakes, but don't forget to share them with me so I don't make them." In addition, we provide some links that feature Pat: For more information on Year Round Grazing, watch this podcast: https://www.growingresiliencesd.com/podcasts/episode/cfd5ac2a/33-calving-with-nature-cuts-costs-for-year-round-grazing Video: “Year Round Grazing: A Change you can believe in”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYczr2Lv-SA 2013 SD Leopold Award: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGsjUdScWZM A 2014 video by SDSU visits with Pat about High Stock Density grazing (Pat doesn’t necessarily like to use the words “Mob Grazing”) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWC9qkYdDNA In 2021, Pat and wife Mary Lou, through the SD NOLO (Non-Operating Land Owner) project, discuss “Understanding the Connection: Stress Reduction Through Soil Health”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfIJp-M1K5U Also please visit the SD NRCS Range and Pasture website for more information at:https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/conservation-basics/natural-resource-concerns/animals ____________________________________________________________________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3.Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

Dakota Lakes consultant Cody Zilverberg discusses how bringing back native species will benefit livestock, other native animals, pollinators and the soil. Over two podcasts, Dakota Lakes consultant Cody Zilverberg describes a unique journey from his central South Dakota ranch youth to computer science, teaching in Guatemala, then rediscovering agriculture. He has combined degrees in agronomy, ag economics, livestock systems and nutrition. Dwayne Beck recognized Zilverberg’s quality research into livestock integration and welcomed his skills back to Dakota Lakes six years ago. In these podcasts with Robin “Buz” Kloot, Zilverberg discusses livestock as a management tool that improves soil, expands native grasses and brings perennials back into cropping systems profitably. Valuable nuggets from Podcast #28: Integrating Livestock Back on the Land (Annuals) “With the Ogallala Aquifer drying up, my Texas Ph.D. research focused on alternative ideas to deal with this issue. Being forage people, we planted cropland back to grass to use less or no irrigation water. We ended up integrating livestock to graze millet that was rotated with cotton and we put some of the land back into native perennial grass.” “At Dakota Lakes [working with recently-retired Dwayne Beck and new manager Sam Ireland] we see livestock as a tool we can manage to modify the environment. For instance, we’re researching how heavier spring grazing can both utilize the nutrition of these common exotic non-native grasses (smooth brome, bluegrass) while stimulating an increase in native warm-season grasses for better year-around, smaller paddock pasture grazing.” “We move cattle to new paddocks daily or weekly to influence more native grass species depending on the time of year. If we can get more natives back, it’ll be more beneficial for livestock, other native animals, pollinators and the soil.” Our research on cover crops following wheat harvest shows we can deliver suitable biomass for cattle grazing with irrigation. We don’t always have enough moisture on dryland acres but like Dwayne says, if you don’t plant, you’re going to fail every year.” Other Topics covered in this podcast: Cover crop swaths grazed in winter to reduce or eliminate bales. The soil biology value of hooves, urine and feces even in winter. The fertility and economic savings from keeping crops and cattle in the field. The future value of livestock and the need to promote planet benefits. Valuable nuggets from Podcast #29: Integrating Livestock Back on the Land (Perennials) In this bonus podcast, Zilverberg talks about current Dakota Lakes research on adding perennials to annual crop rotations. “We’re in the early stages of research, so we have a lot to learn. For example, on one of our dryland rotations, we’re going to have 15 years of annual crops then five years of perennials such as switchgrass. We’ve seeded wheat with switchgrass and seeded corn into standing switchgrass.” “Switchgrass did drag our corn yield down a bit. Where we had the best switchgrass, we lost about 27 bushels per acre. But with a lighter seeding rate, we only lost four bushels. We can’t draw conclusions yet based on one year, one set of conditions, but it has piqued our interest.” “To reestablish native warm-season grasses, we’re seeding some natives like little bluestem, big bluestem, Indiangrass, switchgrass and others that may or may not have seeds in the soil anymore. “In the third year of trials, we finally got rain and all the tallgrass species appeared, mostly big bluestem, where we used glyphosate to control the exotic grasses. We learned that just switching our grazing management wasn't enough to change things over this short period. Seeding truly helped. We now have a very diverse, deeper-rooted pasture, not as densely populated with those tall grasses as we would like, but they are there.” Other highlights of this episode: Current research with alfalfa as the perennial instead of switchgrass to add nitrogen to the soil and the animal. How deeply rooted species will access more water and nutrients, and how management will help native grasses increase. Listen to these two podcasts (#28 and #29) to learn more details of Zilverberg’s work at Dakota Lakes. And visit the podcast page to view many rangeland topics from the Growing Resilience Through Our Soils series.

Converting cropland to grass and switching to rotational grazing decades ago drive soil health, lower costs and grass and bird diversity. Larry Wagner (pictured left) a rancher who grows grass in cropland country southeast of Chamberlain, SD, has readily shared his journey to grassland health from his early days of rotational grazing on the Soil Health Labs podcast. Thankful his dad converted cropland into grasslands back in the 1950s, rancher Larry Wagner continued this family legacy of providing quality grass for their cow-calf herd that mimics Mother Nature. Ranching 20 miles southeast of Chamberlain, surrounded by row-crops, Wagner runs around 175 cows and 25 yearlings to sell grass-fed beef and some feeder calves. “If we hadn’t converted everything to growing grass, I’d seed cover crops into row-crop fields to extend my grazing time in the fall and rest more pastures,” Wagner says. Wagner emphasizes the importance of grazing the cool-season bromegrass hard, early in the spring, to open up the canopy for plant diversity. “People should graze this shallow-rooted brome earlier because it comes so fast,” he says. “Once that is grazed down by mid-June, the canopy opens, and the deep-rooted, warm-season natives will come, and you get a much longer grazing season.” Take half, leave half “You need to leave half the grass when you rotate because without ground cover, soil gets hot and kills your microbes that build organic matter to conserve moisture,” Wagner adds. “As your soil gets healthier, you see different species which are all good for the soil.” He’s also convinced healthy rangeland is vital to healthy livestock. Checking the cows and grass hold many clues, especially when moving cows. “I move animals by watching the grass because you have variations in moisture, temperature, how it is growing and being grazed,” he explains. “For me, I check daily or every other day to get the most out of your grass.” A source of pride for Wagner is his Audubon-certified conservation ranch. “They have found 32 different kinds of birds on our ranch during their audit. We’ve learned that if you’re managing the grass right for the cows, it’s right for the birds and all kinds of wildlife. They just all fit together,” he says. Here’s more of what Wagner had to say in this podcast: “Here in South Dakota, we always say we’re two weeks away from a drought. Having your soil in good condition in wet years helps store water than having it runoff. You get through a really dry year pretty well because it makes that much difference.” “People don’t realize how much less work it is when you shift calving to May and June, compared to March and April. Fawns are born in June; that’s Mother Nature. It’s just like everything, the grass, the animals; it helps to be in sync with Mother Nature.” “One of the biggest lightbulbs that came on for me was seeing how well rotational grazing worked, how it increased your grass production by doing it. The other surprise was building soil and not realizing it, a big reason how we’ve increased our production.” “I’ve learned a lot from South Dakota Grassland Coalition, and we have a great mentors list on the website with experience in fencing, pipelines, later calving, grass seeding, and more. And the NRCS has been very helpful to me over the years with plans and overall thinking on how rotational grazing is done.”

Conservationist’s lifelong journey towards better soil health for all takes another twist. Jeff Zimprich, the recently retired NRCS State Conservationist in South Dakota, discusses conservation efforts from rangeland to cropland and producers to landowners. Listen to his podcast interview with Robin “Buz” Kloot on Growing Resilience podcasts. ​ On a small livestock and row-crop farm east of Sioux Falls, Jeff Zimprich began what became a career-long love of nature and farm life focused on optimizing conservation practices. His farm youth combined with U.S. Forest Service summer jobs in the Black Hills led to a range science degree at the University of Montana. The USDA Soil Conservation Service gave Zimprich his first job working with rangeland producers across Montana. His career path with NRCS led him to central and southwest Iowa field offices for many years, along with some national work in Washington, D.C. that honed his passion for the agency and its capabilities. Then nine years ago, he came home to South Dakota to lead USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) efforts as State Conservationist. Zimprich says his journey to soil health, not unlike some ranchers and farmers, has been a slow evolution. “As I’ve made many observations and tried practices across the country, specifically in Montana and Iowa, some of the things didn’t quite turn out the way we’d hoped. There was so much focus at that time on soil erosion, we didn’t have an appreciation for soil health—and erosion wasn’t taking us the whole way to save and improve soils,” he says. Soil health movement Soil health thoughts were rolling around in Zimprich's head but it wasn't until he moved back to South Dakota that he began to promote it in earnest. “That’s where my enlightenment began, where I credit the educational efforts of NRCS Soil Health Specialist Jeff Hemenway and the producers proving how soil health practices bring soil alive. That’s when I realized we had to talk about soil health every chance we get to move this beneficial concept along.” Working in many different landscapes over his career, Zimprich learned the value of conservation and land-use practices that don’t fight Mother Nature. “I’ve seen it on river bottoms, on steep slopes, in our Prairie Pothole region—producer land-use decisions can make conservation difficult. A real understanding of landscape and soil capabilities and working within them is critical to conservation and production success.” Key benefits from healthy soils are improving profitability and resilience, Zimprich says. “I hear soil health producers say they are cutting input costs because the soil is improving,” he says. “I believe the more we work with Mother Nature and her weather extremes, a healthier soil resource can deliver a better bottom line, adding resilience beyond just producing more bushels or pounds of beef per acre.” Ranchers focused on soil Zimprich has also enjoyed watching ranchers evolve from cattle producers to grass managers to soil stewards. “Now I hear a lot of them talk about how soil health delivers a healthy rangeland that not only produces livestock for greater family ranch economics, it creates better water infiltration, water quality, helps wildlife and sequesters carbon.” Practice what you preach is a lesson Zimprich carries into retirement as he heads full circle back to the family farm. “My goal is to make the farm healthier, to help me speak directly from a producer perspective. I hope my experiences will show that soil health principles really can work on any farm,” he adds. A legacy of soil health leadership will continue in South Dakota, thanks to so many people committed to this cause, Zimprich says. “I’ve learned so much along my journey, from SCS and NRCS employees to valuable partners and many producers. I can’t thank them enough.” Now he’s ready to apply the direct advice from South Dakota’s Voices for Soil Health producer mentors to his own farm—he says some have already been coaching him. ​ Here’s more of what Zimprich had to say in this podcast: “Soil health knows no bounds. It can be accomplished on the front lawn and is alive and well in our grasslands and our croplands. But we can always do more to become more resilient to handle the weather patterns coming our way.” “We’re excited with our outreach to non-operating landowners (NOLOs) who are interested to understand the capabilities of their land, and how sometimes a push for higher returns can be less profitable and degrade the soil.” “I’d like to give accolades and credit to our NRCS State Public Affairs Coordinator Colette Kessler and you, Buz, for developing and producing our Merit or Myth video series. It truly helped give people the truth behind soil health and help them see a path forward.”

How a first-time rancher is regenerating degraded cropland to healthy, resilient rangeland. Rangeland health, soil health, and the economic health of ranchers are one and the same, not mutually exclusive. That’s what James Halverson, Executive Director of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, has learned. Halverson also happens to be a passionate rancher, grazing cattle in the northern foothills of the Black Hills. In a recent podcast interview, Halverson talked about his journey from cropland to rangeland—and why he enjoys being a rangeland evangelist. “I feel that rangeland is like a red-headed stepchild that isn’t getting near the attention compared to cropland when it comes to the regenerative agriculture movement,” Halverson said. “We can apply the same soil health principles to rangeland—to increase stocking rates and production while increasing the ecological function and economics, too.” “We try to graze different pastures as short of time as we can, depending on where we can haul water. I’m a big believer in grazing pastures hard, but then giving pastures a good rest, giving them a season to recover.” “Moving into the middle of an older couple’s ranch, in the northern foothills of the Black Hills, we were lucky as first-time ranchers that they put no pressure on us to do things the way they did,” Halverson said. “Especially as we adopted soil health practices to regenerate degraded cropland. You can learn so much by observing the ground, watching how and what species the cows eat—really learning from the landscape and going far beyond just checking the cows,” Halverson said. And that translates to a better product for consumers, he believes. “Raising really good tasting beef starts with healthy soil, diversity on the rangeland and figuring out how to get cattle to eat it,” Halverson said. “I try to emulate and learn from people like Dr. Fred Provenza, Gabe Brown, Ray Archuletaand others who are on the ground and want to help producers.” Halverson subscribes to the slogan “Remember the R’s– Rotate, Rest and Recover” that several South Dakota organizations are promoting to develop resilience on grasslands. He said he’s seen first-hand the value of rest, which has contributed to the growth of his pastures. Here’s more of what Halverson has to say: “We’re fortunate to have a local seed company with outstanding guys that developed a 12 to 15 species mix of cool and warm season grasses, brassicas, alfalfa, sainfoin, tannins and others to meet our goals. Diversity in rangeland helps the soil, and cattle figure out how to flourish as well.” “Our experiment with bale grazing, putting out round bales weekly, is working well, keeping the cows from eating the pine trees that can cause some abortion problems. And we’re seeing some pretty cool results by not pouring cattle.” “We’ve pushed our calving season back, from late April into June, which has worked really well. Those calves rarely see a bad day, we’ve seen basically zero problems, and selling calves a bit later in the year has worked well, too.” The South Dakota State University influence: How South Dakota State University (SDSU) led to agricultural teaching and becoming a first-generation rancher. How his Colorado State University (CSU) graduate degree in Rangeland and Ecosystems Management entrenched his passion for helping other cattle producers become better soil and grass producers. His CSU graduate advisor, Dr. Larry Rittenhouse, taught him the importance of forward thinking and being open-minded. It really opened his eyes to teaching and doing things that can be tough for older generations to do—to adapt and continue to evolve our rangeland management.

Remember the R’s! Easy to remember grazing principles One simple way to keep the best of the grazing principles in mind is to remember the r’s. That includes Rotate, Rest, and Recover, along with proper stocking Rates and maintaining healthy Root systems. In this blog post we will discuss one of the R’s, Rotate. Rotate for Healthier, Resilient Soils and Grazinglands more than half of South Dakota ranchers practice at least a simple rotational grazing system, according to a 2018 rancher survey by South Dakota State Universi- ty. Moving livestock to allow pastures to rest and recover is an important first step in sound grazing systems that produce more forage and productive grasslands. Those who have been using sound grazing practices for years have discovered that using those practices also results in healthier grass- land soils. Basic soil health principles used for croplands such as a diversity of plants and keeping roots growing are modeled after healthy grasslands development. Rotational grazing, for in- stance, keeps pastures from being overgrazed, leaving enough grass cover to keep the soil armored. Just as importantly, live roots keep growing in the soil to feed microbes as pastures are rested and allowed to recover after grazing. The shorter term, more intense grazing encourages more even use of forages, resulting in more diversity of plant species– another important principle to follow in building healthy soils. The bottom line: you can’t build healthy grassland soils without applying sound grazing principles, nor can you get the most production from your grasses without applying the principles of soil health. Rotating pastures is the grazing management tech- nique that enables pastures to be rested. This period of Rest after grazing, in turn, allows time for both plants and their roots to Recover. This recovery time promotes regrowth and natural diversi- ty in grasslands. Optimum stocking Rate matches the amount of expected forage to numbers of livestock, helping ensure grasses will not be over- grazed. Giving plant Roots time to recover after grazing is critical to long-term plant health, as well as to feed- ing soil microbes that build healthy soils able to infiltrate and hold rainfall. “We don’t need to take all that grass off. One of our goals is to leave a minimum of a thousand pounds of grass per acre behind after grazing— leave that ground covered, leave that armor on the ground. We try to save every drop of rain we get. If you can cover your ground in a drought and leave it covered, as soon as it rains, within 30 to 45 days it’s ready to go again. But if you bare the ground it may be three to five years before it recovers. Leaving enough forage after grazing to feed soil microbes is a big thing— that and letting our land rest. We might be grazing on a piece of land a week or sometimes only a day, but then we don’t touch it for a full year so it has a lot of time to recover. Rest is important, but rest alone isn’t the answer. You have to have enough moisture during that rest so the grass and roots can recover—there’s no set or magic time frame for how long it takes a pasture to recover.” —Pat Guptill Quinn, SD Keep the R’s in mind to set the framework for resilient soils, grasslands, and ranches! A key to rotational grazing is leaving a healthy amount of grass–– at least 4 inches, generally–– after grazing to allow plants and roots to rest and recover, and feed microbes. Remember the R’s Rotate Rotate pastures, time of year, and livestock type if you want higher grass- land production for years to come, more resilience in a drought, and diverse grass- lands that infiltrate and store rainfall to build healthy soils, think rotation. It’s the path- way to the rest and recovery both plants and their roots need to build both healthy grasslands and healthy soils. The problem with season long grazing is the likelihood of overgrazing the plants livestock like most. Long- standing research shows 50% of root growth stops when 60% of the leaf volume of plants are grazed, and all root growth stops when 80% of the plant is grazed. If a plant gets knocked down again and again in one season, it will eventually die, and other, less palatable plants move in. What you want instead is to offer plants the chance to rest and recover, pumping sugar downward to the roots, to feed the soil biology. Most people think about rotating livestock through pastures, but rotating live- stock types and season of use from one year to the next also deliver dividends. Goats and sheep like to browse; goats will eat the pigweeds, lambsquarter, and other broadleaf weeds that cattle don’t like. Shifting the season of use is another crucial part of rotation. Steps to Rotation 1) Complete an inventory of resources, and get help in developing a grazing plan. 2) Reach out to those with experience—NRCS, certi- fied range managers, other producers. 3) Look for cost-sharing for developing the infrastructure you’ll need—fences, water supplies, etc. 4) A combination of tempo- rary and permanent fencing may be best. 5) A combination of tem- porary and permanent water supplies may work best. 6) Be realistic in setting goals for stocking rates, length of time for forage improve- ment, etc. 7) Aim to reduce duration of grazing, and increase dura- tion of rest. 8) Observe, observe, ob- serve, and be ready to make changes to your plan. Take Half, Leave Half The widely used “take half, leave half” grazing rule of thumb’s intent is to stop grazing before root growth is affected. It’s based on grass weight, not height. It’s the weight of the grass leaves from the ground surface to the top of the plant. “Take half’”equals the top two-thirds of the plant leaf growth, which often correlates to leaving 4”-5” residual plant height above ground. This photosynthe- sizes and drives plant growth. “I was brought up with no other way of thinking but to rotate pastures, and just learning how to read the grass. We try to rotate every two to six days, depending on pasture size and herd sizes. We watch how much is being grazed; we have a take half/leave half mentality, and that guides us on when it’s time to move on. Those cows love to get to that fresh pasture and they get pretty used to rotating. If you’re wondering if you should move them, they’ll usually tell you because they’ll be waiting for you at the gate.” – Britton Blair Sturgis, SD

Reducing smooth brome and Kentucky bluegrass to grow more native grasses and forbs improves soil health and resilience against drought. Stan Boltz, a USDA NRCS rangeland management specialist in South Dakota for 33 years, describes how healthy soil and cattle grazing management can reduce invasive species, bring back native rangeland and increase stocking rates. Listen to the podcast interview with Robin “Buz” Kloot on Growing Resilience podcasts. From his town-kid youth, where he viewed his first ranch on a hayrack hoisting bales, Stan Boltz has since spent three decades helping ranchers improve grassland, so more cows harvest paddocks efficiently. His passion for rangeland plant and soil health grew from a botany class into an NRCS career. It started with rangeland studies in Texas and Nebraska, followed by USDA-Soil Conservation Service work in Nevada for 10 years before moving back to South Dakota in 1997, and eventually serving as NRCS state rangeland management specialist. In 2016, Boltz moved into his current role as regional soil health specialist. Boltz believes in the impact of dynamic soil properties and how rancher management can affect the plant community above ground—a topic that needs more discussion in rangeland management. “One of the dynamic soil properties that are very affected by management is aggregate stability, and that's very key to erosion. Another is water infiltration due to a combination of soil characteristics. And a third one is organic matter. These big three affect the plant community changes you see above ground.” Smooth brome kills soil structure In South Dakota and the Northern Plains, two significant threats to diverse native rangeland are conversion to cropland and invasion of non-native cool-season grasses, primarily Kentucky bluegrass and smooth brome. “Since ranchers can still graze these grasses, perhaps they’re not perceived as a threat,” he says. “If you dig up soil beneath smooth brome, you’ll notice very shallow roots and the soil lacks structure, pore space that leads to poor water infiltration. Research also shows smooth brome and other invasive species change the soil biology to prevent native species seed from germinating,” Boltz adds. Kentucky bluegrass does other things that are equally bad for the soil. “Due to reduced fungi and very shallow roots, the breakdown is minimized, which creates a thatch-mat layer with a poor platy soil structure below. Again, rainfall doesn’t make it into the soil profile,” he says. Rancher strategies to reduce invasive species In the podcast, Boltz discusses numerous methods that can help ranchers reduce these invasive species so cool-season native species can increase, such as green needlegrass, needle-and-thread and others. “One method of success is early heavy grazing down to the ground of Kentucky bluegrass and smooth brome before the cool-season native grasses begin to mature. It’s a small window to do it, and some ranchers do it a paddock at a time, then shift the paddock back to moderate grazing. It does work, and ranchers tell me they’ve seen a large increase in native grasses come back,” he says. Prescribed burning, especially in the eastern part of the state, has shown success in reducing Kentucky bluegrass. “A late April-early May timeframe works best,” Boltz says. “And I know ranchers who have used Roundup to knock back smooth brome and bluegrass to bring natives back.” Boltz says the key is to try these strategies for a few years under good grazing management and watch if natives start to come back. “One of my favorite quotes is from Jim Faulstich,” says Boltz, “and he says, ‘Use what you’ve got, but manage for what you want.’ He truly understands the importance of managing toward more plant diversity.” ​ Here’s more of what Boltz had to say in this podcast: “Plant diversity is the one thing that is going to improve soil health the most over time on grasslands. Diversity above ground increases diversity below ground, making the whole system better able to withstand drought.” “I really like the 3 R’s idea for rangeland—rotate, rest, recover—as they’re easy to remember. One of the other things I mention to ranchers is grass utilization rate because roots are impacted when you graze off more than 50% by weight. When you move to 60% utilization rate, 50% of roots stop growing for 10-12 days.”

Remember the R’s! Easy to remember grazing principles One simple way to keep the best of the grazing principles in mind is to remember the r’s. That includes Rotate, Rest, and Recover, along with proper stocking Rates and maintaining healthy Root systems. In this blog post we will discuss one of the R’s, Roots. Roots There’s a grazing line you shouldn’t cross to keep roots healthy There’s a reason soil health specialists recommend you take a spade with you when you examine your pastures. Importantly, you need to see whether your soil has pore spaces that rapidly infiltrate and store rainwaters, or if it’s compacted with a platy structure that slows water infiltration. But you can also learn a lot by taking a close look at the root systems. That’s be- cause the grass you see—or don’t see—above ground is directly reflected in the sup- porting root system below ground. Generally speaking, in healthy grasslands, the amount of biomass below ground is much greater than that above ground. An important grazing fact many people don’t know is that in most years, about one-half of a grass plant’s roots die naturally. They have to be replaced by new roots; the speed and amount of new root growth is directly affected by how much of the plant’s leaf volume has been removed. Go too far—graze too close and remove too much top growth—and the roots aren’t replaced at all and the plant will eventually die. The line you don’t want to cross If you move livestock out to leave about half the grass volume in a pasture—that usually means leaving at least 4 inches of grass height after grazing—root growth is largely unaffected and plants regrow fairly rapidly. Research shows when you leave 50 percent by weight (4 inches or more residual grass), less than 5 percent of the roots stop growing. But if you go just a little beyond that, and remove 60 percent of the top growth, you stop 50 percent of root growth. And if you remove 70 per- cent of the plant, you stop nearly 80 percent of root growth. The line you don’t want to cross—unless you intention- ally want to reduce a grass like bluegrass in a pasture, is that 50 percent mark. That’s where the take half, leave half saying comes from. Roots key to water availability, soil health Capturing and holding sunlight and water, and delivering nutrients to plants are arguably the most important things you can do to get productive grass- lands. Healthy plant root systems make that happen. When you rotate pastures to allow enough leaf surface to capture sunlight and pump energy to the plant roots, those actively growing roots put out sugars and other root exudates that feed microbes in the soil. Those microbes and other soil biology make the glue that binds the soil together, forming soil aggregates with pore space that promotes infiltration and water holding capacity. Growing roots are crucial to developing healthy soils that absorb and hold water.” “We’ve really intensified our rotational grazing and use of cover crops. We get anywhere from 15 to 17 inches of rainfall a year on average. What we’re striving for is to insulate ourselves and capture and hold as much of that moisture as possible. We’re just trying to drought-proof the farm, improving the water infiltration and the holding capacity.” —Candice Olson-Mizera McLaughlin, SD The “take half, leave half” concept in grazing comes from research that shows root regrowth is curtailed as more than 50% of the plant leaf is removed by grazing.

Remember the R’s! Easy to remember grazing principles One simple way to keep the best of the grazing principles in mind is to remember the R’s, that includes Rotate, Rest, and Recover, along with proper stocking Rates and maintaining healthy Root systems. In this blog post, we will discuss one of the R’s, Rate. Match livestock numbers to available forage for higher profits One of the basics—some would argue the most important basic for a profitable grazing operation—is using a livestock stocking rate that matches the available forage in a pasture. Stocking rate— animals per acre or animal liveweight per acre—is the number of animals on the entire grazing unit for a certain period of time. Figuring stocking rates doesn’t have to be complex. You just need to recognize the capacity of the landscape to provide forage for the length of time you plan to graze, and how many animals will be grazing. It’s also important to be ready to adapt with weather conditions. As you plan stocking rates, recognize all animals are not equal, nor are all landscapes. Estimate the landscape’s capacity Go online to the NRCS Web Soil Survey, and in just a few clicks you can outline your land area, find the soil types, and get a rating for the pounds per acre that soil type could be expected to produce in a normal, favorable, or unfavorable (dry) year. Talk with NRCS. They can explain the differences in stocking rates, stock density, carrying capacity, and other grazing concepts, and they’ll help you develop an entire grazing management plan, if you request it, at no cost. Calculate the stocking rate Once you have an idea of your particular pasture’s ability to produce forage, you can calculate the stocking rate that pasture can support. The stocking rate is generally calculated in animal unit months per acre. An animal unit month is the amount of forage required for a 1,000-pound cow with calf up to weaning weight for one month. That cow and calf is an animal unit—a 1500-pound cow would be 1.5 animal units, 600-pound stockers are 0.6 animal units, and a sheep is about 0.2 animal units. To calculate stocking rates, multiply total animal units by the length of your grazing season, and divide your acres of pasture by that figure. Example: You have 200 head of cows (200 animal units) x 6 months grazing season = 1,200 AUMs forage demand. 3,000 acres to meet that demand suggests that your land’s carrying capacity should be at least 0.4 AUMs/acre to supply adequate forage for a 6-month grazing season. Depending on your location and climate, that scenario may or may not be workable– an NRCS conservation planner or rangeland management specialist can help determine if you are working with realistic figures. Boost stocking rates and soil health with rotations Ranchers have long known that season-long continuous grazing on a pasture stocked too heavily will degrade the pasture, especially in a drought. A livestock performance simulation by South Dakota State University in 2018 showed, though, that multi-paddock grazing allows for much higher stocking rates without such serious degradation because grazing on any one pasture is for a short time, and adequate time is allowed for recovery before re-grazing. The study shows that as stocking rates are increased, profitability of multiple paddock grazing in rotation— even with high costs to develop those systems— is significantly higher than from continuous grazing. Some ranchers have doubled stocking rates in 10 to 15 years by using temporary fencing and water with 2 to 3 day moves. They get a better look at their cows, the cows have new feed every few days, and their high density, low duration rotation offers more even grazing of all the plants in the pasture. In addition, that management approach develops plant diversity and feeds soil microbes, resulting in healthier soils that infiltrate rainfall, with more resiliency in a drought. “We’ve gone from the original fifteen pastures to thirty pastures ranging from 25 to 40 acres. When we’re finished we’ll have over 60 pastures. We’ll have 50 miles of electric fence when we’re all set up. We’ve learned the optimum grazing time for us is three to five days, followed by 750 days of rest. We don’t go back in the rest of that grazing season, or the next year, and then that third year, we try to shift the season of use. It’s worked for us. An NRCS inventory in 2007 showed our upland fields were producing 400 to 600 pounds per acre per year. Now, those same fields are producing 2,100 to 2,800 pounds per acre per year.” —Simone Wind Newell, SSD ____________________________________________________________________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3.Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

Remember the R’s! Easy to remember grazing principles One simple way to keep the best of the grazing principles in mind is to remember the r’s. That includes Rotate, Rest, and Recover, along with proper stocking Rates and maintaining healthy Root systems. In this blog post we will discuss one of the R’s, Recover. Recover Both plant leaves and roots need time to recover after grazing There’s a natural need for rest and recovery, whether it involves what people do to stay healthy or the steps grazing managers take for healthy grasslands and soils. When you undergo a surgical procedure, your doctor will prescribe rest to help you recover. If you get too active too quickly, you’re likely to aggravate your injury, have a setback and extend the re- covery time. The same thing happens with plants that are Recovered, Graze Ready Ranchers and farmers with experience in rotational graz- ing learn to recognize when plants are fully recovered and ready to graze again. In gen- eral, that’s when your desired grass species are at the 41⁄2 leaf stage, and about 8 inches tall. How long that recovery takes depends on soils, soil moisture, time of year, spe- cies, how short it was grazed, and other factors. Breaking a rule In the spring, when plants are just beginning to grow, they’re extremely susceptible to overgrazing. Grazing too hard, too short early in the year can set back growth for the entire season. So in most cases, you really want to avoid grazing hard in the spring. On the other hand, you can intentionally over- graze if you have unwanted species you want to try to push out while you encour- age desirable species. You may want to graze bromegrass and Kentucky bluegrass pastures hard early in the spring––they green up earlier than native cool season grasses. Then, rotate livestock out. The more open canopy and reduced competition can allow more desirable native, warm season species to grow and mature before they are grazed. Recovery after a drought Grasslands—the plants and the soils and biology below them—can be severely chal- lenged with drought. They need more rest and recovery time than normal—don’t expect full performance or production the year after a drought. It’s more important than ever to rest pastures after a drought so you can keep plants taller, to develop deeper roots and continue to recover. “Rotational grazing has worked great for us. We’ve been doing daily moves, just trying to better manage what the cows are eating and manage the grass, give it an opportunity to recover. You see how the more you move the cows, the better the cows stay in condition, the better the grass and the ground stays in condition. It’s enhanced our profitability. – John Shubeck Centerville, SD It’s just as important to allow roots time to recover after grazing, especially during a drought, as it is to give plant leaves time to regrow and recover. grazed before they have time to fully recover. When pastures are repeat- edly grazed without time to fully recover, roots don’t get the nutrients they need from photosynthesis, and they begin to shrink. As the roots are weakened, the plant is weakened. It’s a down- ward spiral that results in eventual plant death or the plant being overtaken by less desirable species. Recovery time will vary across the ranch. Grasses on uplands will typically be slower to recover than the wetter riparian areas; recovery will take longer during and after a drought, too. Expect well-managed grasslands with healthy soils to recover more quickly. Electric fences make daily cattle moves quick and easy on John Shubeck’s farm. Rate Match livestock numbers to available forage for higher profits One of the basics—some would argue the most im- portant basic for a profitable grazing operation—is using a livestock stocking rate that matches the available forage in a pasture. Stocking rate— animals per acre or animal liveweight per acre—is the number of animals on the entire grazing unit for a certain period of time. Figuring stocking rates doesn’t have to be complex. You just need to recognize the capacity of the land- scape to provide forage for the length of time you plan to graze, and how many animals will be grazing. It’s also important to be ready to adapt with weather condi- tions. As you plan stocking rates, recognize all animals are not equal, nor are all landscapes. Estimate the landscape’s capacity Go online to the NRCS Web Soil Survey, and in just a few clicks you can outline your land area, find the soil types, and get a rating for the pounds per acre that soil type could be expected to produce in a normal, favor- able, or unfavorable (dry) year. Talk with NRCS. They can explain the differences in stocking rates, stock den- sity, carrying capacity, and the other grazing concepts, and they’ll help you develop an entire grazing manage- ment plan, if you request it, at no cost. Calculate the stocking rate Once you have an idea of your particular pasture’s ability to produce forage, you can calculate the stocking rate that pasture can support. Stocking rate is generally calculated in animal unit months per acre. An animal unit month is the amount of forage required for a 1,000-pound cow with calf up to weaning weight for one month. That cow and calf is an animal unit—a 1500-pound cow would be 1.5 animal units, 600-pound stockers are 0.6 animal units, and a sheep is about 0.2 animal units. To calculate stocking rates, multiply total animal units by the length of your grazing season, and divide your acres of pasture by that figure. Example: You have 200 head of 1,000 lb. cows (200 animal units) x 6 months grazing season = 1,200 AUMs forage demand. 3,000 acres to meet that demand suggests that your land’s carrying capacity would be at least 0.4 AUMs/acre to supply adequate forage for the 6-month grazing season. Depending on your location and climate, that scenario may or may not be work- able– an NRCS conserva- tion planner or rangeland management specialist can help determine if you are working with realistic figures. Boost stocking rates and soil health with rotations Ranchers have long known that season-long continuous grazing on a pasture can de- grade the pasture, especially in a drought. A livestock performance simulation by South Dakota State Univer- sity in 2018 showed, though, that multi-paddock grazing allows for much higher stocking rates without such serious degradation, be- cause grazing on any one pasture is for a short time and adequate rest time is allowed for recovery before re-grazing. The study shows that as stocking rates are increased, profitability of multiple paddock grazing in rota- tion— even with high costs to develop those systems— is significantly higher than from continuous grazing. Some ranchers have dou- bled stocking rates in 10 to 15 years by using temporary fencing and water with 2 to 3 day moves. They get a better look at their cows, the cows have new feed every few days, and their high density, low duration rotation offers more even grazing of all the plants in the pasture. In addition, that management approach develops plant diversity and feeds soil microbes, result- ing in healthier soils that infiltrate rainfall, with more resiliency in a drought. “We’ve gone from the original fifteen pastures to thirty pastures ranging from 25 to 40 acres. When we’re finished we’ll have over 60 pastures. We’ll have 50 miles of electric fence when we’re all set up. We’ve learned the opti- mum grazing time for us is three to five days, followed by 750 days of rest. We don’t go back in the rest of that grazing season, or the next year, and then that third year, we try to shift the season of use. It’s worked for us. An NRCS inventory in 2007 showed our upland fields were producing 400 to 600 pounds per acre per year. Now, those same fields are producing 2,100 to 2,800 pounds per acre per year.”

Remember the R’s! Easy to remember grazing principles One simple way to keep the best of the grazing principles in mind is to remember the r’s. That includes Rotate, Rest, and Recover, along with proper stocking Rates and maintaining healthy Root systems. In this blog post we will discuss one of the R’s, Rest. Rest Aim to rest pastures much longer than you graze them “We’ve got some very rough, marginal ground. We used to graze in 120- acre pastures, but we dropped that down to 40- and 20-acre paddocks to control the grazing more. I’m out in a pasture every day checking grasses to see when we should move—we try to leave anywhere from four to six inches of grass standing in the pasture every year. We graze a pasture once a year and then it rests for another year. With the pastures resting all the time, in our last drought here, we had grass two to three feet tall where other pastures were six to eight inches tall around us. It’s a lot of hard work and a lot of dedication, but in the long run it pays off big time because you’ll have grass when you need it.” –– Gene Ausland Day County, SD Think of your grasslands as your children. Both are ever changing and developing, and both need rest. Just as young children take naps to stay healthy, grasslands need rest after grazing to stay healthy. But their rest period is longer—a minimal 45 days, often 365 days or more. The goal is to allow all plants in the pasture to regrow and fully complete their growth cycle. Think about elite athletes Another way to think about resting your grasslands is to compare the rest they need to elite athletes. A marathon runner isn’t going to run a race two days in a row. Race horse owners wouldn’t think about running horses that soon, either. Another analogy is with the boxer who keeps getting knocked down. If that boxer gets knocked down repeat- edly, and gets up in an Babies, children, athletes — all of us — need rest to recover from activity or injury. Think of grasslands in the same way. Remember the R’s REST injured or weaker state each time, there comes a point he or she doesn’t get up at all. Grasses react the same way—if they are grazed into the ground and then the new growth is nipped off again and again without a rest period, there aren’t enough leaves to feed roots; roots stop growing and the plant doesn’t survive, let alone thrive. Rest requirements vary The most common rest period is a year—once- through grazing followed by rest until the next year. Some systems are twice- through, where livestock graze only the top one-third to one-half of forage the first time through. Then comes a longer rest. In a twice-through management system, the second graz- ing event must be carefully monitored to ensure enough plant material is left after grazing to ensure roots and leaves continue to grow. Consideration should be given to delaying turn in dates the year after a drought. Even with normal rainfall, full production wouldn’t be expected the year following a drought, unless those pastures are very well managed. Well managed pastures likely have healthy soils that pro- mote rainwater infiltration and hold moisture. That’s a direct contrast with continu- ally grazed pastures. Pastures grazed all season long could take three to four years to get back to full production after a drought. The bottom line is it takes even more rest in a continually grazed pasture to recover from drought years.