Healthy Crops Start with Healthy Soil

Improve and protect your soil with farmer-to-farmer connections and resources

Latest Resources

The Biology of Soil Compaction

This short video provides the basics on what causes soil compaction and how it affects water infiltration.

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Prescribed Fire Online Course

Want to learn how to plan and conduct a prescribed fire? Check out the Prescribed Fire Online Course! Learning Objectives – Fire for a healthy ecosystem – Considerations for a fire plan – Safe practices…

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Livestock Pasture Use & Plant Preferences

Does your livestock match your pasture?

Cattle, sheep and goats use pastures differently.

– Terrain: Goats and sheep tend to use steeper areas than cattle.

– Plant Types: Cattle eat mainly grasses while goats browse more shrubs and trees. Sheep are intermediate and have less preference for a specific plant type.

Selection for Plant Parts: Cattle have large broad mouths and cannot select specific plant parts well, instead they typically take large bites of plants. Sheep and goats have small mouths with prehensile lips which allow them to select specific plant parts

Grazing multiple species can often be complementary, resulting in broader use of available plant types and pasture terrain.

Illustration: John McQuaig

Source: The Prairie Project The Prairie Project

Data:

McDaniel & Tiedeman (1981). Sheep use on mountain winter range in New Mexico.

https://doi.org/10.2307/3898122

Pinchak et al. (1991). Beef cattle distribution patterns on foothill range.

https://doi.org/10.2307/4002956

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Upcoming Events

Principles of Soil Health

Limited Disturbance

Soil Cover/Armor

Living Roots

Diversity

Livestock Integration

Join the Grazing Exchange

Integrating livestock helps maintain healthy soil. If you have land or livestock that you'd like to make available to another Kansas farmer, join our Grazing Exchange!