Managed Grazing
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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…
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
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…
Grazing Cover Crop Calculator
This tool can be used to assist in determining the number of days or acres animals can graze cover crops. https://www.jotform.com/app/221745338623861
Winter Grazing of Cover Crops
Question: How many acres of cover crop does a cow-calf pair need to make it through a typical winter? -From South-Central Kansas Answers: Assuming a fall calving operation, a 1300 lb cow and about 3600…
Cover Crop Challenges
A mix of spring forage barely, Indian mustard, black oats, winter peas, and crimson clover was planted on April 1. Cows were put on it May 7 and pulled around June 21. At that time,…
New ground: Where to start the regeneration process?
If you were getting a new piece of ground that had been conventionally tilled the last 16 years, where would you start the regeneration process? I can’t soil test yet, but know that it hasn’t…
Grazing Cover Crops: Winter Wheat vs Rye?
How can we work in cover crops following corn and soybean harvest that will get enough growth to be worthwhile? Is winter wheat better than rye? Question submitted from southeast Nebraska.
Managed Grazing Helpful Links
Visit these links for more information:
- Studies Show Minimal Soil Compaction With Winter Grazing | CropWatch | University of Nebraska–Lincoln (unl.edu)
- Student Research: Does the Grazing of Cover Crops by Cattle Compact Soil? | CropWatch | University of Nebraska–Lincoln (unl.edu)
- Cover Crop Grazing: Impacts on Soils and Crop Yields | CropWatch | University of Nebraska–Lincoln (unl.edu)