P. A. S. T. U. R. E.
7 key principles to a healthy pasture
By Wayne Burleson

As I visit more and more farms and ranches and walk their pastures, I find similar predicaments.  That is, formal land monitoring by livestock producers easily falls off the to-do list. When a Montana Sate University student, Charley Orchard, did his master's thesis, he found that less than one percent of Montana ranchers have a formal land monitoring system in place. Also, the ones that did were not happy with the method they used, and found the information collected was not very helpful.

How sad! Seems that closets fill up with maps, old data and unused photos. However, I do know that ranchers monitor one way or another. Sometimes it's in their head (That's good.), sometimes it's looking out the window of the pickup truck (That's fair.) and sometime it's when the cows keep fence crawling because they've run out of feed and it's time to move them (That's bad.). With today's economics and seemingly less moisture to work with, I want to help change this land monitoring dilemma.

Please consider the following seven ideas to help make pasture monitoring much more meaningful. Clip out this article and place it in the pickup truck. Then, the next time you find yourself wondering how well your pasture management is doing, please re-read these seven principles and then go take a closer look at the health of your pastures.

P = Determine the area's purpose.

Know the main purpose of the area to be grazed. Examples: profit from livestock grazing, wildlife, shelter, aesthetics or special use. Why is this important? If you have undetermined purpose, your management decisions will be without direction. Don't skip this step!

A = Amount of time spent grazing must be controlled.

Controlling the amount of time spent grazing in each unit (frequency of grazing) in different seasons (the seasonality) is just as, or more, important than the amount of forage removed (the intensity-utilization levels) or what the animals are eating (their selectivity). Please balance all of these key factors to have healthy pastures.

S = Supply adequate rest to key plants for full recovery.

If you allow continuous grazing to occur on fresh regrowth on certain high-producing plants, their roots will start to shrivel up and the plants will begin to die. Please supply adequate rest to key plants after each bite. Monitor their recovery period. How? Place a flag by a previously grazed

plant and monitor the number of days for full recovery. Consider more than one year's rest to bring back needed plants to full vigor. Also, try "flash grazing" at low stock density, rotating from pasture to pasture as fast as possible; use this grazing management on very early spring pastures.

T = Test new ideas.

Experiment with small test sites before implementing major changes in larger areas. Each pasture responds differently to different grazing strategies. Construct enclosures (areas with no grazing) to evaluate the differences in grazing treatments. This will let you compare grazed areas to no-grazing. Example: Test "herd effect," the trampling down of old vegetation to feed the soil, and then monitor the results. If you find good results in smaller areas, implement changes in larger ones.

U = Use litter to feed the soils.

Available water is the biggest limiting factor for most plant growth. We cannot control the amount of rain received, but we can control grazing. Use the following rule of thumb: Keep the soils covered. Plan pasture management to feed and shade the soil. Litter on the soil surface will lower soil temperatures to conserve water. The old grazing rule of "taking half and leaving half" works on the volume of forage in the dryer, low-producing areas. However, this rule may waste forage in high producing pastures. Plan land reclamation work during the non-plant-growth season. Winter grazing is a great time to feed the soils.

R = Rely on diversity.

To increase diversity, use several different grazing methods, systems, and strategies, strive to increase different plant species and fine-tune your pasture management year after year.  Why use diversity?  One example is that warm season grasses provide green forage later in the season than do cool season grasses.  Learn your areas' key indicator plant species. This will help you to recognize when important changes are occurring.  Install photo points. Locate and mark areas on the ground so that you can keep coming back each year to study the changes.

E = Evaluate results -- monitor, monitor, monitor.

Use the feedback-loop method of monitoring - plan, control, monitor and re-plan. Fine-tune each area by pastures walking often, looking for any signs of stress occurring on any plant. Mark these problem areas. Make needed changes in management to fix problems early. Consider carrying over old forage for next year's early-spring-use pastures. Skip grazing certain areas the second rotation. This will increase the energy flow back into the soils. Add a pasture reserve for drought emergencies. Determine the root causes of the problems and fix them - don't treat the symptoms. The more pastures you have, the greater the flexibility will be in leading you toward healthier pastures.

Please note: To accomplish many of these ideas, you must monitor often. I know that these principles would mean change for most producers (That's the hardest part.). I also know that if applied, these principles can significantly change the health of your pastures (That's exciting.). In today's tough agriculture times with the surge in environmental awareness, it's now more important than ever to become an astute grass farmer, rather than just doing things the same old way.

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