But for those who attended, I hope the lessons they gleaned are still front and center – especially as we get ready for another growing – and grazing – season.
The lessons that are still on my mind from the conference include:
1. Focus on soil health. Typically you hear about soil health at an agronomy conference, but grazing managers also know it is the foundation for good range and pasture. “Soil health is priceless,” said rancher Ken Miller of Fort Rice, North Dakota.
Miller does a variation of mob grazing and bale grazing and is focused on getting vegetative litter on the ground. He notes that litter helps capture moisture – and keeps the soil cooler so that plants are more productive. He says, “You want to leave residue after grazing. When I look down I don’t want to see any soil.”
2. Cover crops are king – for pasture too. Sure cover crops are catching on in crop aftermath, but seeding it into pastures to rejuvenate them can work as well. The aforementioned Ken Miller in North Dakota has had great success in grazing a cool-season pasture of mostly smooth brome in the spring, burning it down chemically and then seeding a “cocktail mix” of warm season plants into it for winter grazing. The mix of deep- rooted plants and legumes (sunflowers, radishes, turnips, etc.) is helping build that soil health; cattle love to graze it, and Miller has provided habitat for wildlife as well.
Jerry Doan, a rancher from McKenzie, North Dakota, emphasized that with cover crops he has been able to successfully winter graze until January – and even March in a light snowfall year. This has saved his ranch as much as $50,000 in feed costs, and he says, “That’s a family income; that’s helping my two sons come back to the ranch.”
3. May/June calving is key. I heard more than one producer from Montana and the Dakotas mention that their switch from February/March calving to May/June was the “smartest thing they ever did.” Many of them admitted it took a few years to finally make the move, but once they did they’ve never looked back. North Dakota’s Doan said, “The number one thing we’ve done for profitability was get away from spring calving.”
4. Nature tourism has arrived. Bruce Hoffman, a rancher and investment broker from Texas, shared an interesting statistic: Texas Parks & Wildlife has not seen an increase in the sale of hunting licenses over the past 15 years – at a time when the population is still growing. So, while hunting is hitting a plateau; meanwhile, people still want to get out into nature – and are willing to pay for it. That means the opportunity for nature tourism, like bird and wildlife watching and nature photography, is booming.
Hoffman talked about adding nature tourism as a viable entity to just about any ranch – that is tolerant of visitors, of course. He noted that in Texas, some ranchers are fetching as much as $250 per day per person to allow them to get onto private lands and take wildlife and wildflower photos.
5. Dealing with drought. We’ve all heard before that it’s important to have a drought plan in place and be ready to act when the rain doesn’t come. One comment that University of Kentucky forage specialist and professor Garry Lacefield suggested was to have a “sacrifice” pasture. Rather than overgraze several – or all – of your pastures during drought. Select one pasture that you are willing to put your cattle on and give them supplemental feed. Of course, destocking should still be considered – as should the cost of the supplemental feed, but Lacefield pointed out that this way your other pastures will be able to rebound faster when the rain does come.
6. Think out of the box. A common phrase said by many of the speakers was “my neighbors think I’m nuts.” But these innovative thinkers never seemed deterred; they relish their role as problem-solvers, and their families and their farm/ranch operations are better for it.
-- From the GLCI news release
PHOTO
A herd of grazing cattle on the Florida pasture just east of Sun City. Staff photo.
