Improve Prairie Pastures

Pastures Increase Production, Improve Habitat

Producer grant recipients Larry and Judy Woodbury increased their cattle herd size using grazing, but manage their pasture carefully to maintain and improve the prairie. Photo by Ken Schneider

A SARE producer grant helped a North Dakota ranching couple convert to management-intensive grazing while protecting wildlife habitat on native prairie. Even running 29 percent more cattle than the year before, they noted marked improvement in range condition and wildlife habitat on their land and also on a parcel they lease in the Sheyenne National Grasslands. Before changing their traditional operation—a 175-pair cow/calf herd with 270 yearling bred heifers—to 958 yearling heifers rotated among 17 pastures, they worried about the bottom line as well as the condition of the range. Cool-season grasses and undesirable forbs were invading the pastures, crowding out warm-season natives. Pasture management enabled the Woodburys to increase their livestock while leaving enough grass to maintain and improve the prairie, allowing them to make a profit when most cow-calf operations were losing money. Cattle spend two to 11 days in each pasture, giving grazed plants 60 to 80 days to recover. The system not only lets the grass renew the food reserves in its roots, but also gives other prairie plants time to complete their life cycles. In 1996, a naturalist counted 1,200 endangered native orchids on the couple’s leased land, up from six in 1994, and noted the benefits of leaving some habitat undisturbed for birds like the prairie chicken. (FNC95-120)

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