Thoughts From The Field: Questions Abound: What Do We Want To Grow In Our Pastures?

by Larry Wegner, MFGA Board Alumni/Wall of Fame Inductee

Sometimes I think we can worry too much about what is in the pasture blend and not enough on managing the pasture.

There is a difference!

This topic came up a few weeks ago when a Manitoba producer asked a grazing group on Facebook “How do I take the Alfalfa out of a hay stand so I can graze it?”. All the answers were right. Of course, where the answers varied depended on the context of the owner’s property. Suggestions ranged from chemical usage to grazing the forage stand with the alfalfa left in. My thought was “if the alfalfa is removed, what is left in the stand to be grazed?” followed by a deeper thought: “what will come up to fill the stand as nature abhors bare ground?”.

On our farm, we try to have 15-30 per cent of the stand as legumes. That is a guide not a hard number. Through grazing management, I can increase or decrease the amount of alfalfa in the stand. By letting the plants go to seed, I have increased the number of seeds in the soil seed bank. If I feel that the alfalfa is too high of a percentage in the stand, I will graze the paddock hard in August and early September and then, graze it hard again in mid to late September. This will reduce the alfalfa root reserves so the following season has potential for less alfalfa in the stand.

I am attempting to increase other legume species in the stand -yellow clover (sweet clover), black medic in most stands. Both are short-lived legumes and come and go in the forage stands. Plants are known to communicate among each other through an occurrence known as Quorum Sensing in the root system of plants where the nutrient transfer happens from one plant to another through soil life (microbes). We are not totally sure how the plants communicate, whether above the ground (sound pitches that we can not hear) or underground. This is the newest science happening in understanding plant communication. To think 25 years ago, researchers said there was no proof that the plants can and do communicate to each other. Now it is accepted that plants can communicate in species and among other species in the plant community. Through this communication, they will come and go through the life cycle of the stand as nitrogen fixation is required for the soil and plant health.

Through management (and the fact I prefer to not spend money for improvement) we have increased alsike and red clover and birds foot trefoil in some paddocks, and we are trying to increase the spreading of seed to other paddocks with the livestock.

By letting the cattle graze plants that have gone to seed, we then move the stock to a new paddock to spread the manure 24 hours after grazing the seeds. The dung beetles then bury it into the soil for next year. I must admit that the wild deer have done a better job of spreading legume seed over more of the property and the next-door properties over the years. In dry years, the clovers and Trefoil will dry off and die. But in a wet spring, the seeds will germinate from the seed bank and renew the stand. Letting the plants set seed every few years is the best way to ensure a healthy and diverse forage stand for the future.

We are currently watching as cicer milkvetch establishes on our property. This plant is slow to establish. The age-old adage is to plant the seed and check it five years later. It is deep rooted and does well in dry years. The leaves stay on the plant longer into fall, which bodes well for late season grazing. Some producers familiar with this plant have cautioned that it may become invasive in the forage stand as the stand gets older. I am holding out judgement till I get more benchmarks and my own observations over time.

Grasses should make up 50-70 per cent of the forage stand. All grasses are good for grazing. Cool season, warm season, bunch grasses and stem grasses should all be in the forage blend. The percentage of each is determined by the producer’s management. No two forage production years are the same, and no two forage paddocks will be the same. And that is a good thing. Factors, though, are quite consistent. When was the timing of spring rains, how and when was the pasture grazed, how much forage was removed impact of summer rains, did the grass to seed, were there fall rains, how much cover is left to cover the ground and how much is left standing to catch snow.

By changing the timing around when a paddock is grazed each year encourages different grasses to grow the next year. No paddock should be grazed at the same time each year. This will cause plant selection by the herd grazing the paddock, causing over grazing of some plant and under grazing of others plant species. Over time this regular routine will create a monoculture of plants that will survive being grazed at that one time of the year while stressing or even killing off the more desirable grasses due to overgrazing. What’s often left behind in this regime is a stand of grasses that the grazing herd do not want to graze. On the other side of the coin, not grazing the forages may cause the stand to die or degrade out over time.

It is a balancing act, indeed, perfecting the art of grazing management. To monitor the pasture in real time, the manager needs to physically be in the paddock. Select areas of the paddock to stop and put your head down to the forage and butt up to really see and get a direct sense of what is happening in the forage stand. You cannot check the quality of a pasture by driving by. You must get out into and explore the paddock, especially what is being grazed and what is not being grazed. Remember to manage for what you want in the stand, not what you do not want. It is often too easy to see and fight what you don’t want in the stand. But is much tougher to identify what you do want and encourage it to grow in your stand. Truthfully, many of us do not know exactly what we want in our paddocks until we see it in someone else’s pasture tour.

That is a great way to learn from others.

The remaining 20 per cent of the forage stand should be forbs. The classification of forbs is where we put all the other plant growing in the paddocks. This is where we categorize dock, plantain, dandelion, the thistle family, crocus, snowberry, wolf willow and many other plants. Having forbs is a healthy indictor as they will grow at different depths in the soil and different heights in the paddock. Some forbs are higher in certain minerals and are required as diet to balance the livestock health. They will bloom at different times early and later in the season providing a staged food source for the insects in the paddock.

We, as managers, have to start thinking of the wildlife that we are feeding as we create a healthy ecosystem for all. We all relate to each other in the circle of life. Moderation is the key when evaluating the plant population of forbs. Too many forbs and you will have a problem with bare ground, soil compaction and the associated potential of under/overgrazing. If you monitor the percentage of forbs in the forage stand you will have a great handle on the the health of the whole paddock. If you see one or two forbs as you check the paddock, everything is going well.

If you have an area that has a high number of forbs you have to start thinking about what must change and what may be done to correct the issue. We have seen in some areas of bale grazing in winter. Thistle will start growing, often as result of the soil compaction from the winter feeding there. Normally in a couple of years the thistle is gone or reduced as the soil issue is fixed.

In these scenarios, it is important that we must look at the big picture for cause and effect. Sometimes, we must stand back and look at the whole area. I have been known to park on a high spot overlooking our paddocks and have a sip of distilled sugar cane juice to relax and look at the whole enchilada. I may not always solve the issue, but I do come out of it in a better mind set.

Additionally, we must remember that there is no one forage that will do everything we ask in a pasture, just as there is no one food for your needs to live on. Humans and livestock require a diverse supply of food sources to maintain a healthy body and mind. I once watched a whitetail doe eat all the flowering heads off a patch of sow thistle and wondered what made the flowering heads her desire. I never figured it out. But it was a fine example of selective grazing.

It’s important to remember that there is not one Belle of the Ball when it comes to looking at different types of forages. I have seen grazers who have managed single species stands and have been successful doing it. You must be a high-level manager to graze a pure stand of alfalfa, cicer milkvetch, meadow foxtail and a stand of meadow brome or orchard grass. I have found managing a diverse blend of legumes, grasses and forbs to far more forgiving and have consistently allowed for a longer grazing season. There’s power in timing and variety. Certainly, there is not just one dance with the Belle of the forage Ball.

These are my thoughts on pasture content and management. I hope this is helpful in your forage management planning and observations. My son Herbert and his girlfriend Brooke met while at ag college in Alberta. They both said that they have learned more on pasture management from my MFGA blogs and a pasture walk with me than they learned in school.

Or, maybe, they just had different thoughts going through their minds than what was being taught in class.

May your yards be full of feed, your calves fat, and you sell at the market highs.

Have a great fall

Larry Wegner