Grazing Intensity Research in the Missouri Coteau of North Dakota

B. Patton, P. Nyren, B. Kreft, and A. Nyren,

Introduction

Livestock Response

Forage Production and Utilization Treatment Effects

Soil Water and Forage Production

Forage Quality

Plant Community Dynamics

Recommendations

Future Research

Introduction

A grazing intensity research project was initiated at the CGREC in 1989. The objectives are to determine the effect of grazing intensity on livestock performance and profitability and its effect on the sustainability of forage production. Five treatments are included: no grazing, light, moderate, heavy and extreme grazing. Each treatment is replicated three times in pastures of about 30 acres each except that the no grazing treatment consists of six 0.3-acre exclosures, placed on both overflow and silty range sites. Livestock are not rotated between pastures and each pasture receives the same treatment each year. We try to stock the pastures each year so that when the cattle are removed in the fall, 65%, 50%, 35% and 20% of the forage produced in an average year is remaining on the light, moderate, heavy and extreme treatments respectively. For these pastures that means 2,063 lbs/ac., 1,623 lbs/ac., 942 lbs/ac. and 484 lbs/ac. of forage remaining on the light, moderate, heavy and extreme pastures respectively. Table 1 presents the stocking history of the study and figure1 shows how much forage was remaining at the end of the grazing season each year. Adjustments in stocking pressure are made each year based on information from previous years to better match our desired grazing intensities. Changes in the vegetation are determined by monitoring permanent plots located on silty and overflow range sites in each pasture and the six exclosures. Table 2 gives the average production on these range sites during each year of the study and the total precipitation for the year.