Location: Rangeland Resources & Systems Research
Project Number: 3012-21610-002-017-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 13, 2014
End Date: Sep 12, 2019
Objective:
Develop adaptive grazing management strategies for semiarid rangelands that balance objectives for improving livestock production and enhancing other ecosystem services under a variety of climatic conditions.
Approach:
At the Central Plains Experimental Range, implement an adaptive grazing management treatment using yearling steers stocked at moderate rate but grazed in a single large herd (10 times larger than herds in the traditional grazing treatment) and adaptively rotated from May 15 – Oct 1 among 10, 320 acre pastures that contain the two dominant ecological sites (Loamy Plains and Sandy Plains). Each pasture in this treatment will experience pulse grazing by the large herd in 4 of every 5 years and receive season-long rest 1 in 5 years (for grassbanking). Rotation between pastures within a year, and among pastures across years, will be based on a suite of monitoring data linked to management goals for achieving multiple ecosystem services associated with production and conservation outcomes (e.g., plant communities, livestock production, wildlife habitat, and soil health). Monitoring of the vegetation variables will include: composition, visual obstruction/height, bare ground, litter cover, determination of forage production from moveable cages measurements and end of grazing season residue. Livestock weight gains, grazing behavior (through GPS collars) and diet quality (through fecal analyses) will be collected as well.
