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ARS Home » Plains Area » Miles City, Montana » Livestock and Range Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #153783
Title: DROUGHT MANAGEMENT - DO YOU HAVE TO RUN OUT OF FORAGE BEFORE MANAGING?

Author
item Heitschmidt, Rodney
item Klement, Keith
item KRUSE, ROSIE - MONTANA STATE UNIV

Submitted to: Society for Range Management Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/12/2004
Publication Date: 1/26/2004
Citation: HEITSCHMIDT, R.K., KLEMENT, K.D., KRUSE, R.E. DROUGHT MANAGEMENT - DO YOU HAVE TO RUN OUT OF FORAGE BEFORE MANAGING?. SOCIETY FOR RANGE MANAGEMENT MEETING ABSTRACTS. 2004. ABSTRACT #138.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A fundamental challenge in the management of rangelands is the development and implementation of effective drought management plans. The objective of this research was to develop a simple, yet effective, decision support system for drought management in the Northern Great Plains. This was done by evaluating an array of temporal precipitation/herbage growth relationships. Specifically, we found signficant (P<0.01) correlations between: 1) May (r=0.50)and June (r=0.54) precipitation and total annual precipitation; 2) between April + May + June (r=0.79) and total annual precipitation; 3) between April (r=0.61) and May (r=0.54) precipitation and annual perennial grass production; and 4) between April + May + previous year's October + November (r=0.91) precipitation and annual perennial grass production. Thereafter, we examined temporal perennial grass production from 15 data sets and found that an average of 35, 69, and 91% of annual production is completed by May 1, June 1, and July 1 (S.D. = 20, 19, and 12), respectively. Based on these analyses, we conclude that in this region, considerable information is often available by July 1 to encourage implementation of effective relatively low risk, early season drought management strategies.