Using cows as a habitat management tool

[Doug Galloway]

The hows, whats, whens and for how longs of grazing.....determine how the cow can be used. The only piece of the puzzle left is to know beforehand....WHY you are doing What you are doing?....spend more time thinking than actually doing.

Both of these pics taken at the same time are winter food plots...NT drilled in Oct. They are essentially the Knox rye mix....the oat and brassica portion is long gone.

Let us see how to use the cow as a management tool! Cow impact on succession can be used in native range or tame pastures....not just plots.

The 'traditional food plot' is simply a spring and fall planting of either a cool season annual mix or a warm season annual mix....~10 different seeds in each mix. The plot wasn't grazed after planting....plenty of legumes underneath. Why? by not grazing small grains after March 1, tillering proceeds at a normal pace and the grass plants will mature sooner...this allows earlier planting of the warm season mix with few weeds.


The 'pasture food plot' is simply the Knox rye mix drilled into existing pasture....triticale was substituted for 2/3rds of the rye. This plot has been rotationally grazed by cows about 3 times since planting....the clovers and peas can all be found and the overall plant community is more diverse (more cool season native broadleafs)...regrowth in the pic is 21 days of rest from grazing. Why? timely grazing which keeps grasses from becoming overly mature (dominant) increases broadleaf plant diversity and extends the timeframe when small grain forage remains lush.


Do you really think long and hard about WHY you do WHAT you do?....we could write a book about why we do what we do! ;)
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[dipper]

Doug I know the obvious benefits of grazing. The thought that just came to my mind is, what is the difference than just cutting the crop an leaving it? After the plant breaks down how is that different than it being pooped out by a cow?

 

[John-W-WI]

What is that fuzzy yellow thing in all of your pictures? :) I don't have cows, but I love dogs!

-John

 

[sandbur]

Cattle have their place in some prairie environs, but I have seen them destroy wooded areas as far as habitat.
Like Doug says, we have to think long and hard before taking actions.

Doug-is the browse line in the trees behind your dog form cattle or from fire? Not a good thing in the north country where we depend on browse (brush) for winter survival and for cover.

I favor thick cover and cattle seem to reduce the amount of thick cover in my parts of the country.

 

[Catscratch]

Not pasture but we plant winter wheat in the fall, graze cattle on it after hunting season, take them off in the spring to let it head out, mow and bail it right before dove season, repeat next yr. We plant whole wheat seed (instead of seed wheat) as it is cheaper and grows just as well, seed production isn't a priority. The cattle get green pasture during hard times which reduces the feed bill a little, deer love the stuff all winter, we have great dove hunts on it, and it provides some bails of straw/hay (it usually has quite a bit of grass in it by the time we bail it) that help feed the cattle later on. I'm starting to mix some clovers and brassicas into the mix just for variety and better nutritional value.

 

[Doug Galloway]

Doug I know the obvious benefits of grazing. The thought that just came to my mind is, what is the difference than just cutting the crop an leaving it? After the plant breaks down how is that different than it being pooped out by a cow?

Others may not know dipper...so I will expand upon your questions.

" what is the difference than just cutting the crop an leaving it?"

Well a mower eats with 2 blades and may secrete oil, diesel or hydraulic fluid on the land. A mower doesn't 'rope' or 'tug' the sward as it eats....clean cut normally. IME...mowing tends to shift the plant community more toward a monoculture of grass (think about scalping your yard frequently vs mowing high less often....what is the difference?)...how do we typically mow a field/plot?....infrequent and tall = more grass

I am NOT against mowing to return excess plant material to the soil and reduce particle size of such.....but understand that is an energy expense and $$ spent....we proved last year is isn't necessary for us to mow. IF cows are an option then increase stock density and/or change paddock shape so she eats more forage.

A cow eats with 5 blades (mouth and 4 hooves). She will 'rope' forage with her tongue and pull to eat....according to the experts this causes the plant to leak root exudates which stimulate soil biology. Normally she won't eat where she walks but hooves have an effect on the living plant and trample residue more firmly to the soil surface to speed decay.

Compaction is a function of time...so don't let the cow camp out in one place too long.

Lastly, the cow secretes: saliva, milk, hair, urine and dung on the land.....each are stimulatory on the soil biology and a couple are 'inoculant' sources.....you don't get that from fossil fuel leaks.

If you were to walk that pasture with me while we were setting posts for a long term NRCS soil health project.....then you would see a lot of plant diversity.....you would see the 'patchwork' or 'mosiac' effect which flexible rotational grazing creates. There is both lush forage and hay (dormant Bermuda) in that field for the cow to choose here diet by day...for deer to choose their diet at night.

"After the plant breaks down how is that different than it being pooped out by a cow?"

What is SOM?.....part of it is remnants of decaying plant residues of various particles sizes and extents of microbial decay. Dung is simply small particles of plants which have be degraded to a variable degree mainly in the rumen.....thus the cow does the same job which the shredding insects also do on the soil surface......ie make big forage into small pieces.....the cow is simply speeding up markedly the plant decay process and nutrient cycling for us. Don't forget manure has sloughed gut wall cells, hair, and rumen/caecum microbial cells (innoculants).

The cow doesn't fertilize....like deer, she is a nutrient transfer agent...takes a little for body function and secretes about 90%.....figure 70 lb manure per 1000 lb beef per day....then think of the endless possibilities of dung loading per ac one can create simply by changing paddock size and/or stock density and or grazing time/ac.

Many pastures don't have a fertility problem.....they simple have poor manure distribution issues because of 'set' grazing.

Manure also attracts certain insects which are beneficial and/or obligatory to a manure diet.....(dung beetles, dung flies, pill bugs, earthworms etc)....just watch what you inject or pour on (insecticides) the cow and when you do so.

Anyway....what will we do different this year?...learn more about grazing....use single strand electric fence and variable paddock size to really mix up the stocking density for more plant diversity. Letting the cow do the habitat work for us while making $$!

 

[dipper]

Having cattle graze....or should I say browse in wooded areas is a abuse. Cattle will destroy anything native within their reach. I've hunted many locations in the Midwest were cattle are routinely kept in wood lots. It is an invasive breeding ground. All the native plants are destroyed and plants like multi floral rose thrive. Not good

I'm referring to cattle grazing on out fields and plots. If we are strictly cover cropping...which we as food plotters basically are. What is the difference between the cattle eating it and the crop just being cut down and left?

 

[biglakeba$$]

Near my home, The USFWS brought in cattle and had them in the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge last summer.

Talk about shocked to drive by a national refuge and see cows running around inside the perimeter!

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2013/08/03/environment/sherburne-refuge-herefords-help-with-upkeep

 

[Doug Galloway]

Doug-is the browse line in the trees behind your dog form cattle or from fire? Not a good thing in the north country where we depend on browse (brush) for winter survival and for cover.

I favor thick cover and cattle seem to reduce the amount of thick cover in my parts of the country.

"Doug-is the browse line in the trees behind your dog form cattle or from fire?"

First, we don't burn tame pasture...unless you want to spend money on herbicide, I advise against that....fire is reserved for the native range units or brushy areas.

Neither browse line IMO....actually healthy trees...the trees in the background are native persimmon....which seem to prune their own lower limbs as the top canopy fills in....if something happens to the top canopy then dormant nodes in the lower trunk will resprout. Back in 06 or so, my son and I cut and treated a lot of sprouts and trees encroaching into tame pastures....around 80 ac or so.....due to long term ill effects of continuous grazing.

Both deer and cattle use of certain brush was obvious......so we left a few 'motts' of female persimmon for wildlife and for cattle loafing areas. What cattle do in a loafing area?...they transfer fertility to our native orchard! We also left some thickets of winged elm on borders....this need to be top cut due to less cattle and der pressure currently.

"I favor thick cover and cattle seem to reduce the amount of thick cover in my parts of the country?"

Same here....but not every acre needs to be thick IMO due to our milder climate.....for deer in a hard winter you need thick brushy bottomland, full of cedar and browse/briers/brambles. Deer like more open areas with 'motts' during summer heat to catch cooling breezes and shade.

The above pics are on the mesa. The slopes of the mesa are a brushy savannah type community with a plethora of sprouts, green brier, blackberry, broadleaf plants, legumes, both native and tame grasses, ect. This creates habitat for both wildlife and beneficial insects...and more diversity for cattle diets. We burned/thinned a good portion of that in the 2012 project thread....my son killed his turkey there in 13.

Enhanced fertility (lime and broiler litter) keeps the cattle focused on the pastures proper...further, the rotation limits time cows can overgraze brush.

Like I said before.....manage the cow to push the habitat in a desired direction by controlling her space and time. If one has 'working lands'....then use them for that and cash flow to boot!

 

[dipper]

A lot of great points Doug, I never thought about the cattle's digestive system producing inoculants.

One of the slick tricks farmers pull around here is removing a landowners fallow cool season grass field and feeding it to their cattle. Talk about a great deal, pay next to nothing for this grass, feed it to your cattle, and have it pooped out on your land.
Who's the winner? Ignorance is a COSTLY bliss. I hope a lot of the guys who rent their fields out think about these things, a lot of people being ripped off.

 

[Doug Galloway]

Having cattle graze....or should I say browse in wooded areas is a abuse. Cattle will destroy anything native within their reach. I've hunted many locations in the Midwest were cattle are routinely kept in wood lots. It is an invasive breeding ground. All the native plants are destroyed and plants like multi floral rose thrive. Not good

I'm referring to cattle grazing on out fields and plots. If we are strictly cover cropping...which we as food plotters basically are. What is the difference between the cattle eating it and the crop just being cut down and left?

You are a persistent bunch!

Invasive plants are an indicator of an optimum plant dominance problem....think about it for a while!

Cattle don't abuse the land......the abuse is the responsibility of the cattle manager (management or lack thereof). We create our own current issues (either good or bad) through past management (either good or bad).

This is a people/education/goal problem not a livestock problem!

"What is the difference between the cattle eating it and the crop just being cut down and left?"

Biology and the interconnectedness of biological cycles....common sense but rather high order ecosystem function!

The cow is a 'biological connector' between the soil biology, plant biology, insect biology, animal biology, human biology etc.

When you bring cattle onto an acre they also bring their 'luggage'. This luggage is a 'biological suite of organisms' unique to the animal impact of the grazing cow. Without the cow, there are some beneficial insects which won't be present!

I will try to illustrate this.

A couple of weeks ago in the burn units, I noticed a cow pie within the timbered buffer zone of a burn unit. The cow pie was as intact as the day it was dropped, albeit weathered gray. Cattle have not been in the native units since March 2013....so safe to say the cow pie was at least a year old. Cow pies in our tame pastures typically have half lives of weeks before being consumed by the biology. Why was the cow pie so old and intact in the timbered buffer? because the innate biological community of a forest is inept at recycling manure loads. But, as animal impact is introduced to these native range units over time....the 'biological luggage' of the cow will shift the decay cycle toward faster nutrient turnover....ie higher quality native plants for wildlife and future cattle grazings. "Patch burn grazing" will be the tool we use in the native units starting next year. If you want higher native quality forage on low fertility soil without fertilizer, then you need to manage in a way which cycles OM/nutrients at a faster rate.

 

[Doug Galloway]

Not pasture but we plant winter wheat in the fall, graze cattle on it after hunting season, take them off in the spring to let it head out, mow and bail it right before dove season, repeat next yr. We plant whole wheat seed (instead of seed wheat) as it is cheaper and grows just as well, seed production isn't a priority. The cattle get green pasture during hard times which reduces the feed bill a little, deer love the stuff all winter, we have great dove hunts on it, and it provides some bails of straw/hay (it usually has quite a bit of grass in it by the time we bail it) that help feed the cattle later on. I'm starting to mix some clovers and brassicas into the mix just for variety and better nutritional value.

This is a great example of using 'working lands' for dual purpose.

IME.....when you take off hay, then put down 60 units of K2O (100 lbs potash per ac) right after cutting.....haying really takes a toll on that element over time and it isn't easy to build that element when depleted!

Our version of the Knox mix for pastures is lbs/ac: rye (wheat or triticale) 50-70, oats 10-15, AWP 10-20, hairy vetch 2-3, tillage radish 2-3 in large box....white clover 1, red clover 1, arrowleaf clover 1, crimson 1, alfalfa (or berseem) 1, PTT(or rape) 1 in small box.....drill into 4-6" sod while you have good moisture in Sept or Oct...monitor after first frost, late winter, and during spring.....if you have a seed which isn't working over several years then cull that dude and try something else.

There are many other options to doing this...no rules...no holds barred...observe and learn! I have more ideas than time!

 

[sandbur]

Near my home, The USFWS brought in cattle and had them in the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge last summer.

Talk about shocked to drive by a national refuge and see cows running around inside the perimeter!

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2013/08/03/environment/sherburne-refuge-herefords-help-with-upkeep

There has been lots of discussion in our state about cattle on these federal and now on state management lands. We need to be careful that the primary purpose of the land remains wildlife and not just grazing. I have mixed feelings. ( One of my clients in the article,.)

 

[Doug Galloway]

I can't open that link....404 error

But....some western states are pushing for takeover of BLM lands...very big catalyst type issue right now.....here, there are ACOE lands which could be grazed for the benefit of both livestock and wildlife.....it will just take a create mind in the right position to see that through!
https://www.google.com/#q=state+takeover+of+blm+lands