By Janelle Atyeo
For South Dakota Soil Health Coalition

PIERRE, SD – Will there be enough forage for the herd? When will it rain?

Agriculture producers are often called upon to make decisions without having all the necessary information. Weather is hard to predict by more than a few days, so producers need to have plans in place for several different potential scenarios.

With much of South Dakota still experiencing drought conditions, it’s a good idea for cattle producers to map out a long-term plan to steer their herd through the summer grazing season while staying flexible to changing conditions on the landscape.

“It’s really all about keeping your forage supply and your forage demand in balance,” said Kaylee Wheeler, range management field specialist for South Dakota State University Extension based in Winner.

Extended dry conditions have hurt pasture growth across the state, making it important for producers to manage grazing closely and have a flexible plan with certain trigger dates to implement it.

Most parts of South Dakota saw less than half of their normal precipitation between October and April. Fall rains that pastures need to recover from the grazing season never came, and winter snow cover was scarce, further contributing to dry soils.

“We consider every year is going to be a drought year,” said Jim Faulstich. “It’s a fact of life.”

At his Daybreak Ranch near Highmore in central South Dakota, he saw the worst of it in 1976.

Since that major drought and the tough decisions that came with it nearly 50 years ago, his operation has relied on extensive plans to manage grazing. They take stock of pasture conditions and the long-range precipitation outlook while keeping an eye on factors off the ranch that might impact availability of forage and the price of cattle.

Just before May 1, Faulstich was getting ready to send his last group of cattle, his yearlings, to pasture. Those yearlings allow flexibility in his grazing plan. This year, an early April snow and late April rain helped pastures green up a bit. On the driest years when forage is scarce, yearlings won’t go to pasture.

“We have in mind that we can send those down the road or dry lot them to not overgraze our resources,” Faulstich said.

High cattle prices make this a good time to get rid of cows with problems such as bad feet, bad bags or a poor disposition, Wheeler said. Producers could also consider weaning early, which cuts a cow’s nutrition requirements by 30%, according to the range specialist.

“Just by stopping her lactation, you can save a lot of grazing days,” she said.

Overgrazing can hurt production in subsequent years. Cattle don’t just mow down the green blades of grass as they munch. Without leaves, a plant needs to pull energy from its root stores to regrow. A smaller root biomass loses its ability to hold the soil together, take in water and exchange nutrients, Wheeler said.

A healthy pasture needs plant material to shade the soil from extreme temperatures and shield it from wind and water erosion. Keeping the soil covered and maintaining a living root are some of the core principles of good soil health.

“Soil health and grass production goes hand in hand,” said Faulstich, who serves as vice chairman of the South Dakota Grassland Coalition.

Managing for a diversity of plants is another principle of soil health. Faulstich targets grazing to encourage growth of deep-rooted native species. A mix of species will have plants ready for grazing at different points in the season, giving livestock access to nutritious, green forage through the grazing season. A pasture dominated by just crested wheat grass or smooth brome grass, on the other hand, will mature quickly. Those introduced cool season grasses are the first to turn brown in the summer.

“You’re really limited nutritionally if that’s all that you have there,” Wheeler said.

Rest and recovery are also important aspects of grazing management. An ideal year at Daybreak Ranch will have cattle on an 80-acre pasture for three to five days of grazing, then the grass will rest for 365 days.

“We try not to graze a pasture more than once a year,” Faulstich said.

Drought makes it harder for pastures to recover from grazing. In sandy soils, it can take three years or more for a pasture to recover from overgrazing, Wheeler said. Be careful not to take too much forage and not to graze before the grass is ready, she said. Producers can track growth in their area with South Dakota Mesonet’s Growing Degree Day tool.

Another resource for monitoring range conditions in South Dakota and creating a grazing plan is available at the Natural Resources Conservation Service Range & Pasture website: www.nrcs.usda.gov/conservation-by-state/south-dakota/range-pasture.

Producers might also find resources in their neighbors. The South Dakota Soil Health Coalition maintains the South Dakota Grazing Exchange at sdgrazingexchange.com. Producers with pastures, cover crops or crop residue to graze can connect with livestock producers looking for forage.

Especially in times of drought, working out a grazing plan far in advance can lighten some of the mental load in decision making.

“It’s so much easier to make decisions now while you still have options than to wait and be forced into a decision that you didn’t want to do,” Wheeler said.

“Much of South Dakota still has below-normal soil moisture levels, and we can’t predict how much rain we’ll get this season. Having a plan for dry conditions in place now can relieve stress and make it easy to make good decisions for our land and our operations when the time is right,” South Dakota Soil Health Coalition Executive Director Cindy Zenk said. “If we base that plan on regenerative grazing practices, we can maximize our available forage while protecting our grasslands and improving our soil.”

For more information about regenerative range management, visit www.sdsoilhealthcoalition.org.

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