“Don’t Wait….part ll”
by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist
Spring is here—finally. However, many ranchers in the western regions have not received adequate winter and spring precipitation to sustain normal grazing pressure throughout the coming summer grazing season.
In addition to their substantial financial investment, ranchers have an emotional investment in their range lands as well. This is to be expected; their range resource is the source of their livelihood, the primary source of nutrients for their cow herd, and is likely to have been in their family’s possession for generations. Unfortunately, like anything else to which we become emotionally attached, this emotional attachment handicaps us from making completely objective decisions regarding the disposition of this precious asset.
An effective drought management plan is made up of a combination of objective measures of precipitation and forage growth with critical trigger dates when decisive action must be made with respect to grazing pressure in the interest of long-term preservation of range productivity. The objective measures help overcome some of the emotional attachment, and the critical trigger dates have been previously set based on knowledge of the stages of plant growth and the plants’ need for regeneration.
The critical dates will vary based on your geography, but one example of a simple set of sequential, “if-then” guidelines for ranchers in northeast Kansas may be as follows:
- April 1: IF < 15% of average annual moisture (measured from November 1 through April 1)
has been received,
THEN prescribed burns are cancelled.
- June 30: IF < 80% of average annual moisture has been received,
THEN decrease stocking rate by 30%. Removing calves from cows and the range will
reduce grazing pressure by approximately 30%.
IF < 60% of average annual moisture has been received,
THEN decrease stocking rate by 40% (both early weaning and additional light culling of
the cow herd).
- September 1: IF < 70% of average July-August moisture has been received,
THEN remove all cattle from the pastures. Adequate leaf are between August 15 and
the first killing frost is critical for root carbohydrate restoration; continued grazing
will harm next spring’s new grass growth, regardless of future precipitation.
- November 1: IF < 80% of average annual precipitation has been received (measured from
November 1 – October 31, considered the “water-year”, and moisture received
during this period is indicative of forage productivity),
THEN drought conditions will likely persist into the following spring and herd
reductions should be anticipated.
Any adjustments to stocking density, including early weaning and herd culling, also must take into account changes to “normal” marketing. Producers may choose to feed calves to a more conventional weight to recapture reduced gross revenue.
These adjustments are not implemented lightly, but building a sound, scientific range management plan, and rigorously adhering to the trigger dates will yield long-range benefits. Protect your most valuable asset; keep your eyes way out in front and you will ultimately be rewarded.
