by Keith Harmoney, Range Scientist, Hays
Shortgrass rangelands at the Kansas State University Agricultural Research Center–Hays near Hays, KS, have been used for grazing research since the 1940s. Various studies during this period have monitored different aspects of rangeland plant composition, forage production, and grazing animal weight gains, and in many years all three. For studies with similar stocking rates, rangeland production was compared with annual precipitation or specific monthly combinaÂtions of precipitation data for 40 years to find the best relationships between the times of year precipitation is received and end of the growing season forage production. We first shared some of this data in the 2013 Roundup Report using 36 years of data. Continue reading “Relationship of Precipitation to Rangeland Forage Production”
