Recent trends in livestock grazing have led to increased use of higher stocking densities, shorter grazing periods, and greater focus on recovery length, culminating in the practice of “mob grazing† with stocking densities of 225,000 kg per ha or more and daily movement of livestock through multiple paddocks. Proponents of the practice claim increased plant production, soil development, and nutrient cycling rates because of the spatial uniformity of intensive trampling resulting from ultrahigh stocking densities. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of grazing method on litter decomposition rates on subirrigated meadows in the Nebraska Sandhills. The study was conducted in 2012 and 2013 and grazing methods included two replications of mob grazing (224,170 kg/ha), 4-pasture rotation (6,725 kg/ha in 2012 and 4,483 kg/ha in 2013), and an ungrazed control. Cattle grazed the treatment pastures for 60 days from early June to early August. Wire mesh bags containing 1.5 g of stem and leaf material of quackgrass  (Elymus repens L.) were placed in 4 locations per treatment replication in June and July. The bags were placed on the mineral soil surface, either in grazing exclosures to determine long-term grazing effects or in a mob-grazed paddock the day after a grazing event to determine post grazing effects.  Four samples were retrieved per treatment replication after 1 week, 1 month, 2 months, the end of the growing season (November), and the beginning of next year's grazing season (May). Samples were dried and weighed to determine plant biomass loss, calculate decomposition rates, and analyzed for nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) content. Treatment comparisons of decomposition rates, N content, and C content will be presented.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.