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PLANT AND PLANT COMMUNITY RESPONSES TO THE TIMING, FREQUENCY, INTENSITY, AND DISTRIBUTION OF GRAZING.
Author
Schacht, Walter
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2016
Body

Grazing strategy design and follow-up management decisions generally are based on timing, frequency, and intensity of grazing and related plant and plant community responses. On private rangelands, high beef prices, increased grazingland values, and less grazingland because of grassland conversion to cropland are driving demands for increased harvest efficiency of forage plants on range and pasture. These drivers along with associated government programs (e.g., Environmental Quality Incentives Program) lead to more management-intensive practices, including fencing and water development and smaller pasture size, with the objective of improving grazing distribution and harvest efficiency. With this, there is further sophistication of grazing strategies used by practitioners to achieve their more demanding objectives by integrating timing, frequency, and intensity of grazing. Matching length of grazing period with season of grazing and changing stocking density by plant stage of growth and ecological site are examples of strategies used by ranchers to most efficiently achieve their objectives. Research at UNL's Barta Brothers Ranch and surrounding private ranches has shown that properly-timed short grazing periods improve grazing distribution and that timing of implementation of ultrahigh stocking densities relative to plant stage of growth significantly affects harvest efficiency. Long-term, plant community response to management-intensive grazing strategies on diverse grazinglands has not been closely documented although plant communities appear to be either unaffected or simplified depending on the spatial and temporal distribution of grazing practices. The improved grazing distribution and harvest efficiency also are hypothesized to increase rate and efficiency of nutrient cycling on grazinglands. We are mid-term in modeling the litter and dung-soil continuum on grazinglands managed at different intensity levels. Nutrient cycling responses to grazing practices are critical in driving the long-term response of grazingland plant communities to management.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Corpus Christi, TX
Collection
SRM Annual Meeting Abstracts