March 26, 2003

LINCOLN, Neb. — Some pastures are in such bad shape that they shouldn't be grazed this summer, University of Nebraska rangeland and forage specialists say. On others, careful grazing management will be critical.

Prolonged drought throughout Nebraska and excessive livestock grazing in 2001 and 2002 stressed and weakened grazing plants and root systems, making the most severely damaged pastures unusable, said Bruce Anderson, University of Nebraska forage specialist. Pastures in the Panhandle and southwest Nebraska generally are in the worst shape.

"It will take time and favorable growing conditions for these plants to recover to their normal production capabilities," the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources specialist said. "Even if we receive normal precipitation and growing conditions this year, we still should expect production capabilities of grazing lands in eastern Nebraska to be around 25 percent lower than normal."

In much of western Nebraska, spring green-up will be delayed and total annual forage production will be 20 to 50 percent below average, said Pat Reece, rangeland ecologist at NU's Panhandle Research and Extension Center at Scottsbluff.

It may be most cost effective to defer grazing severely damaged pastures until after a killing frost in the fall or waiting until summer 2004, Reece said.

"Given the current conditions and the lag in recovery of rangeland after the drought breaks, unusually large amounts of feed or forage will have to be purchased or produced in our region to avoid severely overgrazing most of the rangeland if cow numbers are not dramatically reduced," Reece said.

Replacement feed may include grain, harvested forages and annual forage crops planted this year specifically for the purpose of reducing pressure on existing grazing lands. These may include oats, turnips, Italian rye grass, sudan grass, forage sorghums and forage millets.

Stocking rate reductions in the Nebraska Panhandle and adjoining regions should include delaying the use of summer pasture until June 15 on Sandhills rangeland or until June 1 on other kinds of rangeland, Reece said.

"Not only will reducing stocking rates protect forages, but individual animal performance will be maintained," Anderson added.

Even with average precipitation, reduced plant cover and bare ground reduces precipitation's effectiveness during and after drought, Reece said.

"An inadequate amount of standing plant cover will create drought-like conditions in years with average precipitation because of runoff and evaporation losses," he said. "Hundreds of thousands of acres of rangeland in our region do not have enough plant cover to optimize the infiltration of rain water, and continued drought through the summer will cause long-term damage to rangeland resources."

Overgrazing accelerates the deterioration of the range. Reducing the number of cattle per acre or the amount of time they graze are among the adjustments producers can make to preserve grazing land productivity.

"Delay turning animals onto pastures at least a couple extra weeks this year to allow some recovery of the root systems before grazing stress occurs," Anderson said.

For more information on grazing management consult these NU Cooperative Extension publications: EC158, Integrating Management Objectives and Grazing Strategies on Semi-arid Rangeland, and EC123, Drought Management on Range and Pastureland. Both are available at local Cooperative Extension offices.

3/26/03-KH

Bruce Anderson - Ph.D
Agronomy
Professor
(402) 472-6237

Patrick E. Reece - Ph.D.
Agronomy and Horticulture
Professor
(308) 632-1242

Sandi Alswager Karstens
IANR News and Photography
(402) 472-3030

Department: Agronomy & Horticulture