PROBLEMS OF GRASS AND LIVESTOCK

O. S. Aamodt

A CONDITION having a vital bearing on beef production is the long feeding period anywhere in Alaska except in some of the islands of the Aleutian Chain and a coastal band on the western side of the Kenai Peninsula. However, many areas in the interior are as suitable climatically as some of the high ranges of the Western States. There also cattle must be fed from November through to May.

The production and preservation of nutritious forage crops for winter feed would stabilize greatly the grassland program in Alaska. Weather conditions are rarely satisfactory for producing well-cured hay. Native grasses are seldom cut at the proper stage of growth for best results. They are said to be lacking in food value when mature, and become weakened in vigor when cut or grazed annually.

The rough, hummocky nature of the natural grasslands makes it difficult to mow the grasses for hay or silage. The old growth left on native grasslands hinders mowing, delays thawing, and retards new growth. Surface tillage offers possibilities for leveling hummocky grassland and for adding tame species to the native mixture. Preburning constitutes a practical means of removing old growth, lowering the frost level, and encouraging new growth, but if it is done at the wrong time it may result in a ground fire that will destroy most of the humus in the soil.

Native grasses, principally bluetop, are widely distributed in Alaska. They grow surprisingly fast and tall almost everywhere in the Territory except in the dense shade of forested areas; on extremely wet, swampy land; in the hummocky tundra covering of sedges, moss, and other plants that blankets, insulates, and holds the permanent ice layer near the surface, and in the high, rugged, and perpetually snow-covered mountains. Because most of Alaska falls in one or the other of these negative sites for grass production, extensive areas of open grassland occur only on the southwestern islands, on a part of the Kenai Peninsula, as well as on burned-over areas on the mainland. The native grasses increase rapidly and grow vigorously, however, wherever the better drained lands have their covering of trees cleared or tundra disturbed.

Bluetop, beach wild-rye, and other tall grasses are considered highly nutritious in the early stages of growth, but are reported to be seriously lacking in food value in the matured and cured stages of development. Chemical analysis of the forage collected in 1946, however, indicated that the plants compare favorably with the tall grasses of the States, except that some of the species in Alaska lack calcium and have only border-line values for phosphorus. The tall grasses of Alaska also lack the ability to recover from continuous grazing or cutting. Defects in the taller grasses are overcome somewhat by the presence of palatable legumes in many areas and by the occurrence of superior species of bunch-grasses, chiefly fescues and bluegrasses, at higher altitudes.

Many of the tame grasses and legumes are well adapted to conditions in Alaska and offer possibilities for producing nutritious forage greatly superior to the native plants. The more promising tame species include smooth bromegrass, the fescues, bluegrass, yellow-flowered alfalfa, alsike clover, mammoth red clover, sweetclover, and perennial vetch.

Very little is known about how best to establish, manage, and maintain these plants in Alaska. Most of these forage plants, like those in the States, lose much of their food value in late summer and fall.

The fescues are promising exceptions. Seed supplies of adapted strains are limiting factors for many of these species, particularly the yellow-flowered alfalfa. Different sources of seed of a given species also vary widely in production and adaptation. The possibility of developing improved strains of the better forage species by intensive plant breeding and testing so far has received scarcely any attention. Little information is available as to the proper mixture of grasses and legumes to use for pastures on various types of soil.

Hardy varieties of wheat, oats, and barley thrive and usually mature in Alaska, and are often used with vetch or peas for bundle feed, hay, or silage. However, the cost of growing and producing these annual crops for feed purposes often greatly exceeds the cost of producing perennial grasses and legumes. Furthermore, the perennials usually complete their growth during the drier part of the season and can then be harvested more readily. It is much harder to harvest the grain-pea-vetch mixtures during the rainy fall season. The grain crops also often become badly infested with weeds, because they have to be planted early and weeds cannot be properly controlled in advance.

Very few plants definitely known to be poisonous occur in Alaska, although a few stock losses, possibly from larkspur and water hemlock, were reported in the Matanuska Valley and on the Kenai Peninsula. The grasses and forage crops of Alaska appear to be comparatively free of diseases. No field bindweed was observed in the Territory; quackgrass was about the only perennial weed difficult to eradicate in cultivated fields.

Mosquitoes, moose flies, and no-see-ums menace livestock production, especially in early summer. These pests are much less troublesome on extensive wind-swept areas of cleared land or on naturally open grassland than they are near trees and shrubs. The problems of parasite infestations and diseases of livestock and poultry are not nearly so serious as in the States.

The huge brown bear hinders successful livestock production on Kodiak Island and to a lesser extent on the mainland at the high altitudes. The smaller black bear causes some trouble to livestock on the mainland. Wolves are an ever-present danger to calves and lambs on the higher and wilder ranges of the mainland, especially near Mount McKinley Park, where they are protected from hunters. Beaver that were transplanted on Kodiak Island have increased greatly. Their numerous dams have made sedge marshes of many grass-covered valleys and developed a maze of bogs that are unsuitable for cattle grazing.

Most students of agriculture in Alaska believe that farming is sure to continue and expand as a basic industry and that livestock must take a greater part in farming operations in the future if stability and success are to be achieved. While meat was the livestock product in demand in the early days, prompting the annual importation of beef animals, today the main emphasis is on dairying to supply fluid milk and on poultry to supply eggs.

Matanuska farmers are producing these two products almost to the exclusion of lamb, pork, and beef, except for slaughter of veal calves and discarded milk cows. Beef, pork, butter, cheese, and related products shipped in from the States have appeared to make local competition difficult.

The fact that grass grows abundantly in many areas south of the Arctic Circle lends assurance to the first assumption that cattle ranching could be carried on with a fair chance for success. Many chemical analysis give the lie to the charge that the native grasses of Alaska are not nutritious, that cattle would all but starve on a grass diet. Actual feeding tests from the silo and the haystack and on pasture show that native grasses have good food values comparable to similar grasses in the States.

A wide range exists in protein content of samples obtained from different localities. The contrast between the low values of samples obtained from the Fairbanks and Standard areas and the high values of those from the Circle Hot Springs and Lignite areas, sampled at about the same time, is probably a reflection of stage of maturity. In other words, the rate of development varies with the area and its climate. The phosphorus content of the material collected at Fairbanks and Standard and of samples from a few other areas, while not showing any very extreme values, does indicate borderline or probably inadequate levels to meet minimum requirements for cattle and sheep. The variations in calcium values are the most remarkable, however, because grasses in the States seldom show deficiencies in that element. Values under 0.2 percent are ordinarily considered inadequate, and in that category were the samples from Fairbanks, Standard, Hurricane, Homer, and Kodiak. The bluetop growing at Circle appeared to be the highest in calcium; it also ranked among the highest in phosphorus and protein.

Cases of rickets in calves and sheep were seen, and it appears that the better informed farmers know that fish-liver oils are effective preventives of this trouble. The occasional deficiency of calcium and phosphorus in forages makes the feeding of vitamin D especially important. No evidence of vitamin A deficiency was obtained. Certainly during the summer there is little reason to suspect it. The hay-curing methods in use, however, probably result in excessive losses in carotene content.

The foremost need in Alaska's grassland development centers around the general winter feed supply the growing, harvesting, and storing of forages. The making and storing of hay is poorly done in too many instances it is generally cut too late and becomes weathered. Mow drying and the use of small portable driers require development and study. Silage-making machinery, silos, and silage preservation all need attention, along with choice of crops to be used. Much use has been made of a mixture of oats, field peas, and vetch as a hay and silage crop.

It is desirable to explore other crops, both annuals and perennials. A beginning has been made in tests of varieties of small grains, peas, and other annuals; also of perennial grasses and legumes. More extensive test plantings of bromegrass, timothy, bluegrasses, fescues, clovers, alfalfas, and vetch are needed for use in summer grazing, hay, and silage experiments. Increased yields as well as increased feeding values should be sought in such studies. Few or no grazing tests have been made.