PLANNING RANGE CONSERVATION

W. T. White, W. R. Frandsen, C. V. Jensen

SUCCESSFUL ranchers have found by experience that the solution to grazing problems rests upon their adherence to four principles:

1. The prompt adjustment of livestock numbers to available forage supply.

2. The adjustment by seasons of the grazing use of each unit or pasture to meet the growth requirements of the main forage plants.

3. The proper location of fences, stock-water facilities, and salt to insure even grazing of each pasture or unit.

4. Keeping the kind of stock that will graze most economically the kind of forage found on the ranch.

The ranchers give several reasons why this is true :

1: The profits of planned conservation show up in increased and sustained forage yields, better calf and lamb crops, higher weights of market animals, and enhanced security against drought and other seasonal variations.

2. Grasses and other forage plants, effective protectors of the soil, are easily damaged by too close grazing, spotted grazing, and grazing too early in the spring. Even under normal or favorable conditions, grazing plans should be flexible enough to allow adjustments in time.

3. Grassland on the ranch must be used in relation to other lands that produce feed and forage crops for livestock. The rancher or farmer has to raise or purchase sufficient feed to meet his livestock requirements during those periods when forage is unavailable, improve the quality of farm-grown feeds, and produce feeds that will retain their palatability well into the winter and early spring. If he does not do so, he will have to hold his livestock on Pasture or range too long in the fall or turn them out too soon in the spring. The result is bound to be injury to both forage and soils.

An inventory will help the farmer or rancher make practical plans. Several points are involved :

1. The first step is to record briefly on a map the location, area, and condition of the range and pasture lands; acres of cropland; kind and amount of forage and feed available by fields; and number and kind of livestock.

2. An analysis of the facts in the inventory will aid in deciding on the remedies needed to improve poor grazing land, designing of sound land-use practices for all the ranch, and determining an orderly sequence of applying the practices needed.

3. The next step is to provide in the plan for yearly or seasonal observations of the effect of the planned practices as a basis for determining the adjustments needed to meet current conditions of climatic economics.

4. Conservation planning for grasslands is facilitated by mapping the condition of each acre of grazing land on the ranch.

This classification of grasslands, with the associated facts, permits the rancher to understand the nature and cause of undergrazing and of the overgrazing of certain sites, and gives a basis for determining what needs to be done to restore poor grassland conditions and the degree and rate of improvement that can be expected.

One system classifies grasslands as "excellent" when they produce practically as much forage as they are capable of producing under the climatic conditions that normally prevail. Lands now producing less than their maximum under conservative use are placed in lower classes "good" if they produce three-fourths or more of their potential; "fair" if production is one-half to three-fourths of full production; "poor" if it is one-fourth to one-half; and "very poor" if it is less than one-fourth of the production possible when the land has been restored. Grassland classed as "fair" means that the systematic application of sound grazing practices will about double its annual yield. Grassland classed as "poor" can be made to carry four times as many stock if it is put under the best management.

5. The inventory also provides information on the amount of forage available for use in terms of the number of livestock and the season when it may be grazed for greatest returns without injury to the best forage plants. Other factors affecting forage production and range and pasture use are also recorded: Periods of plant growth, which are closely related to the periods in which plants can be grazed without injury; possibilities for the subdivision of the grazing area into better management units; and possibilities for improved deferred-rotational grazing use. The adequacy and location of existing water supplies, the possibilities of additional water development, and sites in need of reseeding are especially important recorded facts.

The map can show the boundaries of each condition, class, or site and the location of lands suitable for cultivation and those that should be kept in grass or trees. The selection of croplands and crops is based on the character of the soil, slope, erosion conditions, fertility, and related factors. The cropping history of each field is useful as a guide in future planning.

It is important to know whether sufficient forage and feed supplies can safely be grown on the ranch for feeding the planned numbers of livestock. When such supplies are inadequate, the plan outlines the steps necessary to develop additional forage and feed resources, or to change the grazing use by adjustment in livestock numbers in order to balance the forage supply and livestock feed requirements.

The amount of green forage and other feeds needed annually and seasonally is influenced by the type of livestock operation and the number of animals that must be raised to furnish a satisfactory income. The type of livestock, in turn, bears on the time the animals are kept before marketing. For example, the sale of cattle as yearlings rather than two-year-olds markedly reduces the annual feed needs.

6. To determine the adequacy of forage and feed supplies, a simple list is made of the number of each kind and class of livestock kept on the ranch and the feeds customarily grown or purchased. The grazing capacity of each pasture is estimated in terms of animal-units that can be supported safely each season.

Similarly, the current field-by-field production of cultivated forage crops and supplemental pastures and the season in which such crops and pasturage become available are analyzed.

Both the available and required feeds are calculated in terms of animal-unit-months (that is, the amount required to feed one cow or 5 ewes one month). Commonly recognized feed equivalents are used to convert tons of hay, bushels of grain, et cetera, to animal-unit-months of feeding value.

Though the number of livestock is governed chiefly by the total forage and feed resources available, the stocking of any individual pasture may depend entirely on the seasonal availability of the forage. Climate, elevation, condition of the range, kind of forage, and availability of water are some of the factors to be considered. Growth requirements of the plants themselves are important: Some forage plants require more sustained top growth for full production than do other plants; some will stand close grazing near the end of the growing season without injury. For example, other things being equal, stoloniferous grasses can be grazed more closely in the fall than the bunch grasses.

When the seasons of use of grazing units and the seasonal availability of feeds from croplands have been settled, a tentative distribution is made of the grazing and feeding yields for all lands of the ranch. A sketch map of the ranch shows the approximate location,size, and yield in animal-unit-months of the various fields and pastures. The estimated seasonal yields of the grazing lands and cropland are compared with the seasonal feed requirements of the livestock. Such a comparison provides information for determining initial adjustments of land use, livestock numbers, and grazing practices needed to obtain full use of grazing land and cropland without overuse, and to avoid the hazardous seasonal depletion of feed and forage supplies.