Integrating Crop and Livestock Systems with Forages in the Great Plains

Dickinson Research Extension Center Personnel:

Principal Investigators:
Dr. Patrick Carr
Dr. Chip Poland

Supporting personnel:
Mr. Lee Tisor

Economic reality suggests that new production and marketing methods are needed for annual grain and seed crops to be grown profitably in the Great Plains. A few producers have developed cereal forage systems. Preliminary data suggest that cereal forage systems may generate greater returns per acre than grain- and seed-based cropping systems.

Objectives:

1) Determine if barley forage yield and quality are superior to other cool-season, annual crops and crop combinations.

2) Develop methods for the successful establishment, maintenance, and termination of annual, biennial, and perennial forage-legume species.

3) Develop forage-based cropping systems that are environmentally and economically superior to conventional grain-based cropping systems.

This project includes the first experiments where forage-based cropping systems with grazed legume pastures are studied in North Dakota. Adaptation experiments are underway to identify legume species with the greatest potential for grazing. Once these species are identified, forage-based cropping systems will be compared in 2.5 acre plots beginning in 2002. These systems will be compared agronomically and economically with cropping systems that exclude forage crops. The cropping systems(s) generating the highest net returns will be determined. Results of these experiments will generate data on the agronomic and economic potential that forage-based cropping systems, patterned after Australian and Argentinean models, have in the Great Plains.

Contact the principal investigators for further information on the study.

This research is being supported by grants from both USDA-CSREES and NCR-SARE (subcontract # 25-6205-0030-D)