A grazing intensity research project was initiated in 1989. The objectives
are to determine the effect of grazing intensity on livestock performance and
profitability and its effect on the sustainability of forage production. Five
treatments are included: no grazing, light, moderate, heavy and extreme grazing.
Each treatment is replicated three times in pastures of about 30 acres each
except that the no grazing treatment consists of six 0.3-acre exclosures, placed
on both overflow and silty range sites. Livestock are not rotated between
pastures and each pasture receives the same treatment each year. We try to stock
the pastures each year so that when the cattle are removed in the fall, 65%,
50%, 35% and 20% of the forage produced in an average year is remaining on the
light, moderate, heavy and extreme treatments respectively. For the pastures we
are dealing with that means 2,148 lbs./ac., 1,693 lbs./ac., 982 lbs./ac. and 516
lbs./ac. of forage remaining on the light, moderate, heavy and extreme pastures
respectively. Table 1 presents the stocking history of the study and
figure 1
shows how much forage was remaining at the end of the grazing season each year.
Adjustments in stocking pressure are made each year based on information from
previous years to try and better match our desired grazing intensities. Changes
in the vegetation are determined by monitoring permanent plots located on silty
and overflow range sites in each pasture and the six exclosures. Table 2 gives
the average production on these range sites during each year of the study and
the total precipitation for the year.
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