Project Number: 5445-21310-001-01
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 07, 2006
End Date: Jul 14, 2011

Objective:
(1) Determine if yearling cattle can be grown quickly and possibly fattened for slaughter on the northern Great Plains while obtaining most or all of their feed via grazing, (2) determine if the cost and environmental impact of wintering cows on the northern Great Plains can be reduced by grazing perennial grasses instead of feeding hay, and (3) determine if the menace of leafy spurge can be reduced by combining livestock grazing and herbicide treatment. North Dakota State University through its Hettinger Research Extension Center (HREC) will cooperate with the USDA-ARS, Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory (NGPRL; Mandan, ND) on research to accomplish these three objectives.

Approach:
Cooperative research will be conducted at the NGPRL to evaluate the hypothesis that yearling cattle can be grown quickly and possibly fattened for slaughter while meeting all or most of their nutritional needs while grazing. Cooperative research will be conducted to evaluate the hypothesis that winter grazing of Altai and (or) Russian wildrye by cows in their second and third trimester of gestation will substantially reduce the economic and environmental costs of wintering cows on the northern Great Plains compared to wintering similar cows on hay. Cooperative research will also evaluate methodologies for controlling leafy spurge that combine herbicide application and livestock grazing. Results from research trials will be integrated with comprehensive technology transfer programs directed at producers.