Grazin' Days Workshops Bring the Benefits of Rotational Grazing to Iowa Farmers

Throughout the summer across Iowa, farmers are learning how to effectively manage rotational grazing systems at a series of workshops called Grazin’ Days – A Pasture Management Workshop. While 15 years ago, few Iowa farmers knew much about grazing and forage management, today’s producers are actively engaged in farm visits and workshops where they exchange ideas on managing forage heights, controlling weeds and brush, and learning how to conduct Pasture Condition Scoring. Eighty people have participated in the workshops so far this summer and several more are scheduled to be conducted prior to fall.

Steve Barnhart, Iowa State University Forage Agronomist, explains how to use a floating disc to estimate available forage at a grazing clinic sponsored by the Southern Iowa Forage and Livestock Committee. SARE image.

“In 1990 Iowa farmers knew very little about rotational grazing,” said Brian Petersen, former Adams County District Conservationist who is now Iowa NRCS State Grassland Conservationist. “Landowners have become more interested and aware of rotational grazing. They see more benefits and now have more acceptance of the system.”

That spike in interest and awareness is due in large part to a concerted endeavor by the Southern Iowa Forage and Livestock Committee (SIFLC), a cooperative effort among NRCS, Cooperative Extension, farmers, business people, the Farm Service Agency and Rural Economic and Community Development, and a series of back-to-back SARE grants—one for research and education, and one for professional development.

Much of the content of the summer Grazin’ Days workshops evolved from the SARE-funded research. In the first project, The Adams Country CRP Research Demonstration Project, the SIFLC team converted 200 acres of an Adams County, Iowa, crop farm in 1996 to demonstrate grazing systems with beef cattle as an ecological alternative on highly erodible, marginal land. With many acres of highly sensitive lands enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), many agricultural professionals were concerned that land would return to unsustainable row crop production when contracts were due to expire beginning in 2007.

The demonstration and research trial used three different grazing systems utilizing contour lane systems, high powered New Zealand style electric fence, and several types of watering systems. With its predominantly glacial till and paleosol derived soils, and slopes of 9-14 percent, the Adams County farm contains highly erodible, marginal land, which in Southern Iowa, is often enrolled in CRP, or used as pasture.

1)       Russ Bredahl, retired ISU Area Livestock Specialist, recording weights and condition scoring beef cows at the Adams County CRP Farm. SARE image.

Researchers designed three different grazing systems using beef cows in a four- or 13- paddock system, and stocker steers in an 18-paddock system. They calculated returns based on livestock weight gain and hay production and factored in all system costs including fencing, weeding, watering, and forage improvement. Among their findings: no herbicides were needed in the dense forage, and weed management costs ranged around $3 an acres using hand control, versus $13 an acre with herbicides. Eliminating the herbicides also allowed for legumes to be maintained in the mixture.

“We see that cool season and warm season grasses can be combined in a stand, which lengthens the grazing season on these paddocks and provides good cover during nesting season for birds,” said Peterson.

Outreach was a large component of the Adams County Demonstration Project, and in 2000, the SIFLC received another SARE grant, Technology Transfer of Grazing System Components to Producers Implementing Sustainable Rotational Grazing Systems, to focus on outreach and hands-on education. Over the course of three years, project leaders conducted workshops on fence installations, water distribution systems, incorporating warm season native grasses, managing legumes in a grass-based forage system using a no-till drill, and hands-on demonstrations on establishing stream crossings. Over 800 students, farmers and other agricultural professionals attended those events.

With two years left in most of the CRP contracts, it’s still too early to know what percentage of farmers will put their land back into row crops versus how many farmers will convert to grazing systems, when the contracts expire. However, in 2003 and 2004, when large amounts of EQIP money were available in Iowa, 773 Environmental Quality Incentives Program contracts across 77 counties included “Prescribed Grazing” as a management practice. While the Adams County Project leaders can’t take sole credit, they created awareness and raised the level of knowledge among agency staff and producers throughout Iowa, explained Peterson.

“Before this project, producers didn’t have a place to go to see the new technology in action and hear someone talk about their experience,” said Peterson. “Without the Adams County Project I have no doubt the number of grazing systems approved in EQIP would have been much smaller,” he said.