In ranching, there are no easy buttons — certainly none exist to achieve overall profitability — but there may be one factor that can come close.
Adaptive grazing practices on ranch, which means using forage observations to determine the best time to move cattle, can be a key that unlocks higher productivity.
“Adaptive grazing to accomplish better grazing distribution across the ranch will almost always result in higher plant productivity, higher carrying capacity and higher profits,” says Josh Gaskamp, associate director of outreach and partnerships for Noble Research Institute.
Gaskamp has seen the practice in action on Noble’s ranches.
“On Noble’s ranches, bare ground averaged 13% in 2019 and is close to zero now,” he says. “We got 13% of a ranch for free, and now it is productive for our livestock.”
He adds: “It’s not always about finding the best forage, the best livestock or the best market; management for soil health does pay.”
Gaskamp says healthy soils can boost bottom-line productivity and profitability. He encourages producers to consider these tips and how some simple moves can translate to cost benefits on the ranch:
1. More Grass = More Cows + Less Feed Cost
Overgrazing, either through continuous grazing or not achieving full pasture recovery between grazing events, can limit a plant’s ability to grow.
“The ultimate result is less grass,” Gaskamp says. “When a rancher more closely follows the full potential of their forages’ growth across the growing season by implementing timely, intentional grazing, they not only put more of that grass in the cow, but they also grow more grass.”
It’s not hard to follow the direct line between more grass and more cows.
“Growing more grass means improving the carrying capacity of the ranch, and that means more money,” he says.
The significant savings, according to Gaskamp, comes in avoiding substitution feeding costs — feeding hay in times of the year when forage would normally be available. Improving your pastures’ ability to grow grass limits the amount of feed you purchase out of pocket.
2. More Ground = More Cows + Less Maintenance
Better-performing forage can be the key to gaining more “ground” on a ranch, but making the most of marginalized areas can boost productivity as well.
Certainly there are areas where cattle simply don’t want to be. Gaskamp says that adaptive grazing can be the investment those areas need to flip them to optimization.
“Underperforming areas of the ranch can often be improved by bringing livestock, nutrients, organic matter and proper recovery times to them,” he says.
Two ways to attract cattle to marginalized areas on ranch are:
- Planting cover crops to graze
- Bale grazing
“When followed by appropriate rest and recovery, these hotspots of organic matter and animal density are revitalized,” Gaskamp says.
3. More Diversity = More Cows + More Biodiversity
There are a variety of benefits to having diversity in forage.
“Diversity provides resilience to weather and climate extremes (with more days having living roots in the soil), and when cover crops are developed to complement available forages on the ranch, they drastically extend the number of grazing days,” Gaskamp says.
Many ranchers capitalize on diversity by implementing cover crops, especially in marginalized lands or in diversified operations. Pragmatically, cover crops can cover a lot of ground, including:
- Keep supplementation costs down by extending grazing.
- Break up compacted soil.
- Finish livestock on high quality forages for human consumption.
- Provide a supplemental forage that has good quality when other plans are dormant.
- Provide habitat for wildlife.
4. More Investment = More Opportunity
While the goal is to use soil health as a profit-generating strategy in and of itself on-ranch, there are opportunities to cash in on healthy soils that can present additional opportunity to enhance the bottom line.
“There are a number of established ecosystem services and carbon markets that can help ranchers capture value from the improvements they make to the land under their management for soil health,” Gaskamp says. “These provide an opportunity for ranchers within the right context.”
These opportunities may not work for all, and Gaskamp recommends that you do your homework to find the right partner, but he considers them “icing on the cake” for the proper soil health investments.
Farm Journal’s Trust In Beef™ and Noble Research Institute partner to share information about how investing in your soil health can build profitability and legacy on your ranch. Visit www.TrustInBeef.com or www.Noble.org for additional resources or to tap into Noble’s education opportunities on this topic and others.
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