Springtime on-ranch can be a make-or-break time for the entire growing season, especially when pastures come out of dormancy and animals emerge from their low winter energy levels. This is especially true for regenerative ranches.
Putting your herd out on dormant pastures or pastures with depleted resources can negatively impact both herd health — leading to decreased body condition and overall health — and pasture health. Both of these eventualities can cause stress that lingers throughout the entire growing season.
We tapped the expertise of Travis Jones, regenerative ranching adviser for Noble Research Institute, for the top tactics his team recommends to start your high-impact grazing season off in a way that helps you finish with strong productivity, animal health and profitability.
Master the Art of Spring Monitoring
For Jones, this is the time for graziers to open their eyes.
“Spring is usually the time when grazing land producers start to monitor perennial forage growth and forage vitality coming out of dormancy,” he says.
That means it is the perfect time to evaluate past management decisions and determine what has benefited a ranch’s overall goals and objectives and what has caused challenges.
A good monitoring plan is a safe place to start, Jones says. Each spring, he encourages ranchers to get out in pastures to get eyes on the following:
- Grazing enclosures
- Watering systems
- Photo points
- Soil health systems
- Grazing patterns and rotational grazing systems
But monitoring shouldn’t be limited to infrastructure; observing and tracking forage is also critical.
Jones recommends keeping diligent data around the following forage observations:
- Plant health and vigor
- Winter precipitation
- Plant species
- Plant growth phase
“These are all factors that help producers stay adaptive in their management,” he says. “Current data is a must for making good grazing decisions.”
From Data Points to Pasture Profits
If the data collected during spring monitoring doesn’t give you hope for the growing season, Jones says that forage additions can be a way to course-correct for the future.
“Overall, ranch productivity can increase with a bump in forage production and quality,” he says. “Often, producers can sustain livestock production with forage additions rather than feeding hay.”
While every ranch’s unique ecosystem drives which forage additions are needed, Jones says that vibrant native systems should have multiple species of plants representing all forage groups, including:
- Woody
- Legume
- Warm-season annual grasses
- Cool-season perennial grasses
Depending on a ranch’s goals and context, interseeding a primary warm-season perennial pasture with a legume or cool-season grass can not only boost forage quality for an introduced system but also extend grazing from fall into early spring, giving a marketable advantage over others.
“For animal health, having high-quality forage after the winter months when animal energy consumption may be higher can help increase body condition and overall health,” Jones says. “Often, this early spring growth is good for building condition in bred livestock expected to give birth during the spring months.
“The more options you have regarding forage quality and availability, the more you can take advantage of opportunities in market and seasonal weather dynamics,” he adds.
High plant biodiversity contributes to overall soil health, which can enhance the resilience of pastures, giving them the power to withstand drought conditions.
Step-by-Step Tactics for Forage Enhancement
For forage additions to work in the spring, Jones says that fall planning is critical. Following these steps can help you choose the correct spring forage addition for your ecosystem, environment and ranch goals.
- Test the soil — Using a traditional soil test can ensure that you have the correct soil chemistry to make your forage additions work. “Seed germination can be highly dependent on soil pH; if your pH isn’t right, you might not get the forage intended,” Jones says.
- Choose a trusted seed mix — Knowing the makeup of your soil can help you choose a seed mix that works for your soil type and management style.
- Start small — Investing in forage additions on your most at-risk pastures is a good way to start a forage enhancement program in a way that is cost-effective and will have maximum impact on your overall grazing plan. Additionally, at-risk pastures can often benefit from investments in soil health that forage enhancements provide.
Whatever spring changes you make to your pastures must be part of your holistic management strategy, Jones says.
“New ideas and plans should be documented and discussed for how they will impact overall ranch goals and mission,” he explains. “The beauty in capturing this data is that it establishes a baseline for future decisions.
“In our education courses, we advise ranchers to prioritize capturing data that will help make future management decisions,” he adds.
Noble Research Institute provides education resources and courses that can help regenerative ranchers capture productivity, profitability and stewardship on ranches throughout the U.S.
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