In 1986, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) began to take highly erodible land out of agricultural production all across the Midwest. Farmers participating in the CRP received money from the federal government as compensation for planting fields to grass and leaving it alone for 10 years. Before the contracts expired, Nebraska researchers and farmers began to think about options for land coming out of CRP. Four CRP Demonstration sites were established in Nebraska to determine the options for use of former CRP land.
In Burt County there were big concerns for the future of CRP land. According to Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Burt County had the highest soil loss per acre of any county in Nebraska and for that reason it had over 23,000 acres of land in CRP. Motivated by a survey that showed many farmers planned to put their CRP acres back into crops, a diverse group of people from the Burt County area organized to show an alternative to crop production on land coming out of CRP. With farmers, agribusiness, NRCS, the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resource District, and University of Nebraska extension educators and specialists all collaborating, the group decided to demonstrate how CRP land could be used for grazing. By leaving the CRP land in grass, it would be productive for the farmer while reducing erosion. The proposal was chosen as one of the four CRP demonstration sites and work on the ground began in the spring of 1994.
About the same time, Burt County Extension Educator John Wilson heard about the startup of the IMPACT program. He talked it over with the already organized CRP group and they applied for IMPACT funds to allow them to do more with their demonstration project. The Tekamah CRP group was accepted as an IMPACT group and continued to meet, even after the demonstration project ended in October, 1996.
The group’s main project was the CRP Grazing Systems Demonstration that compared two grazing systems on the 70-acre site southwest of Herman. The simple grazing system (27 acres) was made up of three paddocks: one each of brome, switchgrass, and big bluestem. The more intensive system (43.9 acres) had multiple paddocks of each grass species. High-tensile steel electric fence divided the paddocks and water was provided by underground water pipes with hydrants. Fencing cost $4,745 and water lines cost $5,455. The built-up grass residue was burned off in early spring 1994, and grazing began soon afterwards.
The group had several goals at the beginning of the project. First, they wanted to demonstrate the advantages of using the land for grazing. They believed that grazing could reduce a farmer’s risk by providing income not related to commodity crop production. Grazing could also spread a farmer’s workload more evenly over the season compared to having all the land in crops. They also wanted to show that grazing the land could be profitable and stabilize cash flow, if farmers were willing to increase their level of management.
The systems were grazed differently every year as site manager Kenny Widener, in consultation with the rest of the group, fine-tuned each system to match the production of the land and the vagaries of each year’s weather. Because of a late start in 1994, the first meaningful data was gathered in 1995. Cow-calf pairs were grazed on both systems at a stocking rate of 2 acres per pair in 1995 and 2.8 acres per pair in 1996. Over the two years, the cattle were moved an average of once a week in the intensive system and every two to two-and-a-half weeks in the simple system. The results from both years showed no difference in the average daily gains between the two systems, which ranged from 2.13 to 2.24 lbs./animal/day for the calves. Through the season it was noticed that the simple system paddocks were on more productive ground than the intensive paddocks. For this reason the group thinks the intensive system actually performed better than the simple system given the differing productivity of the land.
Due to wet conditions in 1996, the group decided to take hay from several paddocks that were underutilized by the cattle. Samples revealed that the switchgrass hay harvested in the late boot to early heading stage was relatively high quality. Switchgrass and big bluestem hay harvested later in the season was lower quality, reinforcing the need to harvest at the proper growth stage.
The group also designed and conducted a legume interseeding trial at the demonstration site using lespedeza, Illinois bundleflower, red clover, berseem clover, alsike clover, birdsfoot trefoil, and alfalfa. The legumes were both frost-seeded on March 15 and drilled at the recommended rates on April 12th into both switchgrass and big bluestem stands. All legume stands were thin the first year, probably due to seedling damage by grasshoppers. The group will continue to monitor the site for long-term establishment success.
Other ongoing projects include a grass planting on a wet meadow, an attempt to interseed a switchgrass stand with a cool season grass/legume mixture, and fertilizer rate effectiveness on pasture. A mix of alfalfa/birdsfoot trefoil/brome/orchardgrass planted into switchgrass has given excellent results for grazing. Members are also pleased with various legume plantings into existing stands of switchgrass and brome. They feel the added legumes greatly improves the protein content and productivity of their pastures.
Although the group lost some its original members when the CRP demonstration officially ended in October 1996, they continue to draw farmers who are interested in grazing. One of these is Rollie Jeppesen. He joined because he had land coming out of CRP. He has tried some of the techniques demonstrated by the group and likes them. He is now planning to graze his land coming out of CRP. He has also successfully established a native grass/birdsfoot trefoil stand on a hillside where he and his father formerly grew row crops. Rollie says he doesn’t like to see soil from row-cropped fields in the creeks after rains and having grass helps him prevent that by holding the soil in place. Although his father wouldn’t graze land that had been in crops, Rollie plans to continue to expand his grazing land, especially on hillsides.
John Wilson, the Burt County Extension Educator who has assisted the group from the beginning, hopes to use the experienced group members as mentors for farmers in a nearby area targeted for funds to control water runoff. He hopes that the lessons learned by the group can be passed on so that other farmers consider grazing as a viable alternative to cropping.
Contact: Ken Widener, Herman, 402-456-7807