Forage is one of the limiting factors for producers.  That’s why we’ve traditionally been so concerned when weedy species began appearing in and taking over pastures and rangelands.  Today, weedy species and plants we don’t typically think of as forage make up about a third of our pastures.  One researcher I asked to help me gauge the size of this problem came up with an average of 38% weeds in pastures.  But as one Ruby Valley, Nevada rancher pointed out to me last week, if his animals grazed those plants, he’d have more days in a pasture, which would make his whole operation more productive and profitable.

I asked economist John Morley to take a look at how much additional forage a producer could have if his cows were taught to eat weeds.  He started with the 38% infestation rate.  Then he looked at the sheep and goat prescribed grazing studies to find that grazers typically use 70 to 90% of the weeds in a pasture.  He used the conservative 70% rate for educated cows to estimate that a producer would have 43% more forage if his/her cows were weed-eaters.

Here’s how that’s translated for me when working with the trained cows in Boulder County, Colorado.  I have a 3-year, WSARE funded project to use grazing management to reduce weedy populations and increase native grasses and forbs.  The 500 acre Mayhoffer pasture where we’re working is typically stocked with 30 cow calf pairs for 2 weeks.  In 2010 we stocked the pasture with 100 cow calf pairs for 30 days and then left 30 pairs for an additional month.  But even with that increase in stocking rate and time, the animals didn’t accomplish what we’d hoped because there were too many weeds.

This coming season I’m hoping to increase the stocking rate to 300 animals.  The problem is that after looking at all the pastures that need to be grazed to reduce weed populations and comparing that to the number of cattle available, I’ve concluded that there aren’t enough cows in Boulder County to accomplish the job.  And this is in the arid west, where ranchers are typically always concerned about running out of forage for their animals.

I’d really like to know what 43% more forage would mean to you, or to people you know.  Would it be a positive thing or can you foresee problems as a result of having too much forage?  Please do drop me a line and educate me!

This is an example of the Mayhoffer pasture in Boulder County where my trainees and their herdmates worked. We fenced them into smaller pastures as part of the management effort.