PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. – When homesteaders ventured into the parklands of Western Canada, grasslands were abundant.
Oldtimers are full of stories of how they had to travel for miles to find trees for firewood, said Henry Rosing, manager of EUR Ranches Ltd., a 1,200-head cow/calf and stocker operation at Lake Francis, Man.
But today, there is no shortage of trees in the black soil zone, said Rosing. He said trees and shrubs are slowly invading most pastures in the region.
Rosing told a recent grazing conference that producers need a long-term plan and commitment to tackle the problem. He said removing a poplar tree can result in 10 little sucker trees the next year. If they are not removed, the cure can be worse than the problem.
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Producers who want to manage unimproved pasture should strive to maintain or decrease tree cover while maintaining or increasing legume cover, Rosing said.
He has been working on one section of pasture with 25 percent tree and brush cover. He estimates the cover grows by three to six percent a year. Without controls, at least 215 acres will be covered in brush in 10 years.
Burning can be dangerous
Burning is the most natural way to control trees, but Rosing said there are three problems with this dangerous tool – “liability, liability and liability.”
If fire is an option, producers should burn in spring or fall when pasture litter is dry enough to burn but not dry enough to cook out the root systems of grasses.
Fire singes the bark of poplars, making way for ants, diseases and fungi. The older the tree, the more heat it takes to damage it.
Letting cattle graze a pasture all season is a quick way to get rid of all the productive forage and let shrubs thrive, said Rosing. Cattle will head for the palatable young plants.
Cattle eat suckers
Rotating cattle in concentrated areas with electric fences will help reduce small trees and suckers. At the same time, cattle can help establish legumes by pushing seed into the soil by trampling.
Sod-seeding can be a good way to seed legumes and grasses in existing stands, but it’s expensive, and doesn’t work well on rocky land.
Broadleaf herbicides are an expensive way to kill trees, and also kill legumes. Rosing said it costs about $22 per acre to apply the herbicides.
Roundup works well on trees but can kill forage stands at seeding time. Rosing said the chemical is relatively cheap and easy to use.
Farmers can use drags made from scrap metal or rollers on tractors to kill brush and push seeds into the soil. Rosing said drags knock down and injure young trees while rollers work well on bigger ones.
Rosing has also been killing suckers and low brush by wiping chemical directly on the plants.
The wiper consists of a crudely constructed carrying frame with a carpet hanging in a loop. Inside the loop, nozzles spray herbicide. So far, Rosing has found a 20 percent Roundup solution works well. The wipe is mounted on a tractor loader, so farmers can apply herbicide to small trees while avoiding low-lying forages.
Producers can use bulldozers to reclaim land with complete tree cover. Rosing noted this plan is relatively expensive.
His regime for seeding on rough land includes spraying Roundup in June to kill small trees, broadcasting legumes and grasses, driving through the pasture with a drag or roller to improve seed-soil contract, and in subsequent years, using a drag or wiper to keep trees under control.
He said feeding cattle legume seed and turning them loose in a pasture is another quick way to seed tough land.
