Warm weather and snowless pastures are giving cattle producers a break from high feed costs.
This winter’s lack of snow, unlike the last couple of years, has left pasture grasses exposed and available for grazing, while the above-average temperatures have reduced the amount of feed cattle need to stay healthy.
But experts warn producers not to take winter grazing too far. The lack of snow, combined with the lack of fall rain, translates into less moisture for plants.
As well, less rain allows livestock to eat through to the ground litter produced through the normal breakdown of yearly plant cycles.
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Litter insulates rangeland by stabilizing soil temperatures and preventing evaporation and wind erosion. Stress from lack of litter may be further exaggerated if little or no snow cover is in place and the weather turns cold, although this has not yet happened.
Litter is good
“Maintaining the litter is very important to maintaining healthy rangeland. Especially if we end up in dry conditions this coming growing season,” said Barry Adams, a range management specialist with Alberta Agriculture.
“Producers will have to be careful to make sure they protect their ranges. If we don’t get snow cover soon and temperatures drop, significant damage can occur to alfalfa crops and without that tame feed they are really going to need healthy rangeland,” said Adams.
The cycle of moisture loss and forage damage can be reduced if cow populations per pasture are reduced and reasonable levels of litter are allowed to remain on the range surface.
In previous winters of low snow cover and warm weather that allowed for nearly a full winter’s grazing and early spring grazing, Alberta Agriculture studies showed the plant stress led to lower plant energy reserves. Followed by dry summers, forage growth was cut by as much as 50 percent. Weedier, shallow rooted plants with lower productivity began to force out desirable species.
“Producers may want to consider deferring spring grazing if moisture conditions don’t improve,” said Daryl Tumbach, with Saskatchewan Agriculture in Maple Creek.
