Drought Mitigation for Beef Cattle Producers Using Native Grasses in Grazing Systems and as Alternative Feedstocks for Confined Feeding

The purpose of this project is to demonstrate the use of native grasses as methods for managing drought on beef cattle operations. Native warm season grasses will be used in summer grazing systems for stocker cattle and native grass forage (both warm and cool season) will be harvested and conserved in the form of baleage to demonstrate and evaluate an alternative feeding system for confined animals using these drought-tolerant feedstocks.

The broad scale goal of this project is to demonstrate the drought mitigating benefits of incorporating native grasses into grazing systems and confined feeding operations for beef cattle and to provide producers with real world information in a local context which is imperative for ultimate producer adoption of these practices.
The specific objectives of the project are as follows:
Objective 1: To demonstrate the use of three summer grazing systems, two of which use drought tolerant native warm season grasses (1) indiangrass monoculture pastures and (2) Mixed species pasture of indiangrass, big bluestem, and little bluestem; with the third grazing system using the most common summer forage in this region, the non-native (3) bermudagrass.
-Very few beef cattle producers in the southern region utilize native grasses for beef cattle grazing systems. Therefore it is vital to demonstrate the use of native grasses in direct comparison with the forage that producers in this region are most familiar with, bermudagrass.
Objective 2: To demonstrate the impact of different cattle stockings rates in a grazing system incorporating drought tolerant mixed species pasture of indiangrass, big bluestem, and little bluestem.
-Native grasses are sensitive to grazing management. Overgrazing can severely impact the persistence of the stand allowing encroachment of weeds and other undesirable plant species. Undergrazing is an inefficient use of the forage resource and can allow forage to become overly mature and the nutritive value to diminish. Demonstrating proper grazing management is critical for producer adoption of native grasses for grazing systems and for the drought mitigation benefits to be realized.
Objective 3: To demonstrate the use of drought tolerant feedstocks in the form of conserved native warm season grass baleage as an option to feed to beef cattle in confined feeding operations during winter months.
-Native warm season grasses can produce a significant amount of forage on a per acre basis making them an excellent option for harvesting conserved forage. Because of their drought tolerance they will provide producers with the security of a feedstock to give cattle during the winter. We will show how they can be utilized in a confined feeding system.
Objective 4: To demonstrate the use of conserved cool season forage baleage as an option to feed to beef cattle in confined feeding operations during summer when drought has reduced or eliminated pasture availability.
-Conserving cool season forages during the early spring in the form of baleage gives beef cattle producers the security of knowing in the event of a summer drought they will have a feedstock to give to their cattle. We will demonstrate how producers can plan ahead for drought conditions.