Demonstrating Economic and Soil Health Benefits of Livestock Grazing on Cover Crops

Individual farmers have experimented with rotational livestock grazing on Cover Crops across the country, primarily as a means of improving their financial bottom line. The economic gain associated with this innovative enterprise stacking is estimated at $66 per acre, a figure that does not account for productivity gain or reduced nutrient inputs. Combining rotational grazing and multi-species Cover Crops also significantly build soil health, increases water infiltration, reduces erosion and increases the productive capacity of the land. This project will establish and monitor approximately 50-acre, side-by-side control and treatment plots within corn fields on eight farms. Demonstrations will span two full years of cropping/cover cropping. Current management practices will be maintained on control plots. On treatment plots, the project team will work with farmers, first to introduce multi-species Cover Crops and then to strategically release and rotate cattle across the plot, which will graze down and trample the cover. Detailed profit and loss data and soil health and fertility measures on each pair of plots will be collected. All existing analyses indicate this practice will generate more direct revenue than it costs to establish. Over time it will re-build soil health, reducing the need for nutrient inputs, decreasing flooding and erosion, increasing drought tolerance, and ultimately, increasing crop and livestock yields and revenue from a single land base.