How well do you understand your rangeland characteristics?

Handling grazing rangelands can be complicated, especially with the wide variety of rangeland types and plant populations. David Kraft, rangeland management specialist at Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition, spoke recently about this topic at High Plains Journal’s Cattle U & Trade Show, July 29 to 30, in Dodge City, Kansas.

Kraft said in Kansas there are typically three or four different types of rangelands, such as the tallgrass prairie, mid grass prairie, sandsage prairie and short grass prairie.

“They are driven by non-agronomic practices, so the ecology of how these plant communities exist and what makes them persist is weather, grazers and fire,” he explained. “Conservation Reserve Program land is a pretty common thread and once land is expired from CRP, it’s still considered to be rangeland. However, I will tell you in our lifetime, it will never be anywhere close to what rangelands are. We may treat them the same, but because of how they were farmed or the length of time in which they were farmed, the soil has been degraded and it will never fully function like rangeland should.”

Kraft said from any point in time in Kansas, rangelands have a growing season that varies about 30 to 40 days in length, from the very southeast corner being around 210 to 212 growing days to the northwest corner that is about 168 days. On average there is typically about a six-month growing season but there is a lot of variation from one part of the state to the next.

“We have extremes, not only in moisture, but also in temperature,” he said. “It has been said that there is not an acre of land left in the United States that does not have some kind of an invasive species or non-native species present. Introduced species are common, such as smooth brome, tall fescue and other grasses that have found their place in the rangelands we manage.”

As far as grazing, Kraft said there is a great relationship between soils and plants and the animals that graze them.

“We try to approach this from a historical perspective,” he said. “What we know today is these plant communities are always changing and in flux, but they don’t always act the way we expect.”

Using the past to guide how we treat rangelands nowadays has its challenges as things have change a great deal over the years. In the past rangelands were grazed by multiple species, while we typically only have one species grazing on rangeland these days. Additionally, Kraft said when fences started going up it started to change the environment in which these plants persisted for years and fire is certainly a big piece of that.

“Out here in this part of the country, we’re seeing a little more fire being used than what has been in the last 20 or 30 years, but there’s still an apprehension about the use of fire,” Kraft added.

Another aspect to be considered is the effect of plant-animal interaction.

“Some plants don’t do well with extended grazing pressure, but most plants are not over grazed, what they are a lot of times is under rested,” Kraft clarified. “They can handle a lot of grazing pressure, but we have to be mindful that they need rest to be able to regenerate themselves.”

Kraft said the issue for many cattle raisers is they are only looking at one side of the rangeland grazing cards they have been dealt.

“We have a pretty good understanding of the animal herd that we’re using, we know the class and kind, we have a choice of whether we want fall or spring calves, we can look at different species of grazers, we might include goats or sheep and we’re trying to mimic history, but we’re often caught within the present day,” he said. “You have to understand your location and match the animal to what kind of forage is available. This is where a lot of individuals get caught. They have it in their mind that they really want to focus on the animal side, they have that dream or goal and they may even have a passion for certain species or breeds, but it may not necessarily match the forage they have on their operation.”

Looking at the rangeland characteristics and the livestock is the only way pastures and grazing can work in true harmony and to their greatest potential.

Lacey Vilhauer can be reached at 620-227-1871 or [email protected].