Healthy soils support plants that feed thriving livestock

DUNDEE, Ill. — Healthy soils produce healthy plants that feed healthy livestock.

“If we’re going to rely on forages for our animals, we must have a healthy, nutrient-dense soil,” said Travis Meteer, University of Illinois Extension commercial agriculture educator.

“One of the biggest challenges grass farmers face from a livestock standpoint is if we don’t have nutrient-dense and healthy soils, those plants growing on that soil also have nutrient deficiencies and poor health,” said Meteer during a presentation at the Regenerative Grazing School hosted by the Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition.

Many forage species are available for cattlemen to plant in their pastures.

“Having a variety of grasses builds resiliency within your system and also gives the animal a more diverse diet and helps the soil, too,” the educator said.

Moving cattle regularly through paddocks of a pasture, Meteer said, will help provide palatable forage in sufficient quantities for the animals.

“We want to keep the soil covered and have grass on the landscape to grow more grass,” he said. “We can’t overgraze and nip the grass down too far.”

Managing the above-ground growth of the forage impacts the roots.

“What you see above ground mimics the root base underneath,” Meteer said. “If we overgraze the pasture and limit the amount of grass, we’re going to starve the root system.”

Mini droughts are created when a pasture is overgrazed.

“If we don’t have a good root base and we run into two weeks of dry weather, the top four to six inches of soil doesn’t have moisture for the plant and we’re not going to grow grass,” Meteer said.

The above-ground leaf tissue mass can help cattlemen gauge the root base. In addition to less drought tolerance, overgrazing also results in less nutrient and mineral cycling and more stand reduction.

“You will lose plants from your stand and Mother Nature will fill that in with a nice weed,” Meteer said.

A common grazing rule is to graze half of the forage and leave half before moving animals to a new paddock.

“The problem is animals are selective graziers, so they may only nip the tips of a fescue plant,” Meteer said. “But the white clover, red clover, Timothy and bluegrass plants are very palatable species, so they may take more than half of those.”

For weed management, cattlemen can manage for what they want instead of managing against what they don’t want.

“If we can maintain a thicker, more diverse sword of grass, there will be fewer weeds,” Meteer said.

“You’re always going to have difficult weeds, but increasing the stocking density creates a competition between the animals,” he said. “Cows will nip the leaves off a lamb’s-quarter plant before they eat anything else in the pasture.”

Soil tests are a valuable tool for grazing operations.

“Fertility of your soils is part of setting yourself up for success,” Meteer said.

Shade and water are two important factors for planning a grazing system.

“If you have shade only in a certain area, the animals will congregate there and defecate the most,” Meteer said. “If you can move the shade around, that’s great.”

Animal manure is one of the best feedback mechanisms the animal can provide on its nutrition, the educator said.

“If there is too much crude protein, the manure will be runny, watery and a consistency that is more liquid than solid,” Meteer said.

“If there is a good balance of crude protein, the manure pile will have the consistency of pumpkin pie with a dimple in the center of the pie,” he said. “Manure piles that are stacked, dry and segmented means we’re shorting that animal on crude protein.”

Body condition scoring evaluates how much fat is on the animal.

“It is a really good indicator of past performance and nutrition,” Meteer said. “When an animal has enough energy in its diet, it is gaining weight and depositing fat.”

If a cow can’t support itself, raise a calf and rebreed, it’s not fit for her environment.

“If we have cattle that aren’t in a good body condition score, it is likely we’ll have a higher incidence of failure to breed,” Meteer said.

“Cows have more fat disposition in their brisket, flank and the tailhead will look more smooth and even as we go up in the body condition score,” he said.

“At a body condition score of 4, you will be able to see two to three ribs, and at a score of 5 or 6, cows look smooth and fleshy. This is where we want cattle to be for good reproductive performance.”

Water is also important to monitor.

“Feed intake is correlated to water intake,” Meteer said. “If you’ve got poor water quality or not enough water availability, the cattle won’t eat, either.”

Animal caretakers have an important job.

“Animals are dependent on us and our management to handle all the factors such as rainfall, humidity, nutrition, wind and disease,” Meteer said.

“It is not easy because it’s a very dynamic system and you will have failures and successes, but it’s very rewarding when you can be successful in this challenging adventure.”