Tri-State Neighbor: South Dakota Farm Newspaper

The recent moisture is good news for South Dakota grasslands, which are greening up at last.

“While the green looks nice, the plants have been severely stressed and it may take years to recover productivity,” said Stan Boltz, state rangeland management specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Huron, S.D.

“The damage to vegetation from a drought really is immeasurable. Root structures have been reduced, and it may take years of careful management to bring the grasses back to full production,” said Boltz. “With rangeland lacking good management and in poorer condition when the drought starts, the next year’s production will only be about 30 percent of the average production - even with normal precipitation. With good precipitation two years after a drought year, production may still only be 50 percent of normal.”

Livestock producers need to do everything possible to limit the drought’s impact on the range health, especially avoiding overgrazing.

“If possible,” Boltz said, “move the cattle out of the pastures and feed them in dry lot. It is not a good idea to feed them replacement feed out on the range because the animals will continue to graze any green growth.”

The plants need this growth for photosynthesis to sustain their life cycle. The same recommendation to leave the new growth this fall is true for hayland.

There are ways of nursing the rangeland back to good health. Many ranchers weaned calves early and culled herds as options to reduce pressure on the rangeland.

“If possible, ranchers could rest the pasture for an entire year or use it just in the winter,” said Boltz. “Resting of a pasture for a whole grazing year will help heal the vegetation and gain full production back within two years after a drought.”

While the loss of forage is greater in the one to two years immediately following a drought, loss of forage production can last much longer, especially if management is not adjusted to compensate for the drought.

“Using the average cost of grazing land rental rate, the long-term loss of forage could amount to $6 per acre on overused rangeland compared to those lands where measures are taken to adjust to the drought,” Boltz said.

That means ranchers potentially would have to buy that much more hay or lease additional grazing land. Cattle performance may also suffer on overly stressed rangeland, with average daily gains likely to be lower and an increased potential for cattle to graze poisonous or toxic plants.

Drought area ranchers have been put into a balancing act of managing their business’ short-term economics and planning for the long-term health and productivity of their pastures. In the long-term, it is hard to see tangible impacts on the vegetation from the drought because changes happen about as quickly as “watching grass grow.”

As drought is inevitable in at least some years, rangeland management before a drought is much more beneficial than waiting to make management decisions in the middle of a drought. Good grazing management will result in healthier rangelands which will be more capable of recovering after a drought. Also, developing a drought contingency plan will help producers make the difficult decisions when the drought comes. Resource specialists can help ranchers with sound grazing management strategies and drought contingency plans which can help them weather these tough conditions.

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