Progress report for OW23-384
Project Information
California has been experiencing a warming trend with hotter summers and long-term forecasts expect the trend to continue. Irrigated pastures are a key component to livestock operations and historically planted with cool season forages. We propose to investigate warm season forages better adapted to a hotter summer, while being palatable and maintain the current level of production. This is key to ensure financial viability of ranches and protect the natural resources of associated rangelands. Small plots at the USDA Lockeford Plant Material Center (PMC) are our first step to investigate which species will establish and test for nutritional value. The PMCs in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas have information on adaptation and forage value of warm season grasses species that we will utilize. With the help of our partners, we will select species to then plant on their irrigated pastures, adding the warm season forages to the existing forage. We will collect forage production and forage quality data as well as data on selectivity of cattle. Field days at the PMC and our partners’ irrigated pastures will demonstrate the success of warm season species. We will also use print (newsletters, handouts, newspaper articles, blog posts, trade magazines, peer-reviewed articles) and social media posts to educate ranchers not only in our local area, but regional and statewide. We expect to be able to identify species well adapted to our summer heat while being palatable and highly productive, providing a viable forage for our irrigated pastures long into the future.
Please see Grantt Timeline for visual layout: Gantt_Timeline Becchetti
- Spring 2023
- Seeding of plots at PMC
- Seeding was completed April 27, 2023. The Plant Material Center (PMC) prepared plots to be planted with their drill. Triticale was used to ensure proper planting depth and rate. Seeds for planting at the PMC were received from PMCs in other states where the warm season grasses are common. The annual mix was donated by local seed company. During seeding, the crew noticed one seed was not falling correctly through the seeder. The seed was determined to be too "fluffy" for the drill mechanism, the drill was then cleaned out, and the seeds determined to be too fluffy for the drill were hand broadcasted and lightly harrowed. One week post planting, very little germination from the planted species could be found, but there was a heavy weed pressure. Researchers started an aggressive weed management with hand pulling since annual bluegrass (Poe annual) was germinating as well as broadleaved forbs, making herbicide not the best choice. If grasses could not be identified, they were allowed to grow and not pulled. After two month of this effort with very little germination seen of the planted species, the team decided the planting was a failure and started to research what might have gone wrong. The ranchers involved in the project were kept up to date on the plots, and were notified that the planting failed, including the broadcasted plots. Discussions with PMCs in Arizona and New Mexico to determine our best course of action shed light that our planting date might have been too cold for germination in addition to the heavy weed pressure. Plans were adjusted to plant again in 2024 growing season, researching required temperatures, weed control planned ahead of planting, and planting methods to prevent seeds from being lodged in the planter. With this set back in plots, this will push our timeline back as well. We will be requesting a modification in our schedule to adjust for our failed germination in Year 1, moving everything back a year.
- UPDATE 2025- After consultation with Plant Material Center staff in New Mexico, we followed suggestions of planting later in the season than we did in 2023. We planted June 12, 2024. Prior to planting to ensure greater success than the previous year we cleaned all seeds to reduce extra "fluff" as well as changed the tubes on the planter from corrugated to smooth to reduce potential hang-ups for seeds. We also added clean cat litter to seeds with greater potential to hang up in the system, giving them more weight to fall down the tubes. We then started irrigation the following week and throughout the summer. Out of the fifteen C4 grasses we planted, we deemed seven to be a “success” for germination. Six species did not germinate, and two were a mixed bag of some decent growth mixed in with a lot of bare ground in each plot.
- Seeding of plots at PMC
- Summer 2023
- Irrigation and sampling of plots
- Irrigations occurred for about two months before the plots were considered a fail. Sampling did not occur because there were no grasses to sample.
- UPDATE 2025: Irrigation occurred all summer, starting off at 1/2 inch per week and then up to an inch per week. Plots were hoed weekly to reduce competition from other summer weeds in the area. Photos were taken regularly to document progression of plots. By July we could tell that there were some species that successfully germinated. Plots were sampled on August 20th for tonnage per acre and dried and sent to a lab for qualitative analysis for the seven plots that had done well across all four of the plots for that species. The partner ranchers were kept up to date on the progress with regular texts as well as conversations. Concerns early about slow germination were alleviated by the production that was seen later in the summer.
- Irrigation and sampling of plots
- Fall 2023
- Project meeting with partner ranchers to see PMC plots, select species for Spring 2024 planting
- UPDATE 2025: Partner ranchers have been kept up to date on the progress of the plots and meetings held to discuss their needs and how they would like to see the plantings happen. Meetings are scheduled for spring 2025 to prep for targeted June 2025 plantings.
- First Field Day at PMC
- UPDATE 2025: Field Day was held at the PMC in September 2024. Approximately 50 people, with a mix of NRCS staff, Cooperative Extension staff, and producers gathered to hear the reason why we are looking at the C4 plants, the benefits we see they could provide, able to see the plots and the tonnage per acre production. Lab results for forage quality was received a week after the field day. Still a successful field day with a lot of interactions and questions from attendees.
- Newsletters created to summarize first irrigation season results
- UPDATE 2025: A Spring 2025 newsletter was created all around this project and was mailed to over 1,700 subscribers (snail mail) as well as 176 email subscribers and shared with fellow advisors to share in their newsletters.
- Project meeting with partner ranchers to see PMC plots, select species for Spring 2024 planting
- Spring 2024
- Planting of small pastures on partner ranches
- UPDATE 2025: As we found out in 2023, we need to wait until June to plant and plans are underway to do that. We expect to take all we have learned to this point to make a success out of whatever species our partners choose to plant on their pastures. Each rancher already stated they do not want to go to bare ground, but to overseed their selected species (or more than one) into the existing pasture. This will make the finished pasture be more like the "real world" of what most ranchers would do on their property.
- Planting of small pastures on partner ranches
- Summer 2024
- Irrigation and sampling at all sites
- UPDATE 2025: irrigation will happen at the regularly scheduled irrigation for each rancher. We will document water applied on each pasture and ensure sampling occurs at the same phenology for all species this summer.
- Irrigation and sampling at all sites
- Fall 2024
- Project meeting with ranchers to discuss successes, concerns, and next steps.
- Newsletters created.
- Field Day at PMC and at least one partner site
- UPDATE 2025: with the delay from the failed germination in 2023, 2024 goals are now goals for 2025. We will hold at least one field day, at the PMC, and should be able to hold at least one field day on a partner ranch. We will continue to discuss the ranchers' concerns as we move forward with the project and document the hopefully successes we find. At the end of the growing season, we will create another newsletter to document the year two of the plots at the PMC, as well as our steps to plant some C4 species on our partner sites.
- Summer 2025
- Final irrigation season and sampling on all plots
- Fall 2025
- Project meeting with ranchers to discuss status of project after two summers
- Newsletters created
- Field Days at PMC and partner sites.
- Winter 2025
- Prepare final reports, presentations at livestock meetings, trade magazine articles and peer-reviewed article.
- Spring 2026
- Hold last field days to encourage ranchers to add warm season forages to their pastures based on results of the project.
Cooperators
- - Technical Advisor (Researcher)
- - Technical Advisor
- - Technical Advisor
- - Technical Advisor
- - Producer
- - Producer
- - Producer
- - Technical Advisor
- - Technical Advisor
Research
The research approach to this project will include two separate, but complimentary components. The first is a replicated field study at the Lockeford PMC in San Joaquin County looking at establishment success, growth, and nutritional quality over the course of the irrigation system of a selection of potentially desirable warm season perennial grasses and comparing these to traditional cool season species mixes. The second will be working with producers in San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties that will select warm season perennial grasses, informed by initial results from the PMC study, and establishing these on a portion of their irrigated pastures and looking at establishment success, growth, and nutritional quality of these species mixes, compared to existing cool season species mixes in a production setting.
Warm season perennial grass species were established in 2024 on replicated small plots at the NRCS Plant Materials Center (PMC) in Lockeford following PMC protocols for research design. In addition, small plots of a cool season grass mix (orchard grass and perennial ryegrass), as well as a cool season grass and clover mix (orchard grass, perennial ryegrass, strawberry clover, and bird’s-foot trefoil), representing typical irrigated pasture mixes used in the area were planted in fall of 2024. We selected a total of 15 warm season grasses and we sourced the seeds from Plant Material Centers (PMCs) in the Southwest. Plots were assigned in a randomized complete block design with 4 blocks with four (4) blank plots to create an even overall plot with the 17 total varieties (15 warm season perennials, one cool season grass only and one cool season perennial grasses with legumes). Plots were created to be 5 feet by 20 feet and established using the plot drill per PMC standards. Irrigation was applied through both a linear irrigation system and a wheel-line at the common irrigation rates of the area to hold the water constant across the plots. An inch of water was applied each week to the plots.
Forage quality analysis and production data was gathered on all plots in 2024. Establishment was slower to start than expected so repeated clipping and forage analysis was not conducted in 2024, but will be conducted in 2025.
As we transition to the next step, planting on our producers' pastures, we are working with our producers for them to select the species they each would like to plant on their pastures. Each rancher will also determine what method of seeding will be used. To date each has communicated they would like to add in seeds to what they already have established as opposed to starting from bare ground. The goal of this next step will be to establish warm season perennial grasses in 1 to 2 acres of currently irrigated pasture, with 1 to 2 acres of a paired reference cool season pasture adjacent. The warm season pasture may be established by interseeding into existing irrigated pasture by broadcast followed by pasture harrow, interseeding into existing irrigated pasture with a no-till drill per our partner rancher's request. Seeding is being scheduled for June 2025 based off our experience of planting in 2023 and 2024. Grazing will be deferred until the pasture is deemed "established" which may be late 2025 grazing season or the 2026 grazing season. Maintenance during the first growing season may include clipping and baling or targeted grazing. The 2026 irrigation season will represent the established pasture performance for each pasture.
Data collected for each of 2 years (2025 and 2026) at each of the partner ranches will include:
- Soil analysis (performed by a third-party lab),
- Seed mix and rate, method, and site prep,
- Amount and timing of irrigation water applied,
- Soil moisture,
- Species composition for each pasture,
- Initial growth and regrowth of pasture vegetation by repeated clipping of protected cage grazing exclosures,
- Nutritional analysis (performed by a third-party lab) of each species through the irrigation season (at least 3 points between May and October), and
- Grazing timing, duration, and stocking rate, as well as any other management interventions, such as clipping and baling.
Data will be presented as means and standard errors. Comparisons and tests of significant differences will be made using t-tests on the means and Tukey’s HSD where appropriate when performing multiple comparisons. The primary objective is to compare how production and nutritional quality (crude protein, neutral detergent fiber, and acid detergent fiber) compares over the course of the irrigation season and between each of the warm season grass species and the typical cool season pasture mixes in order to identify whether any of the warm season perennial grasses tested would be suitable species for irrigated pastures after the observed climate change in the region of the study.
Funds will be reserved to allow for the herbicide treatment of the warm season perennial pasture established in the trial and reseeding with a cool season pasture mix in the event that the selected species become problematic for the ranch operation and it is necessary to undo the project.
Research Outcomes
We still believe our hypothesis is viable, but we let old thinking of when we should plant, based in part by a calendar date and historical weather patterns, influence our timing which in part led to a failed first year of plot work. Long term forecasts show a hotter, drier California, which will mean that irrigated pastures will need to make changes in the near future to maintain productivity needed by rancher.
UPDATE 2025: Learning from our mistakes and embracing the unknown, taking a leap of faith in some ways, we took every opportunity we could to ensure the best successful germination in summer 2024. We were able to find some C4 species that we could not only germinate and grow through the summer, but have also been showing some signs of new growth in early 2025. Our next phase of moving to on farm, grazed pastures is our next step and the missing step to be able to show producers what is possible.
Education and Outreach
Participation Summary:
With a failed planting, we had no data to share in any meetings or newsletters as planned. The ranchers involved in the project were all notified of the failed germination. We have taking steps to ensure success for plots in 2024 and then will progress with education and outreach methods as planned.
UPDATE 2025: We learned from our first attempt, and have been able to successfully have outreach in 2024. The partner ranchers had regular check ups on the progress of the plots, discussions about how they each wanted to see the project move to phase 2 in Summer 2025 on their ranches. In addition we held a field day at the PMC in September that was well attended and have a newsletter out in Spring 2025 detailing the project to date.
We have no results since we had no education and outreach the first year. All of our planed efforts we are planing to move back one year.
UPDATE 2025: I held one Field Day and created one newsletter to date. The Field Day was well attended by a variety of people with a lot of interest in the C4 grass plots. Data we had at the time was germination success/failure and tonnage in August. The lab I sent forage samples to for analysis was not able to complete analysis in time for the field day. For outreach we utilized a variety of outreach methods including my mailing list (email and snail mail), the PMC email list, local newspapers and flyers in local feed stores. We have found a broad and varied approach to advertising helps to distribute the Field Day information. The newsletter was sent to my mailing list (email and snail mail) as mentioned previously as well as shared with my colleagues for them to share to their newsletters as they see fit. I will follow up to document how many used my article in their own newsletters along with circulation numbers.
Education and Outreach Outcomes
With a failed plot plantings, our planned outreach and education activities did not happen. We have captured data on our failure to share with ranchers as we share information on the project, especially how to avoid pitfalls to have a successful pasture establishment.
UPDATE 2025: We successfully held the planned outreach this past year and were able to share not only the successful planting we did in 2024, but also shared the lessons learned from the failed germination of 2023 to help prevent some of the same mistakes to be made by producers. Producers and agency staff were interested in the progress of the project and are waiting to see the next step as we transition into Phase 2.
With planting failure, there was no opportunity for change in knowledge. UPDATE 2025: Production Systems - learning new opportunities to be more efficient in water use.
UPDATE 2025: Animal Production. The ability of producers being able to produce more tons of forage on their irrigated pasture will give them more ability to manage their livestock and potentially improve production.