No-till Livestock-Grain Rotation for Diversified Farms

Form a crop-livestock working group

Beginning in January 2006, a list of regional farmers and researchers potentially interested in assessing crop-livestock integration was compiled. Email messages and telephone calls were made. In late summer 2006 an agenda was drawn up, conference space was obtained, and presentations were solicited on topics related to crop-livestock integration including Holistic Range Management, the prospect of controlled-grazing of land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), and farmer experiences producing and marketing organic grassfed beef in the northwest. Presentations were made by the project coordinators reviewing crop-livestock systems, and livestock management in the Palouse.

The working group meeting was organized around the concept of holistic management by a Holistic Range Management trainer. The meeting included discussions of why attendees were participating, how they felt, and what they hoped to achieve. Subsequently a list of problems with Palouse agriculture, obstacles to crop-livestock integration, goals, outcomes and objectives, and steps to achieve goals was assembled via directed discussion (Table 1).

Between 2006 and late summer 2008, the participants of the crop-livestock working group maintained contact in the context of the component of the project with which they were specifically engaged, and at field days. Considerable overlap emerged with a complementary project, Beefing up the Palouse, organized by project coordinator Lynne Carpenter-Boggs through the Washington State University Biologically Intensive and Organic Agriculture (BIOAg) program. The working group from this WSARE project, in modified form, constituted the farmers and researchers working on Beefing Up the Palouse as well, which is focused on controlled grazing of CRP land, transitioning dryland wheat farms to organic, grassfed beef production, and assessing suitable grass and legume species for year-round dryland pasture production in Benge, Wash. (14 in. annual rainfall).

Review historic, economic and environmental basis for integration in the Palouse

Between 2006 and 2008, a historical investigation and scientific literature review was undertaken to assess the basis for crop-livestock integration in the Palouse. Information was utilized from reputable historic texts, personal communications with farmers and researchers, and peer-reviewed journal articles on the condition of natural resources in the Palouse, on resource quality in agriculture in general, and numerous other topics comparing different farming systems such as energy use, economic performance, weeds and pests, water use, soil quality parameters, and impact on natural ecosystems and ecosystem services. A manuscript of this material is being prepared for peer-review.

Articulate a well-informed research agenda for future development of crop-livestock systems

In 2007, work undertaken to assess the basis for crop-livestock integration indicated a substantial body of literature on research and development work on integrated crop-livestock systems. Consequently, preparation of manuscript concerning research and development needs for crop-livestock farming systems in the Palouse was undertaken. This manuscript intended to draw from crop-livestock literature nationally and globally, but focus the literature so as to be specifically useful to future research and production work on these systems in the Palouse. Extensive use was made of the rapidly expanding crop-livestock literature, as well as literature pertaining to no-till agriculture, forage systems including hayed and grazed models, animal science with respect to breeding and performance in grazing situations, crop science with respect to forage breeding, soil carbon sequestration, ecosystem health including water and habitat quality, economics, marketing and food distribution, energy use and other areas.

On-farm trials

In September 2006, trials were initiated at Thundering Hooves farm in Walla Walla, Washington on the western edge of the Palouse region. This farm has raised organic grassfed beef on irrigated alfalfa and grass pasture since 1998. Conversion of alfalfa to an annual cereal crop has traditionally been achieved using a moldboard plow. In this experiment, treatments consisted of three primary tillage operations following 10 years of alfalfa pasture: (1) moldboard plowing to a depth of 10 cm; (2) low soil disturbance under-cutting sweeps operated at 7 cm depth with 100% surface coverage and (3) low soil disturbance undercutting sweeps operated at 7 cm depth with 80% coverage. A fourth treatment was managed as grazed alfalfa, which received simulated grazing three times during the growing season. Plots were 4.5 m by 8 m, arranged in a randomized complete block design with four tillage treatments (including zero tillage residual alfalfa) and four blocks. Treatment means were analyzed by Tukey pairwise comparisons. Primary tillage operations were imposed in the fall of 2006 and spring of 2007. Organically certified triticale grain (var. 37812) purchased from Progene Plant Research (Othello, WA) was sown on March 7th, 2007.

Soil cores were collected at spring seeding, grain harvest (July 12th) and fall (Nov. 21st) to 2.4 m by 30 cm depth-increments and analyzed for inorganic soil N using an ALPKEM RFA™ 300 auto-analyzer. Tillage effectiveness was measured by grain yield, aboveground biomass and number of alfalfa crowns that survived tillage. Alfalfa managed in a simulated grazing manner served as a baseline comparison for soil N dynamics. Alfalfa biomass and yield data was collected for economic comparisons between a pasture-only and an integrated pasture-grain cropping system. Data was collected to assess profitability, including infrastructure and field operations with some generalized data utilized from typical farm budgets for the region.

Pasture establishment, productivity and carrying capacity at the PCFS

On May 17th and 18th, 2006, adjacent grass-clover and alfalfa forages were respectively established at the Palouse Conservation Field Station(PCFS), 8km from Pullman, Wash. Fields that had been sown to Austrian winter peas in fall 2005 were terminated May 10th using an under-cutting sweep and cultivated with a harrow to prepare a seed bed. The grass-clover pasture consisted of Orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata), Perennial Rye (Lolium perenne L.), Meadow Brome (Bromus commutatus), Ladino Clover (Trifolium repens) and Red Clover (Trifolium pretense), sown at respective rates of 4, 6, 7, 1 and 3 lbs per acre. Seed drill boxes openings were physically separated and grass and clover were seeded individually on alternating six inch centers. The alfalfa (Medicago sativa, var. Dynamic) forage was sown at a rate of 20 lbs per acre on six inch centers. Seeding operations were undertaken using a John Deere 4240 tractor and John Deere van Brundt seed drill.

Grazed grass-clover pasture and hayed alfalfa forage constituted two treatments and were managed as two distinct options for Palouse growers to diversify annual grain rotations with perennial forage crops. These treatments were added as ‘organic, perennial-based cropping systems options’ to ongoing treatments at the PCFS that are managed as the USDA-ARS Agroecosystem Research Trials (ART). The ongoing ART treatments consist of no-till wheat, perennial wheat, and a native prairie planting. This project focused on the two organic treatments (grass-clover and alfalfa), but sampling data will in the future be utilized from the other ART treatments for comparisons of soil quality and profitability.

Three replications of grass-clover and alfalfa pastures were established in strips at the PCFS, utilizing three separate locations on this research station. Each forage strip traversed three landscape positions (including top slope, mid slope and toe slope) to reflect the natural variation in topography of the Palouse region. The strips, located in previously-numbered fields 1, 5 and 7, were 1.22, 1.0 and 1.0 acres respectively. Grass-clover was sown to two-thirds of each strip, while alfalfa was sown to the remaining one-third. Both grass-clover and alfalfa strips were allowed to establish in 2006, with no grazing or haying activity. Visual and photographic field checks were made four times during the season. High-tensile electric fences were built in March 2007, utilizing a regional Gallagher Fencing representative. Economic data was gathered to assess fencing infrastructure costs.

On May 18th, 2007, three mixed Suffolk-Icelandic groups of sheep were introduced to the three grass-clover pasture strips in fields 1, 5 and 7 at respective lamb-ewe rates of 4-6, 4-6 and 3-7. Sheep were removed on June 27th, for a total grazing period of forty-one days. Data was collected on sheep weight gain and aboveground forage biomass production. Alfalfa strips in fields 1, 5 and 7 received no grazing, and were hayed in June. Strips were grazed again in 2008 in a similar fashion and data from this season is being reviewed.