Improving Wetlands Using Holistic Grazing of Dairy Cattle and Low Impact Crossings

2015 Annual Report for FNC15-1012

Project Type: Farmer/Rancher
Funds awarded in 2015: $7,216.00
Projected End Date: 02/15/2017
Grant Recipient: Darby Springs Farm
Region: North Central
State: Nebraska
Project Coordinator:
Crystal Powers
Darby Springs Farm

Improving Wetlands Using Holistic Grazing of Dairy Cattle and Low Impact Crossings

Summary

WORK ACTIVITIES 2015

Crossings: We built and installed 215 linear ft of crossings (West and South). We found they cost less in materials, but took much longer to build than anticipated.

Grazing: We developed and implemented a holistic grazing plan for the dairy cow herd that included plots with varying degrees of impact in the wetlands: no grazing, single short duration (4-8hrs) graze (some early season, some late), two short duration grazes (45 day recovery between), and a 1 week continuous graze.

Monitoring: Cows: We monitored body condition scoring, behavior, fly loads. Pasture/wetlands: Used NRCS pasture condition scoring, photos, GPS

RESULTS 2015

Wetland crossings: We found the crossings longer to build than expected but still have a favorable payback. At our presentation this winter, we were reminded that there are toxins in pressure treated wood, next year we will build the final walkway and try using rough cut durable wood without treatment. We also found the crossings eliminated the risk of a cow getting stuck in the deeper wetlands and reduced the impact on the walkways needed for daily milking. The walkways stayed put during all three of our flooding events, stayed on top of the soil and did not overgrow with vegetation.

Wetland Crossing Economics:

    • Assume $40/ac (ave low quality cash rent in Eastern NE)
    • Allowed us to access 9 additional acres (doubles our available acres)
    • Cost to build (inc labor) ~ $7/linear ft
    • Return on investment ~ 5 years
    • Life of boardwalk ~ 20 years

Grazing

Forage value: We were pleased with the plants in the wetland areas. We gazed a total of 35 AUM on 9 acres, which compares favorably with typical productivity on upland pastures of our region.  All classes of cows (lactating, dry, heifers) gained body condition throughout the year. Sedges, reed canary grass, and cattails provided quality forage and regrew quickly providing larger quantities of forage then our upland pastures (we will have quantification for our final report).

Cow comfort: We found that the cattle preferred to be in the wetlands during the heat of the day. Based on our observations this was because the water cooled their feet and legs and the taller wetland plants brushed off the flies, reducing the fly load by nearly half.

Logistics: we found that we could keep the fences hot without mowing pathways, so we have not yet purchased a mower. Setting up fence takes slightly longer (~10min) with the more challenging footing, but overall is the same as putting up temporary fences in the regular pasture.

Ecosystems

Plant species: In the grazed areas the cattle grazed off all the plants evenly, this gave preference to the perennial sedges and grasses. The cattails did not regrow as quickly as the sedges so we saw a move toward more sedge meadow of about 10’ in the grazed areas. The key will be to document these changes over a few seasons. In the areas only grazed once, it did allow more late season annuals like swamp milkweed and sunflower to grow.

Soil impact: We have two types of wetlands: spring fed (perennially wet), low lying (seasonally wet). In the seasonal wetlands, the second grazing occurs when the soils have dried so it reduces the hoof impact. In the perennial wetlands it will be important to see next year if there is are negatives from the more heavily impacted soils. What we did see was that in the wet soils the cattle have a harder time moving their feet, so they do not take as many steps and did not go back over an already grazed area, minimizing the number of hoof pugs in a paddock.

USDA Pasture Scoring

Sedge Meadow: 26”-28”

 

Cattails: 7’ & 20” understory

 

Many ladybugs & mayflies

       

 

# of species

% of cover

 

# of species

% of cover

Forbs

8

10

Forbs

2

5

Sedges

3

40

Sedges

2

5

Grass

2

20

Grass

2

5

Cattail

1

10

Cattail

1

40

open

 

20

open

 

45

           

Pasture score

   

Pasture score

   

 

Non-grazed

Grazed

 

Non-grazed

Grazed

Population

2

2

Population

2

2

Diversity

4

2

Diversity

4

2

Density

0

0

Density

0

0

Vigor

2

2

Vigor

2

0

Legumes

0

0

Legumes

0

0

Severity of Use

0

4

Severity of Use

0

4

Uniformity of Use

Na

4

Uniformity of Use

Na

4

Residue

4

4

Residue

0

4

Erosion

4

4

Erosion

4

4

Total

16

22

Total

12

20

 

WORK PLAN FOR 2016

  • Build final walkway with new wood materials.
  • Continue same grazing treatments throughout the 2017 season.
  • Cattle monitoring: milk production numbers, body condition scoring, fly loads
  • Forage monitoring: brix readings, and two lab samples, AUM, plant density (bare soil)
  • Water quality: Samples will be taken from the wetland outlet before and after grazing (May and September) and evaluated for turbidity and fecal coliforms to determine if there are any negative impacts.

OUTREACH

Public Education Field Day (partner with Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society). In September 2015 we hosted a “Farmers Night Out!” which was a farm tour highlighting our sustainable agriculture methods, including pasture walks with the low-impact crossings and hands-on discussion of our wetlands grazing results. We had 18 attendees, 14 farmers and 4 general public. We plan to expand this next year and do the kids scavenger hunt.

Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society Conference, Nebraska City, NE. January 2016, 225 attendees overall, 12 at our breakout session, mostly farmers. Grazing & Ecosystem results were presented by Crystal Powers. Handouts on grazing wetlands methods and lessons learned.

Website: Our project has its own page on our website. Our overall website had 1563 views by 483 visitors. Next year, we will build on the webpage to include more photos and data.

Social Media: We used Twitter (321 followers) and Facebook (668 followers) to share pictures and highlights from our project throughout the year. We will continue to share our results.

Articles: Next year we plan to write up 2 publications to share our final results.

Collaborators:

William Powers

darbysprings@gmail.com
Darby Springs Farm
414 County Rd 15
Ceresco, NE 68017
Office Phone: 4025257794
Chuck Lesiak

Nebraska Game & Parks
2200 N. 33rd St.
Lincoln, NE 68503
Office Phone: 4027833406
Ralph Tate

tater2d2@cox.net
Holistic Management consultant
1109 Timber Dr.
Papillion, NE 68046
Office Phone: 4029323405
Gary Lesoing

glesoing2@unl.edu
Extension Educator
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1824 North Street, Suite 102
Auburn, NE 68305-2395
Office Phone: 4022744755
Serena Bourne

serenasaurus09@yahoo.com
Nebraska Master Naturalist
TBD
Omaha, NE 68003
Adele Phillips

adelep@cfra.org
Nebraska Master Naturalist
TBD
Lyons, NE 68038
Office Phone: 4026872103