Grazing Cattle in Longleaf Pine Systems to Expand Revenue Options and Improve Ecosystem Function

Commodities

Practices

Grazing cattle in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) woodlands offers land managers a potential tool to utilize native forages, support wildlife habitat, and co-produce timber and beef without compromising ecosystem health. However, despite these potential benefits, livestock grazing remains underutilized in the southeastern United States due to limited empirical data quantifying its ecological and economic outcomes. This lack of information constrains landowners' ability to adopt integrated production systems that could enhance long-term production and profitability. This study aims to address this gap by quantifying the ecological and economic impacts of cattle grazing in pine production systems in South Carolina. Specifically, we will: (1) identify and quantify available native forage, nutritional quality, and cattle diet selection using vegetation surveys, forage analysis, and fecal metabarcoding; (2) assess bird abundance, richness and habitat conditions under grazing through point counts and vegetation characterization; and (3) model the economic feasibility of integrated cattle-timber systems using 30-year financial projections compared to conventional pine plantation models. Fieldwork will be conducted bimonthly across grazed and ungrazed 13-year-old restored longleaf pine pastures to capture seasonal variation at Nemours Wildlife Foundation in South Carolina. We hypothesize that grazing in longleaf pine woodlands will maintain or increase understory plant richness, broaden cattle diets, enhance bird habitat, abundance and richness, and provide landowners with a financially competitive alternative to traditional timber production. By directly addressing current data gaps, this research and targeted outreach will inform management decisions and support broader adoption of integrated grazing systems in southeastern forestry and beef production.

Objective #1. Identify what native forages are consumed by cattle grazed in longleaf pine understory and quantify the forage quality for dominant native forage species across the grazing seasons. Our working hypothesis is that forage quality will vary across the seasons and by plant species providing a multi-species, native plant diet throughout the grazing season.

Objective #2. Measure the impact of cattle grazing on grassland bird richness and abundance in a longleaf pine working landscape. Our working hypothesis is that the presence of grazing cattle will increase vegetation heterogeneity across the landscape and lead to an increase in bird richness and abundance.

Objective #3. Assess and share the economic feasibility of using an integrated grazing and timber production system to expand revenue options for southeastern producers. Our working hypothesis is that integrating grazing for stand densities that don't require a precommercial thinning (lower planting density) will be more economical than producing timber that requires a precommercial thinning (higher planting density) without grazing cattle.