Warm Season Native Grasses; A drought resistant forage?
Authors: Gilbert Randolph, Nick Schell, and Jason Jones, Pheasants and Quail Forever
Could warm-season grasses solve a
summer slump in a ‘normal’ year?
With Ohio experiencing record drought, livestock producers may find themselves in a tight spot when trying to provide forage for their cattle. In the long run, native warm-season grasses can offer drought-resistant forage during the summer slump when many cool-season grasses slow in production.
Traditionally, there has been some concern with the length of time it takes to establish these plantings, but Jason Jones, Ohio Grasslands & Grazing Coordinator for Pheasants Forever, Inc. and Quail Forever says that these native grasses such as big bluestem, switchgrass, eastern gamagrass, indian grass, and others can be established in as little time as a year.
“NWSG seedings today use well-developed preemergent herbicides, grazing varieties of NWSG, and post-seeding maintenance to develop a dense stand much more quickly,” Jones says. “Furthermore, we understand the ecology of these grasses much better to advance seedings and maintain them with suitable grazing management.”
NWSG Seedings also require fewer inputs than other forage options. Their large, long-lived root systems are more efficient at drawing nutrients from the soil and they require less moisture. This means less money is spent on fertilizer. Those benefits are then passed on directly to livestock producers when they don’t need to buy hay to supplement forage during low production times.
With the right management practices, these plantings can provide highly productive, drought-resistant forage that not only helps livestock producers, but enhances soil health.
NWSG plantings also create favorable conditions for wildlife such as bobwhite quail. Since these plantings benefit both livestock and wildlife, there is landowner assistance through the USDA-NRCS programs to make creating such plantings more economical.
“The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has resources available for landowners and producers who are interested in incorporating drought tolerant NWSG into their current forage system,” says Nick Schell, State Biologist for the USDA-NRCS. “From pre-planting site preparation, planting, and post-planting. NRCS and their conservation partners are available to provide science-driven guidance during each step in the process, ensuring successful establishment.”
Specific programs, such as EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program), offer contracts to empower producers to make management decisions that benefit both their agricultural production and wildlife. Landowners will work with their local NRCS staff to develop a plan that meets the production and conservation goals of their operation and explore how they can make those improvements financially feasible.
“Working Lands for Wildlife (WLFW) in Ohio aims to assist farmers incorporate NWSG into their grazing rotation,” says Jason Jones. “Grazing NWSG combats the summer forage deficit (summer slump), in a fescue based grazing system. The Ohio WLFW program promotes cover beneficial for cattle production and soil health and wildlife, a true win-win scenario.”
Ohio producer Nathan Rice has incorporated such plantings in his operation and had the following to say about how it has contributed.
“This was our fifth year grazing native grass forages. We seeded two stands beginning in 2019 and were able to graze lightly that first year. While no two years have been exactly the same, the native grasses reliably have provided forage to graze during July to September each year when the cool season grass pasture slows down. That was no different this year even in the drought conditions we have experienced. This has been one of the driest late summers I can remember on our farm but the native grasses still grew and produced almost as much as they have the other years.”
Ohio landowners interested in native warm season grass plantings can contact Jason Jones at jjones@quailforever.org
