This video by the Natural Resources Conservation Service in South Dakota does a great job of demonstrating that how we manage our livestock on pasture determines how sustainable we’ll be as farmers and ranchers. In an across-the-fence comparison using a simple water infiltration test, Jim Zimprich and Stan Boltz show the difference between a well managed, rotationally grazed pasture, and a pasture with a long history of season-long grazing.
In this part of the world, it has been said that 150 – 200 pounds of production per acre is lost for every inch of water that isn’t absorbed. On a well-managed grassland, a spade full of soil reveals good granular structure which provides places for the water to seep into the soil. Good granularity also means grasslands with higher diversity and better overall palatability, and that maintain a higher plane of nutrition for a longer period in the growing season. Overgrazing on the other hand, either by overstocking or by grazing for too long a period, leads to compacted soil with horizontal layers that prevent water absorption.
In their demonstration, one inch of water is absorbed into the well-managed pasture’s soil in just 10.1 seconds. Across the fence in the season-long grazed pasture, it takes the same inch of water 7 minutes and 3 seconds to absorb. Since some farmers are choosing to convert their grazing lands to corn production in South Dakota, they run the same infiltration test on grassland converted to cropland just 9 months earlier. It took 31.5 minutes for the inch of water to infiltrate.
If you are reading this and thinking that, hey, I have sandy soil, so infiltration is not a problem, just remember that you want to have aggregation, too. The aggregation will help hold onto water that enters the soil so plants can take it up during dry periods.
SD NRCS staff members demonstrate how to monitor your soil health and water infiltration rates during the 2012 SD Grazing School. You can see how management impacts the soil profile and how rapidly it can absorb water.
We thought this soil health minute would be helpful to folks thinking about the role that “wasted forage” plays in protecting and improving soils. This “Soil Health Minute” is brought to you by the USDA NRCS, Ray Archuleta and Jon Sitka. Enjoy!
I’ve succumbed to the soil health bug. How do I know? Well, on a recent kayak adventure in the Adirondacks, I laid awake at night listening to the unencumbered, deafening raindrops hit our tent and envisioned the uncovered soil getting pounded as the chocolate water carried the next generation’s livelihood off the land on which it was born. My perspective heightens as I look into the eyes of my new granddaughter, Hadley. It reaffirmed for me the importance of holding on to her soil with sod. A
Here’s another trip into our past to learn from those whose shoulders we stand on.* We talk a lot about soil moisture and the importance of managing pastures so that they can absorb and hold precipitation whenever it comes. With this article from the October 1963 issue of “Soil Conservation,” Cecil Wadleigh, takes us deeper, covering how different soils make our job easier and harder. Although most of the Nation’s growing concern over its water resources is centered
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Understanding the plants in your garden should always start from the ground up. Do you live somewhere with clay soil and dont know how often you need to water your plants? Well, weve done plenty of research and have the answer waiting here for you. Lets check this out. In general, you dont need to water plants in clay soil more than once a week. One of the benefits of having clay soil is that it allows your plants roots to absorb as much water as possible, which in turn means less frequent wate