Missouri Forage and Grassland Council

Missouri Forage and Grassland Council
2000 Annual Meeting
October 30-31, 2000
Lake Ozark Holiday Inn, Lake Ozark, Missouri

Grazing Management on Riparian Areas

Ralph Lentz
Lake City, Minnesota

Many environmentalists, Department of Natural Resource professionals, and some NRCS people believe that riparian grazing is detrimental to streams. This has resulted in recommendations for riparian buffers and corridors, which include fencing and exclusion of livestock. These practices look great for a few years; however, there is substantial evidence that over a period of time they can create an undesirable stream habitat and landscape.

My objective is to show that with proper grazing management, cattle, grass, and streams can coexist in a long-term, sustainable ecosystem.

Introduction

The pasture-based, cow-calf farm where the stream research has been and is being done is located in the non-glaciated or driftless area of southeastern Minnesota. The landscape is extremely marginal for agriculture, with narrow valleys, high bluffs, and steep clay terraces along the streams. Most of the land is unsuited for row crops. The farm is considered and managed as a whole ecosystem including streams and all forms of life. All major decisions are based on three-part goals; that is, they must be economically viable, environmentally friendly, and equally important, furnish my family and future generations an acceptable “Quality of Life.”

Discussion

We came to the farm in 1965. Parts of the farm were highly eroded, the result being a large gully occurring through the middle of the farm. A spring-fed stream runs through the northeastern third of the farm. Shortly after buying the farm, I visited the Wabasha County Soil Conservation Service Office for help in developing a conservation plan. At that time, cattle were considered by most professionals, including myself, to be undesirable in the riparian area of the stream. The initial plan was to fence off the lower one third of the stream from any livestock in the first five years and to eventually create and maintain a corridor the entire length of the stream excluding livestock. The lower third of the stream was fenced off in 1967 for a wildlife area with the rest of the stream to follow.

As succession occurred, what we thought would happen, didn’t happen. For the first three to four years, the area looked great; however, as the pioneer trees (such as box elder, willow, and aspen) took over, the physical characteristics of the stream and riparian area began to change. As shading occurred, grasses and forbes disappeared. Heavy rains caused flooding that created serious erosion. In about fifteen years, the area changed drastically to a wide, shallow stream with an average depth of four inches. The stream banks became steep and unstable.

I consider myself a perceptive observer of the ecosystem of which I am a part. Leopold’s Sand County Almanac affected my perspective of the farm I manage more than any other book, college course, or workshop. Based on my observations, I decided to conduct some of my own research. The stream was divided into three research areas. Section A: The upper third of the stream is grazed in the normal rotation system, meaning that the area is grazed for 2 to 3 days with a one-month rest period between grazing. Section B: The middle third of the stream is grazed or strongly disturbed once every two to three years. Section C: This is the wildlife area discussed previously, which has been undisturbed by livestock since 1967.

In the early 1990s I invited Larry Gates, a Department of Natural Resources ecologist, to come and see the stream. His observations were similar to mine concerning the trout streams of southeastern Minnesota. He suggested bringing out a crew to do some research on the different sections. Their data mostly agreed with my observations that where there was managed grazing, the riparian area looked to be a more diverse and sustainable system than the wildlife area.

In 1993, I became involved with a team of farmers, scientists, and professionals from the Department of Natural Resources and Minnesota Institute of Sustainable Agriculture for the purpose of monitoring Management-intensive Grazing. This collaborative was administered by the Land Stewardship Project (a Minnesota nonprofit organization) and the Minnesota Institute of Sustainable Agriculture, University of Minnesota. The mission of this project was to compare the biological, economical, and sociological effects of grazing systems to conventional farming systems¹. A part of this project was to study four streams that were rotationally grazed.

Conclusions

Cattle, grass, and streams can exist together as a sustainable ecosystem with proper management. Farmers must observe and walk their land to be successful managers. They can reduce the amount of sediment entering a stream by using controlled grazing.

Controlled grazing affects riparian areas in two ways. A stream degraded by overgrazing will gradually recover as it flows through a rotationally grazed area. Plant diversity will increase with proper grazing. Forty-five different species were observed in section A, 50 in section B, and 24 in section C. Also, with the longer rest periods in section B, a number of indigenous plants have returned.

It must be noted that these conclusions are based on what we see happening on certain streams in southeastern Minnesota. It is not suggested that all streams will respond the same to well-managed grazing. Managing narrow riparian areas along streams is only a partial solution. We must think in terms of watersheds.

The writer of this presentation can be reached at (651) 345-2557. Ralph Lentz; RR 2 Box 78; Lake City, MN 55041.

References

Devore, B. "The Stream Team". The Minnesota Volunteer. Nov-Dec, 1998.

Lentz, R. J. "Cattle Grass and Streams". NCR 1998 SARE Producer Grant Program, Project Number 157-97.

Sovell, L. "Impacts of Management Intensive Grazing on Five Southeastern Streams". MN Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit.

¹ Bruce Vondracek, a fisheries biologist, headed this research. Information is available through him at Minnesota Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit; 1980 Folwell Ave; St. Paul, MN 55108; (612) 624-8748.

[ 2000 Meeting Agenda ] [ MFGC Home ]