Forages are the primary feed source for livestock production systems. Forage systems play an essential role in delivering ecosystem services (ES), and the management practices applied to them directly affect ES delivery. In recent years, forage research has expanded to better understand how management practices can be improved to optimize ES responses. Management practices directly affect forage production, nutrient cycling, animal performance, water conservation and quality, wildlife habitat, among others. Thus, it is crucial to understand how to adequately manage pastures to improve water conservation and quality to support animal performance and health and reduced environmental impacts in forage ecosystems.
Proper forage stand establishment and management is essential to optimize the persistence and longevity of pastures while supporting soil coverage, adequate root system development and persistence, and nutrient recycling in the ecosystem. The stand should be managed to be kept in vegetative stage and actively growing so plants use and capture nutrients reducing the potential of nutrient leaching and runoff. Thus, maintaining vegetation between the pasture and water source is important once will provide the same benefits to areas close to the waterbodies (e.g., ponds, streams).
On pastures, access to the waterbody should be properly kept preventing livestock having direct access to the majority of the waterbody area aiming to avoid soil erosion and deposition of animal excreta in the water source. The waterbody surroundings should be fenced to limit the direct access of livestock in the stream and proper vegetation maintained to avoid erosion and filter nutrients leached to maintain water quality.
It is recommended to use rotational stocking to optimize the forage removal and allow the forage stand the proper regrowth interval. Through this management strategy, pastures should be fenced in smaller sections called paddocks and animals rotated. This improves the forage yield and quality responses and optimizes animal excreta distribution reducing the excessive accumulation of nutrients in certain areas. Also, avoid overgrazing since it leads to forage stand and soil degradation reducing soil coverage and increasing weed pressure and nutrient losses. This directly impact soil stability, fertility, quality, and health and its ability to store organic matter and sequester carbon overtime.
Lastly, if pastures are used for feeding hay, it is important to move the hay rings and consideration should be taken to whether moving salt and mineral feeding sites are also necessary. This can help with spreading the animal excreta more efficiently and reduce its accumulation in areas that may be prone to runoff and leaching during rainfall events.
Additional resources
Silva, L. 2022. Maintaining Clean Drinking Water for Livestock. Available at: https://blogs.clemson.edu/livestock/maintaining-clean-drinking-water-for-livestock/
Written by
Liliane Silva, Assistant Professor, Clemson University
Debabrata Sahoo, Associate Professor, Clemson university
