Rangeland monitoring workshop held at Kleinjan Ranch

A rangeland monitoring workshop and electric fence demonstration was recently held at the Kleinjan Ranch west of Chinook. The focus was on techniques for monitoring the results of managed intensive grazing (MIG). MIG describes grazing techniques that utilize repeat periods of grazing and rest among multiple paddocks or pastures. The program was sponsored by the Blaine County Conservation District.

Rancher Dennis Kleinjan has been using intensive grazing for about six years, but admitted, "Grassland monitoring is a new venture for me. Danny Pratt has been helping me get a monitoring program started on my ranch. I agreed to host the workshop as I am still learning."

Kleinjan added, "Last winter Rick Caquelin conducted several short courses about intensive grazing and techniques for measuring outcomes. I learned the potential benefits of monitoring my own rangeland." Caquelin, who led the workshop on monitoring, is the Rangeland Management Specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Great Falls. He also raised cattle in the Stanford area.

Danny Pratt, District Conservationist with the (NRCS) in Chinook, was instrumental in organizing the program. NRCS's role is to help producers learn rangeland monitoring techniques and direct producers to information about equipment and resources for using intensive grazing.

A short summary of

intensive grazing

Intensive grazing (MIG) was first introduced in the U.S. in the late 1960's. Range managers in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) were exploring ways to utilize the available range in the African country. The range managers began using fencing methods to concentrate livestock into small pastures and move the animals regularly, giving the grass a chance to recover from grazing.

Aside from the obvious advantage of allowing more cow-calf units per acre, there are other values to intensive grazing. Some of the documented benefits are: breaking the parasite cycle; eliminating trails to and from water; chipping the soil for better seed germination and general reversal of grassland degradation. There are numerous summaries of studies on the internet, especially research done at colleges of agriculture.

The exact number of ranchers and farmers in the U.S. who are using intensive grazing is not readily available. But the amount of research suggests more and more producers are using it and providers of related supplies and equipment are increasing.

The recent workshop and demonstration in Blaine County

Rick Caquelin, the range specialist, conducted the workshop on monitoring. He started his presentation by showing the participants (there were about 12 locals) a notebook he has been keeping on the status of his rangelands near Stanford. The notebook held a series of photographs taken on a yearly basis at the same locales, in pastures and paddocks. By comparing photos one can see progress or problems from year to year and long term. Caquelin has about 20 years of monitoring photos and data.

Caquelin said, "The monitoring won't seem real exciting at first, but by the third year you can see where you are and how things looked when you began monitoring." He added a critical observation, "The key is using the information you collect to interpret how you are doing and get direction for improvement." He also noted one of things that helped him was the number of ranches he gets to see in his work. He said, "You have to talk to other producers, learn from their mistakes and successes and get your own questions answered."

Caquelin began setting up a basic 'intersect' in one of Kleinjan's paddocks to illustrate how to start a monitoring system. He first drove a large plastic stake (like a very big tent peg) into the ground. That was his starting point and he had Kleinjan identify the location with a GPS program on his smart phone. From the stake Caquelin stretched a 100 foot tape, then drove a second stake. Because he would be taking pictures along the tape of the ground, he suggested, "Where possible, run your intersects east to west, that will eliminate shadows that tend

to obliterate some detail when taking photos."

A small (maybe two feet by two feet) square made of small diameter PVC pipe was laid at intervals along the 100' tape. Caquelin recommended taking photos at 10,30, 50, 70 and 90-foot intervals. "The important thing," he explained, "is to always use the same intervals. Otherwise, you are not comparing the same part of the range in future photographs.

He also had a small erasable sign board that he used with each photo, to show location of the intersect line, the date and the interval in the photo. Kleinjan was using a phone app called GrassSnap, free from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, to take the photos. The app allows the user to organize the photos in a meaningful way.

It's also recommended to take a couple of photos of the surrounding terrain, just to give some context to where the intersect is located on the property. In his notebook Coaquelin also tracked what he called the "important 60 days of each growing season." Usually starting about mid-May he kept a log of weather and other environmental events that might affect the rangeland in the photos. He said, "I look at these during the winter to make decisions about things I need to do to the range and plan the sequence of how I will graze my herd the next season."

The other part of the program related to choosing and operating a fencing system. Greg DeSaye, Territory Manager for High Country Ag Marketing in Whitehall, Montana, demonstrated a number of fencing systems and ways to power them. He listed three main points to assure an effective and efficient fencing system: be sure the system is properly grounded; provide the correct amount of power to the system and be sure the system is appropriate for the application desired.

Some applications may require a 'wildlife friendly' fencing system. On High Country's website (www.hcam.net) there is an interesting video of a herd of elk crossing a fence designed to accommodate large game.

How intensive grazing is working locally

Dennis Kleinjan took a few minutes to share some of his successes and challenges with this type of grazing. He currently runs 75 cow-calf pairs in several 20-acre paddocks. He typically moves the animals every 3-5 days. Asked about additional labor for intensive grazing he said, "Moving the cows goes very smoothly. They soon equate new, fresh grass with moving and they are more than willing to move to the next paddock."

As to challenges, he said the first big hurdle was getting all the equipment gathered up and a plan made for the paddocks. Another producer just starting intensive grazing, echoed the same challenges. The other big thing for Kleinjan, and most producers, is water. In one area he has a 'wagon-wheel' system where 14 paddocks feed into one water system. He said, "That works really well so water is available no matter where I put the cows."

In other areas Kleinjan has to haul water when the cows are in certain paddocks. He said eventually he would like to extend piping to a point in each paddock so there would always be water available without hauling. Speaking of water, Caquelin made an interesting point that, "When you control how the cows get to water you also help control water quality. If they can only access at certain point, the entire area around a watering source doesn't get degraded and water quality is improved."

Is intensive grazing for every producer? The technique has been in the U.S. for nearly 50 years and certainly has its proponents. But, there are others who seem to know about the technique, but for whatever reasons, don't find it usable or desirable in their situation. If you want more information about intensive grazing techniques, call Danny Pratt at NRCS (357-2320, extension 117). His office is in the USDA Service Center on Ohio Street in Chinook.