Quick turns
Ultra-high stocking density grazes on fragile land
Curt Arens
Perfect cow country
Nebraska's Sandhills region is the largest contiguous area of nonactive, grass-covered sand dunes in the Western
Hemisphere. Considered perfect cow country, it still requires extra stewardship over the long term.
Conventional grass-management wisdom calls for grazing Sandhills pasture hills during the summer and haying
wet meadows for winter forage.
Newport, Nebraska, rancher Chad Peterson and wife Jennifer are in tune with the Sandhills. Continuing a
family ranching legacy, they graze 900 to 1,100 cow-calf pairs and yearlings on their 9,200-acre ranch. But
Peterson has turned conventional wisdom on its ear. He runs an ultra-high stocking density of over 900 animals
on a single acre of wet meadows in the summer for an extremely short period. Then he grazes stockpiled grass
in the more fragile high country in the winter.
A process of complete rest and recovery after heavy animal impact has improved forage utilization. The process
produces more beef per acre and nearly year-round grazing with scant hay feeding in a fairly harsh climate.
Plants come back stronger
"When a plant is bitten and eaten, it has to start a recovery period," says Kearney, Nebraska, grazing consultant
Bob Scriven. "Then the plant sends more tillers and grows more foliage and seeds to survive. The consumed
part of the plant is digested by the animal, and around 80% of the consumed nutrients are returned to the soil in
manure and urine."
During the drought of 2002, Peterson looked for a way to keep his cattle herd intact without ruining rangeland
or emptying his pocket. After learning the positive effects of very high animal impact (ultra-high stocking
density) followed by complete rest, Peterson was sold. He first tried it on a few acres, but eventually he set out
to convert the entire ranch to this innovative concept.
He strip-grazes wet meadows in the summer at very high stocking rates -- up to 1 million pounds of beef per
acre. The hoof effect of animals herded into close quarters tramples existing grass and forage seeds into the
ground for perfect seed-to-soil contact and eventual new forage growth.
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"Damage to the land occurs as a function of time," says Peterson. So he moves his cattle from three to nine
times a day to completely use the forage available in the lush wet meadow. "It's the buffet effect," he says. "If
you keep offering fresh forage, the cattle will eat it." Heavily grazed paddocks are then rested for the remainder
of the growing season.
During the rest period, "trampled forage begins to break down and add organic matter and nutrients back to the
soil," Scriven says. "This period is important to allow each impacted plant to return to a sustaining state."
Requires water and labor
Chad Peterson waters 400 to 900 cow-calf pairs in his paddocks with a portable feed
bunker-style watering tank he designed. He uses a small transfer pump to fill the
tank.
"Water must be available most of the time," says Scriven. "It's also important to be
present to move the livestock at the appropriate time."
Peterson has the advantage of a plentiful, shallow water supply nearly everywhere
on his ranch.
Simple strip grazing through a scheme of 500 to 600 temporary paddocks in 1,000
acres of wet meadows sounds daunting. "It's not very hard work," Peterson says.
One key is doing most of it during the cool mornings, leaving little manual labor for hot summer afternoons.
It only takes one person two hours each morning to set fences for the moves of the day. And then it takes 20
minutes during other times of the day to actually move the cattle. The work isn't strenuous, but it still takes
management and availability throughout the day to keep cattle moving.
A hired person grazes Peterson's yearlings, and he custom-grazes cow-calf pairs for a neighbor. Step-in posts
with poly twine make temporary fencing between the lanes of a permanent fence system still being developed.
"Every day we build up fence, adding a few acres each year," Peterson says. About half the wet bottomland is
developed for strip grazing. Permanent fence is two-wire high-tensile electric fence with a hot bottom wire and
posts 100 feet apart.
More than doubles the profit
"We like a low-fuel, low-labor system -- something my children can do with me -- that
is close to home," says Chad Peterson. He holds daughter Claire, 2. Wife Jennifer
stands with sons Jesse, 4, and Luke, 7.
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"Our production goals are to make a profit, to be able to take care of the land, and have something here for the
family," Peterson says.
"I only need one little tractor and about $10,000 worth of pipe and tanks. I do burn a little fuel in my ATV," he
says, but his overhead is extremely low. He has a high stocking rate and improved tonnage produced by his wet
meadows. When Peterson figures his profit from labor, he estimates ultra-high stocking density is paying him
around $158 per hour.
Though he runs a low-cost system, Peterson doesn't cut corners on infrastructure. "Skimping on fencing is not
an option," he says.
"We only move about 100 feet or less each time," he says. Though animals may move into new grass, they can
also go back to pasture that's already grazed. This allows cows to bring their calves along slowly.
Peterson runs cattle in a simple rotation on more fragile high ground beginning in November when grasses are
dormant until late spring.
When most ranchers are moving cattle into the high country, he moves his herd away from grass-covered hills
into more productive wet meadows. The high ground recovers throughout the growing season, stockpiling
forage for winter grazing.
"This practice really shifts the species composition of pastures to warm-season grass, with a big increase in
prairie sand reed," he says. His area only gets about 20 inches of precipitation a year. "We manage for warmseason grass in drier soils because warm-season grasses only use 25% of the water that cool-season grasses use,
and they produce more tonnage," he says. "By letting warm-season grass get tall, we develop a lot of carbon
reserve."
Peterson also grazes 200 buffalo (one of the oldest private herds in the U.S.) behind the cattle and uses a flock
of Boer goats to control weeds. He's developing a Scottish Highland cattle herd for grass finishing to directmarket beef to meat customers.
But the basis for Peterson's success has been ultra-high stocking density strip-grazing in wet meadows. It cycles
nutrients, adds volume to available forages, increases plant species diversity and quality of forages, and
increases water-holding capacity of the soils he's grazing. And he protects and improves the more fragile high
country, as well.
"The higher the stocking density, the better," says Peterson. "Recovery is what makes grass."
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