Trader’s Dispatch, August 2023 — Page B31
Response of grassland forage to climate variability
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By Reagan Cotton, MSU News Service Colorado, Nebraska and North Dakota to For agricultural producers around the collect forage crop samples. Felton said that state, forage plants are a key element of catwhile the region is one of the largest intact tle grazing as well as helping maintain soil grassland ecosystems left in the world, this nutrition, preventing erosion and providing element of it is surprisingly understudied. a food source for wildlife. Now, funding “There’s been a lot of focus on the tall from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s grass prairie in the southern and central National Institute for Food and Agriculture, plains, but it seems to me that far less is or NIFA, will let a Montana State University known about the northern plains,” Felton scientist begin exploring how those crops said. “And that’s interesting because it’s so respond to changes in water availability. expansive and intact. There’s a lot of basic Andrew Felton, an assistant professor in knowledge about this whole eco-region that the College of Agriculture’s Department we really know relatively little about.” of Land Resources and Environmental Once the field samples are collected, Sciences, plans to see how the timing of Felton will work with collaborators in Neprecipitation throughout the year influvada and students in his own lab to conduct ences the growth of forage crops, which isotopic analysis on those samples. That include grasses, shrubs and flower species process examines the chemical makeup of consumed by grazing animals. Alongside the water in the crops to identify when that colleagues from the University of Nevada, water originally came into the ecosystem Reno and Chapman University, he will — whether through summer rain or spring analyze the water inside plant samples to snowmelt. determine when that water fell as rain or “The water in snow and the water in rain entered the ecosystem as snowmelt. In this have different isotopic signatures,” said way, the team will trace the seasonal origin Felton. “You can analyze the water in the of water used by different forage species. plant tissue and also in the soil itself to un“There’s been a lot of research on the derstand where that water originated. Once drivers of variation in forage growth from we analyze that data and understand where year to year. The common wisdom is that the water is coming from, we’ll see if we can it’s primarily driven by variation in growing link that to larger patterns of drought senseason rainfall,” said Felton. “But when you sitivity observed through remote sensing.” do that correlation, you see that there’s a ton Geospatial analysis and remote sensing of unexplained variation. It hasn’t really make up the third element of the project. been mechanistically demonstrated where Because agencies like NASA have conthe water those plants are using originated.” ducted global satellite observation for more Felton’s project is one of 26 proposals than 30 years, Felton said, historical data on nationwide funded through a competitive drought and forage cover in large areas like process by a NIFA program focused on the Northern Great Plains are easily accessustainable agroecosystems. The work sible. He hopes that comparing the chemical received nearly $300,000 out of a total of analysis of the forage samples with historic $12.7 million spread across the country. data about rain, snow and forage growth will The work will include three broad sections, provide a more nuanced look at the response Felton said. of important forage crops to changes in The first of those research sections inprecipitation patterns. CONT. ON PAGE B35 volves field work at sites around Montana,
How to increase water access for feedlot cattle in hot weather
By Alfredo DiCostanzo, Nebraska Extension Educator The use of shades in feedlots has made a big difference in the effects of heat on fat cattle, but a few other strategies can help keep cattle cool, enabling cattle to keep gaining, even in the dog days of summer. Cattle nearing the end of their feeding period should be given priority when deploying heat abatement strategies. Extra space for cattle to access water should be added to all pens, but particularly to those of cattle near harvest. The issue is not water supply, it is water access. Cattle behavior changes to promote cooling off—boss cattle remain at the water tank longer than necessary to drink, simply playing with water or enjoying a cooler microclimate. Managing intake may require that bunk readers hold off on calling for additional feed. Also, some nutritionists may switch the feedlot to “cooler” diets (diets with more roughage). Use of bedding on strategic locations may help to reduce heat absorption from the pen surface. Under emergency conditions a watering trough slip-in can be built where water tankers can deliver water in the feed bunk. Cap the ends of 20-foot culvert pipe sections (12- to 18-inch in diameter to fit at the bottom of a feeding bunk) before cutting lengthwise to produce two identical size troughs. Burn the edges with a flame torch to smooth sharp edges resulting from the cut. This results in a trough that can be slipped to the bottom of the feed bunk. A single 20-foot section should add at least five watering spaces and 130 gallons to the watering tanks in the pen. Keeping these slips full of water should ease the pressure on watering tanks during hot and still days.
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