A University of Guelph-funded global study tracking 61 unfertilized grassland sites across six continents over 15 years found that fertilization increased pasture biomass by an average of 43 per cent.

A three-year forage fertility trial at Elora conducted through the Ontario Forage Network produced similar findings.

The U of G study, part of the university’s Food From Thought program, underscores what many agronomists have long suspected: pasture fertility is one of the most underutilized levers in beef cattle production.

“Improved pasture fertility can absolutely bring improved yield — and improved production, which can absolutely enhance that pasture,” said Colin Elgie, soil fertility specialist for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA), speaking during the Beef is ON fall webinar series.

How pasture fertility differs from row crops

Unlike row crops, pastures draw down soil fertility more slowly. However, several factors still deplete nutrients over time:

• Organic matter breakdown
• Soil pH changes from precipitation and erosion
• Nutrient removal through harvesting, grazing, and manure management

The scale of removal depends on production type. Removing two tons per acre of grass-legume hay strips approximately 80 lbs. of nitrogen (N), 22 lbs. of phosphorus (P), and 90 lbs. of potassium (K) per acre. By contrast, cow-calf stocking at a half pair per acre removes only 5 lbs. N, 3.4 lbs. P, and 0.6 lbs. K per acre.

“We’re actually taking more off the field, but through urine and manure, that nitrogen is returning,” Elgie explained — though he noted that a quarter to half of that nitrogen can be lost through volatilization.

Livestock meat and milk production also removes roughly 10 to 30 per cent of ingested phosphorus and potassium from the field.

Why soil testing is the critical first step

Elgie emphasized that no single fertilizer program fits every pasture — making soil testing essential before any fertility decisions are made.

Proper soil sampling technique matters as much as frequency. Key guidelines include:

• Frequency: Sample every four to five years
• Cores: A minimum of 20 cores per field, taken in a zig-zag pattern
• Depth: Six inches, to capture the nutrient-rich root zone
• Tools: Use stainless steel probes and plastic pails — avoid galvanized metal tools, as zinc can leach into soil and skew nutrient analysis
• Labelling: Clearly and correctly label each sample

“We want that nutrient-rich zone where the majority of the roots are, the majority of the nutrients are, to really get a good analysis of what’s going on,” Elgie said.

Putting soil test data to work

Once producers have soil test results, Elgie recommends using OMAFA’s AgriSuite tools to:

• Input soil test results
• Generate crop-specific nutrient recommendations
• Estimate nutrient removal rates under grazing or haying scenarios

Sampling helps identify deficient and limiting nutrients, monitor fertility shifts over time, guide lime decisions, and prevent both over- and under-fertilization — a critical consideration, since pastures rarely have uniform fertility across a field.

Bottom line for beef cattle producers

Soil fertility management is not a one-time fix. It requires consistent monitoring and a willingness to tailor fertilizer programs to individual pasture conditions. But the return on investment — in the form of higher forage yields, healthier pastures, and stronger farm profitability — makes it one of the most cost-effective management tools available.

“One fertilizer program is not really going to fit every single pasture,” Elgie said.

The post How soil fertility management can boost pasture yield by 43 per cent appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Some grazing leases are set in expire at the end of February, and residents of the Municipal District of Taber were given one last chance at public consultation earlier this month in what has been a string of standing-room only discussions on the topic.

WHY IT MATTERS: With acres of native grassland dwindling in Alberta, agricultural producers across the province are taking a keen interest in what the future of tax-recovery lands in the MD of Taber will look like in its land-management strategies with various grazing leases set to expire soon.

Concerns from all directions have been voiced, including conservation groups, concerned residential taxpayers and lease holders, over how hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tax-recovery land should best be used to help the MD provide services for its approximately 8,000 residents.

Those issues resurfaced again at the Feb. 10 public consultation meeting as council takes feedback on the proposed draft policy updates to guide its decisions at its Feb. 24 meeting.

Because some tax-recovery land grazing leases are set to expire at the end of the month, any decision made at that council meeting concerning the 81,355 acres of land the municipality holds will likely be the final one.

The contentious issue has dragged on for two years and has gained interest across Alberta.

The packed information and feedback session meeting on Feb. 10 was attended by multi-generational ranching families with significant financial investments, conservation groups, high-value crop producers, residents feeling left out of a possible market-value tendering process and concerned taxpayers.

One resident in attendance read an excerpt from a memorandum of agreement from 2007 and 2011 when the MD first took on the tax-recovery lands.

“It is our intention to provide insurance to both the Province of Alberta as well as to existing lease holders, that this sensitive land will be protected in the future from breaking.”

The resident then went on to say: “This was probably mostly related to the MD selling lands to leaseholders, but where I guess what was coming, is they failed to protect this land from the MD itself. None of these caveats were ever put on title, and this is why we are where we are now trying to fight to keep this native grass.”

Former councillor Don Johnson cautioned the current council about the direction it takes with possible future land sales and the handling of grazing leases with future tenants.

He agreed council must get far better rates than it currently receives.

Transitional and community pasture grazing leases were set at $26.10 per AUM in August, and the new council is now proposing two times the provincial grazing lease rate for Zone 1.

Other proposed changes would allow lease rights to be sold and for leaseholders to receive some oil-and-gas payments based on thresholds. Tendered grazing leases would also have the option to purchase.

Johnson said council knew oil-and-gas revenues would eventually dwindle, and other municipalities, such as the County of Warner and Cypress County, sold tax-recovery land for a short-term cash infusion, but that’s now gone as a revenue stream.

“The intent was that it would never be sold, that the native grasslands would be protected and preserved. We met a number of times with grazing associations and the folks around that area, and with their input, we were able to come to an agreement in how these lands should be managed,” said Johnson.

“I have no problem with having a discussion about looking at are the rates appropriate? They need to be changed. Where I part company is any discussion about putting up for sale any tax-recovery land. I think that is wrong. I think if the council proceeds the way they’re going with this, it’s a violation of the trust in our council.”

A previous council decision last year to proceed with a joint venture with the Bow River Irrigation District to convert 3,100 acres of grasslands to irrigated cropland was put on hold by the new council after October elections.

Only 4.2 per cent of the native grasslands were to be converted under the MD’s control for the proposed Scope Reservoir Joint Venture Agreement, generating considerably more revenue with the venture than with current leases.

However, some fear this would create a slippery slope, with more grasslands converted to irrigated cropland or sold to the highest bidder outside the MD.

Feedback from the MD’s numerous open-house discussions and written recommendations from residents, which had a Feb. 17 deadline, will be taken into consideration for council’s Feb. 24 meeting.

The post Clock ticking on Alberta grazing lease controversy appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The local government holds title to 81,535 aces of land, with about 73,000 acres of that leased under two programs:

• tax recovery grazing leases
• municipal district grazing leases

A further 6,191 acres are leased for crop production under cultivated leases. Some leases are expiring at the end of February as the M.D. looks to present it latest proposed changes to both grazing and cultivation policies and leases, and a draft land sales policy that applies to both grazing and cultivation lands, at a public engagement session on Feb. 10.

WHY IT MATTERS: Balancing tax bases between residential/non-residential and farm land can be a tricky thing for rural municipalities across Canada.

There have been several starts and stops in a fractured council drafting grazing lease annual rates, term lengths, term conditions and compensation, all met with distinctive split votes among councillors back in December. A previous council decision to convert 3,100 grassland acres to irrigated cropland in a joint venture with Bow River Irrigation District was halted by the newly elected council in October.

The Feb. 10 engagement session is expected to be standing-room only as previous sessions have been, as ranchers/conservationists and high-value crop producers have been at odds at exactly how the tax-recovery lands should be utilized along with the processes on who has access to them in serving the municipality.

Concerns over tax disparity

As the focus has been on agricultural producers, one resident hopes other taxpayers that help prop up rural municipalities, are not lost in the debate with farm versus residential/non-residential property owners in how best to utilize the M.D.’s asset valued at $345 million minimum.

“It is no longer uncommon for residents to pay $500 to $1,000 plus a month in residential property taxes, and even more, for non-residential property owners,” said Tom Rodwell, in a delegation at M.D. council’s Jan. 27 meeting, prior to discussing the latest tweaks in policy.

“If property taxes continue to increase, the M.D. may be in danger of losing the great businesses and residents that keep farms and farming industries running.”

Rodwell noted the huge disparities of taxation on farm land and residential property.

According to Rodwell, prime irrigated land in the coveted southern Alberta ag corridor sells for around $20,000 per acre, yet the assessment on that land is set at $450 per acre by the province, and $350 per acre per dry land.

Transposing the mill rate for residential and on-residential on land valued at the same rate for a quarter section shows stark differences in servicing the needs of the municipality.

“The mill rate on that $3 million quarter section of irrigated land is taxed at $914 base rate. Contrast that to residential property using the same $3 million for dollar value … and you get $11,100. Non-residential property rate on the same $3 million for dollar value works out to $28,530. That means dollar per dollar the M.D. rate, excluding provincial taxes, for residential property taxes, is 1,114 per cent higher than on farmland,” said Rodwell.

“The M.D. non residential property tax rate is a staggering 3,021 per cent higher than on farm, excluding provincial taxes.”

As the M.D. looks to service its operating budget partially with approximately $18-$20 million in tax revenue, Rodwell hopes the highly subsidized rates grazers and cultivators have got in the past will be addressed in the latest policy changes for the benefit of all nearly 8,000 residents, as oil and gas revenue continues to decline.

True cost of subsidies

Revenue from the M.D. tax recovery grazing leases of 58,340 acres was $40,838. In addition, leaseholders were paid $164,000 for oil and gas revenue. Leaseholders received a payment of $123,162 per year more than what was paid to lease the land.

“In addition, leases were allowed to be bought and sold for large amounts of money, possibly under the misconception that these leases could continue in perpetuity, contrary to what contracts clearly stated. The M.D. received a fraction of those funds as a transfer fee. All of this against the backdrop of ever increasing residential and non residential property taxes,” said Rodwell.

Rodwell cited an agriculture commission survey of residents that was amended last April. It showed 57 per cent saying lease rates should be set on market value. Seventy per cent said oil and gas payments to leaseholders should be eliminated. Seventy-one per cent of respondents said leaseholders should not be able to sell their leases. Respondents were split 50/50 on whether the land should be sold.

“The M.D. of Taber residents expectations for the directions of lands policy was clearly defined. Selling for anything less than market value is turning up to a subsidy. How will it be explained to the other 7,800 or so M.D. ratepayers? How will it be explained to the majority of residents made up of residential and non-residential property owners who are subject to taxation based on market value that they are essentially subsidizing someone’s operation?,” questioned Rodwell.

“In the end, this isn’t about any one group. It’s about prudent management of a publicly-owned asset for the benefit of all the citizens of the M.D. of Taber.”

By the numbers: the property tax divide

During his delegation, resident Tom Rodwell provided a comparison of how different property types in the M.D. of Taber are taxed based on a theoretical $3 million market value:

The post Southern Alberta lease policy changes offer tax relief hope appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

A handful of provincial conservation groups have voiced their concerns over a proposal to convert more than 3,000 acres of municipally held native grasslands into irrigated cultivated land to grow crops.

In a joint news release, the Alberta chapter of the Wildlife Society, the Alberta Wilderness Association, the southern Alberta chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Nature Alberta and the Southern Alberta Group for the Environment asks that six sections of land located near Scope Reservoir east of Vauxhall, Alta., be kept in its current form.

The land is currently leased to the Vauxhall Stock Grazing Association, but that group has been informed its lease will not be renewed in 2026.

According to a Calgary Herald article, Cliff Wallis, a board member with the Alberta Wilderness Association, recently visited the site and saw species that included the chestnut-collared longspur, which Birds Canada says has declined by 95 per cent, as well as barn swallows and pronghorn.

Wallis was on a hand for the first of a series of public meetings by the Oldman Lease Holders Association to address leaseholders’ concerns over a borrowing bylaw proposed by the municipal district.

The bylaw would provide as much as $6 million to change the land from grazing to irrigated cropland land in partnership with the Bow River Irrigation District.

A string of public meetings in Vauxhall, Enchant, Hays, Grassy Lake and Taber hope to collect upward of 800 signatures from local residents on a petition that would block third and final reading of the borrowing bylaw, opting for a public vote if the project should commence.

“Native grasslands are some of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet. Sure, there’s a couple of well sites on the roads, but it’s native grasslands, it’s species at risk and it’s in good shape,” said Wallis at the OLHA meeting in Vauxhall on Sept. 9.

“We’ve been looking after it, we’re quite happy. We have a good relationship, both with farmers and with ranchers. I sat on the minister’s committee for the Water Act in 1995 and we made sure that people’s water rights were protected. We understand both sides of this, but when you have a disappearing resource with that, it’s our duty to look after it, trying to protect them. We also see it as an economic issue.…

“We funded the things in the campaigns and counties that we can rely on longevity here, so we need that mix, so don’t forget about that. It is an economic issue. It is a conservation issue. I was appointed to the Order of Canada for my work on nature conservation in 2023, so I try to find the solutions here. There are groups that have money, (maybe) turn it back to the province and maybe there’s some payments back to the county, or in Canada, in some kind of conservation. Let’s talk about it. There is a stewardship here that we appreciate, and I think it should be rewarded, not punished.”

The proposed project is a 3,100-acre carve-out from the 69,280 acres of municipally owned and 160,800 acres of crown-owned lands that are currently accessible for ranching and grazing operations within the municipality, according to the MD of Taber website.

The changes to expiring grazing and cultivated leases in the area have been a contentious issue for months, with delegations from both sides expressing their viewpoints during council meetings and public information sessions.

The proposed project involves only a small portion of native grasslands in the MD, but the Vauxhall Stock Grazing Association and local ranchers say they are worried about the precedent it could set.

They say that under the agreement with the BRID, a land sale can be facilitated with a year’s notice or grant a lease to a third party for an alternate use with 30-days written notice.

Ranchers are worried it could theoretically swing the balance over to high-value irrigated crop production and away from land stewardship of native grasslands if future councils were so inclined.

“More or less, we are just trying to make people aware of the situation,” Daryl Johnson, vice -resident of the Vauxhall Stock Grazing Association, said in an interview.“So now the MD is in this situation where they have all this land, and there’s of course, all these different pressures on them.”

He said council has told the association it has received inquiries about all of the native prairie grasslands in the MD that are used for grazing.

“We’re just hoping to makethings work for everybody, of course. But at the end of the day, there needs to be a fair deal, and there needs to be the recognition of those leaseholder rights that have been there for as long as these lands have been (tax-recovery) seized, really. The changes to these leases have massive impacts.”

The post Conservation groups enter grazing lease debate appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

A handful of provincial conservation groups have voiced their concerns over a proposal to convert more than 3,000 acres of municipally held native grasslands into irrigated cultivated land to grow crops.

In a joint news release, the Alberta chapter of the Wildlife Society, the Alberta Wilderness Association, the southern Alberta chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Nature Alberta and the Southern Alberta Group for the Environment asks that six sections of land located near Scope Reservoir east of Vauxhall, Alta., be kept in its current form.

The land is currently leased to the Vauxhall Stock Grazing Association, but that group has been informed its lease will not be renewed in 2026.

According to a Calgary Herald article, Cliff Wallis, a board member with the Alberta Wilderness Association, recently visited the site and saw species that included the chestnut-collared longspur, which Birds Canada says has declined by 95 per cent, as well as barn swallows and pronghorn.

Wallis was on a hand for the first of a series of public meetings by the Oldman Lease Holders Association to address leaseholders’ concerns over a borrowing bylaw proposed by the municipal district.

The bylaw would provide as much as $6 million to change the land from grazing to irrigated cropland land in partnership with the Bow River Irrigation District.

A string of public meetings in Vauxhall, Enchant, Hays, Grassy Lake and Taber hope to collect upward of 800 signatures from local residents on a petition that would block third and final reading of the borrowing bylaw, opting for a public vote if the project should commence.

“Native grasslands are some of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet. Sure, there’s a couple of well sites on the roads, but it’s native grasslands, it’s species at risk and it’s in good shape,” said Wallis at the OLHA meeting in Vauxhall on Sept. 9.

“We’ve been looking after it, we’re quite happy. We have a good relationship, both with farmers and with ranchers. I sat on the minister’s committee for the Water Act in 1995 and we made sure that people’s water rights were protected. We understand both sides of this, but when you have a disappearing resource with that, it’s our duty to look after it, trying to protect them. We also see it as an economic issue.…

“We funded the things in the campaigns and counties that we can rely on longevity here, so we need that mix, so don’t forget about that. It is an economic issue. It is a conservation issue. I was appointed to the Order of Canada for my work on nature conservation in 2023, so I try to find the solutions here. There are groups that have money, (maybe) turn it back to the province and maybe there’s some payments back to the county, or in Canada, in some kind of conservation. Let’s talk about it. There is a stewardship here that we appreciate, and I think it should be rewarded, not punished.”

The proposed project is a 3,100-acre carve-out from the 69,280 acres of municipally owned and 160,800 acres of crown-owned lands that are currently accessible for ranching and grazing operations within the municipality, according to the MD of Taber website.

The changes to expiring grazing and cultivated leases in the area have been a contentious issue for months, with delegations from both sides expressing their viewpoints during council meetings and public information sessions.

The proposed project involves only a small portion of native grasslands in the MD, but the Vauxhall Stock Grazing Association and local ranchers say they are worried about the precedent it could set.

They say that under the agreement with the BRID, a land sale can be facilitated with a year’s notice or grant a lease to a third party for an alternate use with 30-days written notice.

Ranchers are worried it could theoretically swing the balance over to high-value irrigated crop production and away from land stewardship of native grasslands if future councils were so inclined.

“More or less, we are just trying to make people aware of the situation,” Daryl Johnson, vice -resident of the Vauxhall Stock Grazing Association, said in an interview.

“So now the MD is in this situation where they have all this land, and there’s of course, all these different pressures on them.”

He said council has told the association it has received inquiries about all of the native prairie grasslands in the MD that are used for grazing.

“We’re just hoping to make things work for everybody, of course. But at the end of the day, there needs to be a fair deal, and there needs to be the recognition of those leaseholder rights that have been there for as long as these lands have been (tax-recovery) seized, really. The changes to these leases have massive impacts.”

The post Conservation groups enter grazing lease debate appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The enhanced Private Land Conservation Program and the new Ecosystems Grant Program will enable better protection of natural areas across the province, while allowing landowners to use their land for farming and ranching, the province has said.

A mid-July news released added that private landowners in Alberta are strong supporters of conservation and have conserved more than 142,000 acres since 2019.

Many landowners have been asking for more flexible conservation programs to help them make a living while still protecting the land.

The Private Land Conservation Program is a redux of the Land Trust Grant Program. Funding will be distributed to Alberta-based land trusts only, a move meant to keep money meant for conservation in the province.

The province argued that the new term conservation easements will allow maximum flexibility for future landowners while still protecting the environment.

Term conservation easements last up to 50 years.

The new Ecosystem Services Grant Program helps landowners cover the costs of maintaining conservation lands, according to the mid-July release. The province added that grasslands, riparian areas and wetlands provide ecosystems services that support all residents of Alberta.

Applications are being accepted for both the Private Land Conservation Program and the Ecosystem Services Grant Program until Oct. 1, 2025. Details on how to apply and eligibility are available on www.alberta.ca

The post Alberta announces $10 million to land conservation programs appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

It’s coming in the form of new “key biodiversity area” designations, denoting they’re home to species at risk in this rapidly vanishing landscape.

Key biodiversity area designations are part of an international effort to identify and contribute to protecting these natural resources. In Canada, participants include federal, provincial, territorial and Indigenous governments and wildlife groups such as Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, Birds Canada and the Alberta Wilderness Association.

Although KBAs are relatively new and don’t infer any legal protection, they have helped focus support and funding in ways that can benefit both farmers and wildlife. Some foundations in Canada are prioritizing environmental grants to action within KBAs.

“Canada’s prairies are highly endangered and under intense pressure from agricultural, industrial and urban development,” said Ruiping Luo, a conservation specialist with the Alberta Wilderness Association.

“They are also one of the least protected ecosystems in the country.”

Luo said the new biodiversity areas recognize some of the most extensive and unique remaining prairie ecosystems and help identify areas of focus for conservation and protection.

Species that benefit from these habitats include the threatened swift fox (approximate 647 remaining individuals), and the Weidemeyer’s admiral butterfly, which inhabits just 13 locations across Canada, as well as extensive habitat for grassland birds.

The new KBAs include:

• Onefour-Lost River-Sage Creek

• Prairie Pastures

• Writing-on-Stone

• Cypress Hills

• Pakowki Lake and Sandhill

• Milk River-Pinhorn

Luo said success depends on co-operation from landowners and leaseholders, and there can be a variety of responses from these stakeholders, ranging from enthusiastic endorsement to outright suspicion.

However, he said that when conservation efforts are carefully designed, they can both enhance natural habitat and bolster the bottom line of agrcultural operators.

”We have had strong allies from ranchers and producers who care about the land and want to protect the ecosystem and biodiversity,” said Luo.

Luo noted rotational grazing can increase carrying capacity for ranchers and improve pastures, while also creating variation in grass height that helps wildlife thrive.

On cropland, there have been efforts to restore unproductive portions of fields to natural habitat, creating patches that benefit native wildlife while also improving nearby soils and improving the farmer’s profitability by removing input use in places where it will never create a return on investment.

On native prairie ecosystems, efforts help with water retention, which mitigates flood and drought conditions, and also provide nutrient cycling and filtering of some toxins from water and air. They also create important habitat for pollinators and insects beneficial to crops.

There’s little doubt human activity can have a dramatic effect on wildlife populations. Passenger pigeons, at their peak, were estimated to number between three and five billion, covering a range extending from the southern Prairies to Nova Scotia and south to Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. After just a century of human contact, the last known living specimen died in 1914 at the Cincinnati Zoo.

Similar trends, albeit on a smaller scale, are emerging in prairie habitats, where grassland bird populations have dropped by 67 per cent since 1970.

The greater sage grouse is one example. It’s Canada’s most endangered bird, with only about 200 in Canada, which represents a 98 per cent decline in its population in the past 44 years.

“If we don’t act, these species could vanish from the landscape within a generation,” said Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne, a director for KBA Canada.

“Species decline can be extremely fast when habitat is lost.”

Biodiversity disruption doesn’t just hurt individual species; it can harm entire ecosystems. Pollinators can be lost, water infiltration lowered, soil health harmed and other cascading effects.

When biodiversity is disrupted, the effects cascade past individual species and into whole ecosystems.

Canada is among the countries with the highest proportion of intact ecosystems, which are mostly in Canada’s northern region. However, they are rapidly losing ground, especially in places such as the grasslands.

Producers who are interested in exploring habitat improvement can access funding and support through programs such as MultiSAR and Cows and Fish.

The post New biodiversity areas identified for western grasslands appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“It’s the largest piece of fescue grasslands remaining on the planet. It’s a significant place. And it’s still intact because of the great work that the Thrall family, and the McIntyres before them, have done concerning those grasslands and ranching sustainably on them,” said Jeremy Hogan, director of Prairie Grassland Conservation for the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

Hogan said the easement took about five years to complete. Funders for the project include the government of Alberta, the Canadian government, corporate supporters such as Cenovus Energy, the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service and private funders such as the Gerald A. Cooper-Key Foundation and the Weston Family Foundation.

In February 2013, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, Ducks Unlimited Canada and Ralph Thrall III announced the start of a fundraising campaign to put a conservation easement on the ranch. They completed the campaign in April 2024. Thrall, general manager and chief executive officer of McIntyre Ranch, said he and his siblings had considered the idea of an easement for years. A conservation easement is a legal agreement that protects the natural value of the land through a voluntary agreement restricting land use change in perpetuity. The property can no longer be broken up. It can’t be converted to cropland, subdivided for acreages, or host solar panels or wind generators. The landowner continues to own the land and is still able to conduct their ranching business.

The McIntyre Ranch has an incredible range of native grasslands and over 1,000 hectares of wetlands. The property is home to over 150 species of birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles and fish. Twenty-seven species of concern can be found on the ranch, including the ferruginous hawk and the chestnut-collared longspur. It’s also home to important grassland songbird populations.

Preserving diversity

Thrall said the Nature Conservancy of Canada, through its conservation easements, is trying to preserve natural habitats and species diversity. Keeping cattle on the landscape helps keep the grasslands healthy and productive.

“The truth of cattle is that they are essential for wildlife and carbon sequestration,” said Thrall. Cattle are also a benefit for grassland health. Grasslands play an important part in the ecosystem, a role that’s often overlooked, he said.

“The fact is that the grasslands of Canada are every bit as important as the rainforests of South America. Eighty per cent of Canadian grasslands have been lost to farming, urbanization or industrial development. Every piece of conservation, all lands that are conserved, are important. We happen to be associated with one that is exceptionally large. We’re just proud of the fact that we are preserving grasslands for species diversity and wildlife habitat.”

Thrall runs about 3,000 cows. Calves are kept over winter, backgrounded and put on grass. “We also have a purebred Hereford and a purebred Red Angus herd of about 200 females, and our main herd is a crossbred herd of both breeds.”

Thrall said he and his siblings have had a very positive experience working with NCC and DUC.

“It’s a win-win for our family, a win-win for the ranch, and a win-win for organizations like the Nature Conservancy of Canada and Ducks Unlimited to create this easement. And it’s been a great challenge. The greater the challenge, the greater the reward. And this has been extremely rewarding for us.”

The NCC’s Hogan said it will be doing ecological monitoring, inventories of the plants and animals that live on the ranch and baseline assessments. “They will continue to operate, business as usual. Hopefully, we can support their stewardship practices. We’re working with Environment and Climate Change Canada to look at what the risks are on the ranch. And once those are identified, we’ll identify what stewardship actions would benefit those specific species and then we can help fundraise for them and find grant opportunities to pay for that kind of work.”

Thrall recommended that anyone who has questions about preserving their farm or ranch contact the NCC. It has launched the Prairie Grassland Action Plan to conserve 500,000 hectares of grassland by 2030. “That’s the number we chose based on the current rate of grassland loss in Canada,” Hogan said. “It’s important to know that only 20 per cent of Canada’s prairie grasslands remain.”

More information can be found at prairiegrasslands.ca.

The post Largest fescue ranch on Earth preserved appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The Grasslands Conservation Initiative is the product of joint discussions between the Canadian Cattle Association, Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

“It’s the scale of the issue that is hard to overcome,” said CCA vice-president Tyler Fulton about grassland loss. “Even for large entities like Ducks Unlimited and NCC, they have to pick and choose where they want to prioritize their dollars.”

About a quarter of original grasslands remain unbroken, but Fulton said Canada continues to lose nearly 150,000 acres a year to cultivation and urban expansion.

The core idea behind the partnership is to create a unified front in stemming loss of native pastures and to work with local land trusts and provincial stakeholder groups to reward producers for stewardship, said Fulton.

“It’s not just easements. What we are talking about are shorter-term agreements, one to five years, that would simply say, ‘if you are maintaining the grasslands in its current form and not draining or breaking the pasture, then we value that and we’re willing to pay you for that practice.’”

The initiative would also back medium-term arrangements and make it more economical for landowners to retain native and tame pastures.

Led by the CCA, the program aims to protect biodiversity while contributing to food security by keeping cattle on the land.

“As part of the conversations and policy making that happens, we think it’s pretty critical that biodiversity gets a step up,” said Fulton.

That’s a shift from other environmental policy, which now tends to focus on carbon emissions.

“It’s important to look at all the aspects of the sustainability of all industries,” says Fulton. “Where cattle really shine is in supporting biodiversity across a diverse landscape.”

The joint initiative aims to have $175 million annually to pursue its goals.

“When levered with other private sector conservation [non-governmental organizations] or even local land trusts, we think it’s entirely possible that we can stem the loss,” said Fulton.

“It is also the right time to do it.”

Higher beef prices are narrowing the gap between crop returns and cattle returns, he noted. That means more can be done with fewer dollars to convince farmers to keep their grasslands.

“We think we are in a good spot now to really start to tackle this.”

– Alex McCuaig is a reporter with the Western Producer.

The post Initiative aims to protect grasslands appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“We hear about people advocating for the need to eliminate livestock from agriculture production, basically without really understanding the negative connotations that would have,” the researcher said during a recent webinar.

“We really need to be thinking about how we’re going to integrate livestock [and] cropping systems together.”

McAllister is a principal research scientist at AAFC’s Lethbridge Research and Development Centre in Lethbridge. He has given scientific talks around the world on the sustainability of ruminant production systems and is developing guidelines for a quantitative biodiversity assessment of the livestock sector.

“Pretty well the entire grassland ecosystem of North America was occupied by between 30 and 60 million bison that were on the land,” he said. “And, of course, those were extirpated in a relatively short period of time, less than 20 years.”

The resulting lack of manure production removed a vital food source for arthropods (bugs like dung beetles), which in turn reduced food supply for birds and other predators up the food chain.

“It really had a devastating impact on the grassland ecosystem,” McAllister said.

Development of agriculture in North America then saw much of that natural grassland converted to farms and cultivated fields.

Those grasslands were a “huge store of carbon,” McAllister said.

He believes grazing cattle have a major role to play in sustaining the grasslands that remain, and those landscapes, in turn, are critical to meeting Canada’s climate change targets.

“Grazing cattle have many characteristics and behaviours in common with American bison,” he said. “They’re not absolutely identical, but identical enough that cattle can support a similar ecosystem.”

Good for one, good for the other

Biodiversity and the carbon cycle are intertwined, McAllister said, and greater biodiversity creates a more efficient carbon cycle. The type of grazing system impacts both. He pointed to a study done in Stavely, in the Porcupine Hills, to illustrate his point.

The study observed different levels of grazing over 60 years. Researchers monitored light and heavy continuous grazing, not rotational grazing. Despite that, McAllister noted, results showed how different management styles had different effects on soil carbon and emissions.

“With light continuous grazing, they end up with more emissions because the cattle are eating lower-quality forage than they would be with the heavy grazing condition,” said McAllister. “But when you look at the amount of soil carbon sequestration, it was higher with the light continuous grazing relative to the heavy continuous grazing.”

That same study showed that heavy grazing can have a negative effect on biodiversity, but McAllister linked that to lack of consideration for rotational management.

“It’s less clear what impact it would have if you had heavy grazing and then allowed the area to sit dormant or not be grazed in the following year, mimicking what the bison would have done, where they would heavily graze areas, move through, and maybe not return to that area for two or three years.”

If that aspect were studied, he would expect a more positive picture on the relationship between cattle and biodiversity.

By his measure, cattle are critically important to biodiverse grasslands. Cattle impact depends on what they eat and what comes out the back end, as well as how they trample what they don’t eat. All of this depends on management.

“At an optimal density, you have disturbance and trampling of nutrients, which alters the ecosystem as well as contributing to diverse plant communities both above ground and below ground through those root systems,” McAllister said.

“If they consume seeds, they’ll spread those seeds as well across the landscape at the same time, all helping to increase soil organic matter, which will increase that water holding capacity, fertility, and the ability to produce food from these lands.”

Manure “still plays a really important role in terms of nutrient cycling,” he added. “Taking cattle out of a grazing ecosystem will result in a reduction in biodiversity.”

Location, location, location

Continuous heavy grazing is not a recommended land management strategy, McAllister said in an interview with Glacier FarmMedia, but rotational grazing can encourage healthy biodiversity while replenishing carbon in the soil. It also delivers economic benefits through increased forage production, resilience and livestock-carrying capacity.

Rotational grazing strategies can differ depending on location.

“The key thing, if you’re going to use a rotational grazing system, is that you have to adapt it to consider the geological or geographical location you’re in,” McAllister said.

“In southern Alberta, on the southern grasslands, you might get rain in May and June, and it might not rain for the rest of the season. After you move the cattle off, there’s no sense in putting them back onto that paddock, because nothing is going to have grown.

That means rotational grazing is easier to implement in areas of higher rainfall, such as the eastern Prairies.

But it’s not impossible, according to one Manitoba farmer. Manitoba Forage and Grasslands Association board member Amber McNish also noted in recent years she hasn’t been able to rely on typical rain.

“We’ve come off some pretty dry years and drought-like conditions. So maybe that rest period is looking more like a whole season, 90 days, or you’re not going back until the next spring, when we’re getting more rainfall,” said McNish, who incorporates rotational grazing on her family’s 120-head operation in Lyleton, Man.

That compares to the more typical 60-day rest period that McNish says many rotational grazing operations have targeted in the past.

“You can go in early spring, and then you give it that 60-day rest, and you can still get in there before the snow comes in the winter.”

Making it work

McNish doesn’t discount the need to tweak rest lengths and movement frequency based on herd size and farmer goals.

“If you have a 300-head herd on a very large acreage, you’re not going to be moving them as often,” she noted.

In comparison, the prospect of moving a 20-head herd more often is more practical, and keeps cattle from constantly grazing regrowth.

Cows will opt for young, fresh growth over more mature plants, which starts a cycle in which plants have little time to recover before being chomped again.

If greater biodiversity is the goal, however, then hard, bison-emulating grazing might be a goal.

“You can graze right to the ground, essentially,” said McNish. “Then you give it that 90 days, or a full season’s rest, and when you go back the following year, you will have some really great regrowth.”

A more intensive graze also forces cattle to eat things they would normally walk past.

“There could be some quack grass that those cows have chosen never to eat for four years. But when they do that hard, heavy, intensive graze, it gives everything a fresh start to regrow,” McNish said. “So, you’ll see different plants thrive in that scenario because they’ve never been given that opportunity before.”

The holistic approach

In the end, McAllister said, it comes down to adopting a whole-system approach when balancing cattle pros and cons on the landscape. All food production systems come with trade-offs.

“If we have fewer cattle grazing land, we will have less methane, but we might have a reduction in plant biodiversity within grassland ecosystems,” he said.

A version of this article first appeared in the Manitoba Co-operator.

The post Turning back the clock with grazing appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.