Meristem: Beef Science

Peace River region beef producers will have opportunity again this year to evaluate several on-farm demonstration projects designed to improve both the quality and quantity of forage production.

The demonstrations are co-ordinated through the Peace River Forage Association (PRFA) with support from the Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Program for Canadian Agriculture (GHGMP). Launched in 2004 and continued in 2005, the projects will show how to stockpile conditioned, standing forage for fall use, use cattle to control brush regrowth, get more use from annual forages, and use cattle in early summer to manage an oat crop used for swath grazing.

"These are relatively simple techniques intended to produce more and better quality forage later in the year," says Julie Robinson, forage co-ordinator with PRFA based in Dawson Creek, B.C.

The beef section of GHGMP a national program, administered by the Canadian Cattlemen's Association (CCA), helps fund dozens of on-farm demonstration projects across the country. The projects are designed to raise producer awareness about production practices that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"The practices not only improve forage and livestock productivity, but at the same time can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions produced by beef cattle," says Robinson. For more details on the demonstrations and GHGMP program visit the CCA Web site at www.cattle.ca, click on the Stewardship button and follow the links.

Productive forages and pastures, and healthy soils, for example, help capture carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and store it as carbon in the soil. Improved feed efficiency and feed quality helps reduce the amount of methane produced by livestock. And even swathing feed in the summer for cattle to graze on in winter, reduces the amount of tractor and feed truck operating time, which helps reduce emissions produced from burning fossil fuels, while significantly reducing feed costs for producers.

"In our demonstration, the stockpiled forage was grazed from October to December and showed very high quality," says Robinson. "There was even enough forage left to be used as early spring pasture in April."

Seeding disturbed soil after logging and proper grazing management are tools to prevent poplar regrowth from choking out grass, she says. As the demonstration continues through 2005, the plan is to create a deferred rotational grazing system so paddocks aren't grazed at the same time every year.

The PRFA will also demonstrate a dual-purpose cereal silage crop again this year. The barley is cut once for silage and the aftermath is used later in the year for extended fall grazing.

Often barley silage is viewed as a one-time harvest opportunity in July, explains Robinson, but in this project, regrowth on a 40-acre barley field provided a full month of grazing through September.

A similar demonstration project in 2005 plans to use cattle to condition oats to produce high quality forage for swath grazing in the fall. Cattle will graze the oats for about two weeks in mid-June and then the regrowth will be swathed in the fall and grazed in late fall and winter.

All demonstrations are designed to improve forage and beef productivity, and at the same time benefit the environment.

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