and that determines what you should be doing, stocking- wise. Rayburn suggests consulting the USDA web soil survey to get an idea of what the soil is in your area. “The web soil survey lets you go to a point in a
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pasture and tells you what the USDA estimates the soil is. It describes it, how deep it is, etc. To really learn more about the soil, ask an NRCS scientist to explain it to you,” Rayburn suggests, “or ask them to look at your soil in person.” Once you get into it, it’s really quite interesting, he
says. “I tell ranchers, you know the pedigrees of your bulls and, if it’s a purebred herd, the pedigrees of your cows. Reading your soil survey is not any different. It’s the pedigree of your soil.” Ferguson says the soil condition is all part of the
pasture management plan. “What cattle are best for your pasture boils down to the species of forage avail- able for consumption, and that links to the soil.” The interest in soil health is growing, and the Sam-
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tive, while shallow soil may only produce half the amount of forage. History of the soil is also a consid- eration, notes Ferguson, adding that former cropland often will not produce as much forage as land that was not used for crop production. Once a producer has a grasp on the soil, Ferguson
suggests measuring the amount of forage in the pasture. “Measure forage by pasture and by plant community. Keep in mind the key grazing areas that cattle tend to migrate to.” He suggests clipping and measuring forage twice a
year, around mid-June and mid-October. “If you have grazing cages set up, you can measure how many pounds of forage you grew during the peak growing times. If you do this enough, you will begin to train yourself to accurately look at the pasture and know how many pounds of forage you have available.” He also suggests taking pictures of the ground and
making notes of how many pounds of forage are in the photo. “Know your product. Know how to manage it. Know how to monitor it.” To determine how much forage you have, see page
83 for the method to collect samples and the formula to determine pounds of forage.
74 The Cattleman February 2014
thecattlemanmagazine.com
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