News Release
August 2011 Update

Allowing grass recovery boosts stocking rates and reduces erosion
From the Missouri Sedimentation Action Coalition

Mimicking nature helps farmers and ranchers to be more productive and it keeps our Missouri River healthy.

In 1986, central Cherry County, Nebraska rancher John Ravenscroft gave himself 10 years to try land management that closely follows what Mother Nature intended by fostering the links between land, grazing animals and water. After three years, he was already convinced that holistic resource management made sense.

“We try not to get back to a pasture that’s grazed before it’s recovered,” he explained to a group of about  70 people touring his ranch this summer during a Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition and North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education event.

He described the grasses as being thicker on the ground, more varied and taller. Grama Grass that was four or five inches tall before, is nearly 18 inches tall today.

“It’s getting healthier,” he said.

Ron Bolze, coordinator of the Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition in Blair, Nebraska, describes the predominant land management technique in the area to be that of set stocking. Cattle are placed in pastures for five months, typically May through September, with little to no rotation.

“The Ravenscroft family has practiced Management Intensive Grazing (MiG) for 25 years wherein the cattle are only in a given pasture for 3-4 days, once per year. This stimulates greater cover on the soil surface and greater root development, which combined, catch an increased percentage of total rainfall in the soil and results in less runoff and sedimentation,” Bolze said.

John, his wife Cheryl, and sons Eric and Kevin, manage the Three Bar Ranch in central Cherry County, which sits atop the Ogallala Aquifer and lies in the sandhills about 20 miles south of the Niobrara River. Cattle are rotated throughout 28 paddocks, each with a watering source thanks to a submergible pump powered by a diesel generator. Calving was moved to May instead of March. Today, the ranch puts up a quarter of the amount of hay. Cattle are grazing the meadows that were once put up as hay. A herd of goats helps control the leafy spurge. Three Bar Ranch also stocks certified organic cattle.

Managing includes planning and budgeting. Ravenscroft adds with a grin: “Rain is the biggest requirement.” Flexibility and watching what’s happening is important.

“Whatever you plan isn’t going to work. You make adjustments as you go along,” Ravenscroft said.

Over time, the Ravenscrofts have been able to nearly double the cattle inventory or stocking rates.

Bolze added that this has created greater economic opportunity allowing bringing two sons back into the operation and produced greater community benefits with a greater need for community services.

“The Niobrara River watershed benefits with less rain water runoff and less sedimentation into the river,” Bolze said.

Overgrazing, especially along stream banks, leads to erosion. Research shows that one steer on a creek bank for 100 days will do much more damage than 100 steers on the same creek bank for one day. At the Three Bar Ranch, cattle graze near the Snake River, Boardman and Gordon creeks, only twice per year for a total of four or five days.

The Niobrara River dumps about 60 percent of the sediment entering Lewis and Clark Lake, the smallest reservoir on the Missouri River Main Stem System. In fact, by the year 2045 researchers expect 50 percent of the lake’s storage capacity to be filled with sediment.  Currently, more than 30 percent of the lake is taken up with accumulated sand and silt.

Beginning in Wyoming, the Niobrara River runs nearly 560 miles and meets the Missouri River just upstream of Lewis and Clark Lake and west of the City of Niobrara, Nebraska. Early in 2011, the community faced flooding even prior to the historic flooding up and down the river this summer. Correcting problems plaguing Highway 12 have been underway for several years. This summer the community was nearly an island with highway access closed on the east and west sides along with the closure of the bridge north to South Dakota. Access reopened the week of August 22.

“The delta formed at the confluence is causing increased surface water flooding, increased groundwater levels, water quality and water supply problems for municipal water intakes and recreation access problems,” according to WEST Consultants, Inc., of Tempe, Arizona, in their report to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dated February 2010.

Their analysis indicates that 80 percent of the sediment from the Niobrara River basin comes from channel bank or gully erosion, with the remainder coming from overland erosion. Sediment coming from the Niobrara River cannot be completely eliminated, but the report finds that the most cost effective strategies to reduce the load are stream bank stabilization measures. A large majority of the sediment comes from the watershed below the Gordon area. A forested north bank upstream of Lewis and Clark Lake is a major source of erosion, according to WEST Consultants report dated November 2010.

The Missouri Sedimentation Action Coalition maintains that accumulating sediment in the Missouri River reservoirs has contributed to the historic flooding along the Missouri River and it diminishes all the benefits the main stem system produces.  Annually, the system creates more than $1 billion in benefits, including hydropower, water supply, flood control, recreation and navigation.

MSAC, a nonprofit organization with members including cities, counties, states, individuals, businesses, water districts and organizations, supports efforts to reduce sediment coming into the reservoirs by practicing sound land management. Not only does reducing sediment extend the life of the reservoirs, it also creates a cleaner water supply. Soil washed off fields is known to carry pollutants to nearby lakes or streams. Overgrazing exposes soils and increases erosion along with destroying stream banks, and vegetation important to water quality filtration.

MSAC invites you to learn more. Visit us at the South Dakota State Fair in Huron, September 1 -5. Our booth and video presentations are located in the Arts and Education Building. Also visit our website: www.msaconline.com .    

 
 Cattle at the Ravenscroft Ranch. Each of the 28 paddocks
 has a watering source. (July 2011/MSAC Photo)

Howard Paul, technical coordinator email: hpaul@sio.midco.net
1511 Holiday Drive
Canton, SD 57013 (605)987-4165 (605)770-0998