Karlen Grassland Management Project

2002 Project Report Karlen Grassland Management Project
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The Paddock sizes have ranged from fourteen acres to thirty acres for every three days of grazing. When the transects were set up, we moved the wire cage that was placed the previous year to show the amount of forage if grazing did not occur. We move it every year.
Due to the lack of precipitation in the beginning of the grazing season, there was less available forage and regrowth. The cattle have gained weight from 1200 lbs to an average of 1270 lbs. The cows looked very good when they came off the pasture. If you looked at the pasture you would think the cows would be skinny, but they were not by any means.
The water system worked very well this year. Mostly all of the kinks had been worked out the previous year. Occasionally, the water would overflow in a few areas or the cows would break the pipeline where it was connected by a clamp, but they were minor problems that did not last long. We did not graze as long as we had predicted to due to the lack of precipitation, but that goes for most operations in South Dakota this year. Towards the end of the grazing season it started to rain quite a bit. The grass will have a very good start for next year.
The Karlen Grassland Management & Planning Project tour was held on August 8, 2002 at 9:30 AM at the Karlen Family Partnership ranch's project pasture. We had a turn out of approximately twenty- five producers and guests attending. A presentation was given about the project with many questions from the audience. Farm Credit Services of America served lunch in Kennebec and a water sample demonstration was presented following the tour.
Once again thank you to all our sponsors: American Creek Conservation District USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service SD Dept. of Agriculture South Dakota State University US Fish & Wildlife Service SD Grasslands Coalition SD Dept. of Environmental & Natural Resources SD Association of Conservation Districts SD Game Fish & Parks Farm Credit Services of America