The Sip management intensive grazing system is being implemented on a 231 acre pasture in Charles Mix county. The silty ecological site which is prevalent throughout the pasture is a good represenation of rangeland in this county.

The primary plant species within the pasture are brome grass, sedges, bluegrass, and intermediate wheatgrass. Limited amounts of western wheatgrass, big bluestem and switchgrass are also present. The goal of the grazing management program is to increase the livestock production level of the pasture by increasing forage quantity and quality.

The cattle that graze in the system are yearling steers. Steers are turned out on the pasture in April and May and removed in August or September. When pasture condition improves to where fall regrowth becomes substantial enough, Sip intends to bring his cow herd on to the pasture to winter graze this regrowth.

Eight paddocks were created within the pasture with a single strand of high-tensile electric wire. Paddock sizes vary in size from approximately 20 to 35 acres. Within the eight paddocks, the amount of grazing area needed by the cattle each day is created by running a poly wire fence off of the high-tensile fence.

By using the poly wire fences to create the daily grazing allowance, Sip is able to respond to changes in forage availability throughout the grazing season and changes in forage availability from one year to the next.

The water sources in the pasture are two 800 gallon tanks located at the intersections of the two groups of four paddocks. Water is delivered to these tanks by 3500 feet of above ground line from a rural water tap located in the far southeastern corner of the pasture.

The effectiveness of the grazing management system is evaluated by monitoring a number of soil, plant, and animal variables. A soil variable of particular interest is water infiltration rate because it is a measure of the soil's ability to absorb and store moisture. The benefits of increased water infiltration rates are that there are greater levels of soil moisture available to support plant growth and the reduced surface runoff reduces the amount of soil erosion which occurs.

The infiltration rates in Paddock #4 for the first and second inches of rainfall were determined to be 1 minute:35 seconds, and 7 minutes:21 seconds, respectively. For Paddock #8, the infiltration rates for the first and second inches of rainfall were determined to be 6 minutes and 6 seconds, and 46 minutes, respectively.

Soil tests indicated that the site in Paddock #8 contained extremely high sodium levels (269 ppm) and this was probably one of the main causes of the low infiltration rates.