Comparisons of stocking rates across sites can be facilitated by calculating grazing pressure. We used peak standing crop and stocking rates from six studies in the North American Great Plains

Authors arerangescienrist USDA-ARS, Fort Keogh Livestockand Range Research Loboratory, Miles City, Mont. 59301; research animal scientist USDA-ARS, Forage and Livestock Research Laboratory, El Reno, Okla. 73036; range ecologist USDI-BLM, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore. 97331; range scientist and research leader, and range scientist (retired) USDA-ARS, Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory, Miles City, Mont. 59301. Abstract Impacts of 7 range treatments and climate on late spring herbage standing crops (SC) were measured in rangelands near Miles City, Mont., from 1983 to 1990. Treatments, established in 8 pastures at 2 sites, were: (1) untreated control + season long grazing (SL); (2) soil tillage (ST) + SL; (3) ST + drill seeding legumes (DS) + SL; (4) brush control (BC) + ST + DS + switchback grazing (utilizing 2 pastures); (5) BC + ST + DS + SL; (6) ST + nitrogen fertilization + SL; and (7) contour furrowing (CF) + aerial seeding legumes + SL. Data were analyzed using years as a repeated measure. Treatments increased (prO.05) total SC 320 kg/ha over controls, but did not affect species/species group composition. Treated pastures produced similar (p10.10) SC of 881 kg/ha. Total SC averaged 490 kg/ha more (p10.05) in 1983,1986,1987,1989, and 1990 than in 1984,1985, and 1988. Perennial cool-season grass SC was greatest in 1986 (651 kg/ha). Peak annual grass SC (337-506 kg/ha) occurred in 1983 and 1984, the 2 years following ST or CF, and 1989 and 1990, the 2 years following severe drought. Although regression analyses showed fall, winter, and spring precipitation and temperature were closely related to spring SC, less than 50% of the variation in SC was accounted for when precipitation and temperature were summed on a l-month, 2-month, or 3-month basis. Above-average fall and spring precipitation (September and April) resulted in the greatest total SC. Species composition varied temporally with changing weather conditions and management strategies.

Interseeding annual warm‐season grasses into pastureland dominated by perennial cool‐season grasses may be a strategy to reduce shortage of forage. Field trials were conducted at three Nebraska (Mead, North Platte, and Sidney) and two Kansas (Hays and Mound Valley) locations in 2015–2016 (10 environments) to evaluate forage production responses to six interseeded annual warm‐season grass—corn (Zea mays L.), forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench), pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum [L.] R. Br.), sudangrass (S. bicolor [L.] Moench ssp. drummondii [Nees ex Steud.] de Wet & Harlan), a sorghum–sudangrass hybrid (S. bicolor × S. bicolor var. sudanense), and an unseeded control—and two harvest frequency (once at 90 d and twice at 45 and 90 d after interseeding) treatments. Across environments, total forage accumulation was 146–214% and 100–102% greater in sudangrass and sorghum–sudangrass interseeded than unseeded pastures when harvested once and twice after interseeding, respectively. In smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss.) pastures, interseeding sudangrass and sorghum–sudangrass increased forage accumulation in both years at Mead but in only one year at North Platte. In tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum [Schreb.] Darbysh.) pastures, interseeding forage sorghum and sorghum–sudangrass increased forage accumulation by 103–211% relative to unseeded pastures. Interseeding annual warm‐season grasses presents an effective strategy to increase forage accumulation in humid pasturelands harvested once or twice after interseeding (Mead and Mound Valley). In semiarid pasturelands, forage responses to interseeding will vary from year‐to‐year depending on timing and amount of precipitation, but forage accumulation can be significant.

can be harvested with only a slight depression in yields (Redmon et al., 1995). Either option leaves a forage Hard red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a major cooldeficit period until warm-season perennial grasses are season forage that couples with warm-season perennials to provide livestock feed in the Southern Plains. Productivity and quality of available for grazing in mid summer. wheat forage declines in April, creating a forage deficit period until Sapra et al. (1973) reported that forage production warm-season perennial grasses are available. Other cool-season anof triticale, a cross between wheat and rye (Secale cereale nual grasses with different growth patterns may provide growth during L.), was equal to that of wheat, barley (Hordeum vulgare this period to fill this forage deficit. A field experiment was conducted L.), and rye. Triticale also was productive later in the on Brewer silty clay (fine, mixed, superactive, thermic Udertic Argiusspring than wheat in the southeastern USA. Brown and toll) from 1994 to1997 to compare seasonal forage production patterns Almodares (1976), Finker and Fuehring (1974), and and yield and quality of winter wheat, triticale (ϫ Triticosecale rim-Prato et al. (1971) observed greater fluctuation in grain paui Wittm.) and ϫ Elytricum spp. (Triticum aestivum ϫ Elytrigia yield and protein in triticale than was reported for wheat spp. 'OK-906'). Aboveground whole-plant biomass during late fall and other small grains in other geographical areas. Forand early spring were greater for wheat than elytricum, but this trend was reversed in late spring and early summer. Average growing degree Abbreviations: IVDMD, in vitro dry matter disappearance; N, urea N. Published in Crop Sci

Irrigated cool‐season perennial grasses are becoming an important complementary forage source in the Central Plains. A study was conducted to evaluate effects of clipping stubble height on dry matter (DM) production, growth rate, tiller density, and nutrient content of smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss.) orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.), creeping foxtail (Alopecurus arundinaceus Poir.), and meadow bromegrass (Bromus riparius Rhem.) under irrigated conditions on a Cozad silt loam soil (fine‐silty, mixed, mesic Typic Haplustoll). Clipping treatments (35‐cm canopy height cut to 7‐, 14‐, and 21‐cm stubble heights) were applied to monoculture plots of these species for two growing seasons in a randomized complete block design. Stubble height effects on total DM production varied by species (P < 0.05). For orchardgrass and meadow bromegrass, DM production was similar at the 14‐ and 21‐cm stubble heights (22.22 Mg ha−1), but significantly greater than production at the 7‐cm stubble height (14.03 Mg ha−1). In contrast, DM production of smooth bromegrass and creeping foxtail was significantly greater at each successively higher stubble height. End‐of‐season tiller density of the 7‐cm stubble height treatment was about 50% of the tiller density of the 14‐cm and 21‐cm stubble height treatments. Stubble height effects on nutritive value varied by species and clipping period. Stubble height did not affect crude protein (CP) content of creeping foxtail, but CP was lower at the 7‐cm height for the other species. Defoliation strategies that maintain adequate residual herbage will optimize production of nutrient dense forage and maintain tiller density.