Pasture Cohabitation

OMAHA (DTN) -- "There is no such thing as a new idea," Mark Twain wrote. Supporting that theory are some practices popular in agriculture today that are simply old ideas, revived; using cover crops and grazing different livestock species together are two examples.

Producers who graze cattle could also graze small ruminants (sheep or goats) on the same land to create another revenue stream, use plant species more efficiently and even improve their pastures or rangeland.

SEVERAL BENEFITS

Dave Ollila, a field sheep specialist for South Dakota State University Extension at the Rapid City Regional Center, said those who commingle cattle and small ruminants could see several benefits. The obvious plus would be that adding another enterprise to the operation creates more income, he said.

"The old rule is one can have one cow and you can add one ewe without affecting the grazing rate and that is still true today," Ollila told DTN.

Ollila points out sheep also have high rates of twinning and triplets so the lamb crop is well over 100% a year, maybe as high as 185%. Cattle, on the other hand, tend to only have one offspring a year.

Dan Morrical, Iowa State University Extension sheep specialist, said producers who graze two species together can expect to see an increase in output per acre of 10% to 25%.

"That is a pretty good positive increase," Morrical said.

On the rangelands and pastures of the western half of South Dakota, grazing both cattle and small ruminants can also have a positive effect on plants.

While cattle tend to graze on grass, sheep and goats will graze other plant species such as alfalfa and vetch. Ollila said more plants in the rangeland can be used with more species of grazing animals.

In addition, sheep and goats can also help control invasive plants such as buckbrush and leafy spurge. Grazing small ruminants that eat these invasive plants will help limit the growth of undesirable plants, he said.

Also, by grazing both animal species one would have built-in protectors for the sheep, which are susceptible to predators, Ollila said. Coyotes might be less likely to try to go after sheep or goats grazing with cattle.

MORE FENCING

The downside to commingling would come in the form of changed fencing needs, different management for cattle versus the small ruminants and breaking social norms.

Ollila said producers would need to alter their fences, adding strands of barbed wire to make their fences 4 or 5 strands or adding woven wire to their barbed wire fences. These additional fencing needs would come at a financial cost for producers, he said.

Management of a flock of small ruminants would be different than managing a cattle herd, Morrical said.

"I think some people might look at sheep as little cows with wool," he said. "There are not and they need to be managed differently at times, compared to cattle."

Few producers in Iowa commingle cattle with sheep and goats, Morrical said. Off the top of his head, he could only think of a couple producers who are doing this.

Compared to rangeland and its variety of plant species, Iowa pastures do not contain that many species. This lack of different plants could lead to competition for the grass if commingling is not managed correctly, he said.

Iowa cattleman who would graze small ruminants with their cattle would have to overcome a bit of negative peer pressure to some extent compared to other regions where commingling is more common. Grazing both together is not the norm and those who try it could be looked at differently by others in their communities, he said.

"You could be the talk at the local coffee shop," Morrical said.

FEWER SHEEP

Steve Clements' family has grazed both cattle and sheep on their ranch near Philip, South Dakota, since coming to the region in 1907. Clements and his wife, Pamela, graze 300 cows and 300 ewes on their west-central South Dakota operation.

His experience grazing both cattle and sheep is they will eat different plants and cattle will only eat parts of plants while sheep will eat the whole plant. Cattle, for instance, will graze on the western wheatgrass while sheep will eat the buffalo grass which grows "under" the wheatgrass, he said.

Clements said in the past he has had issues with weeds in rangeland and the sheep have controlled the spread of these unwanted plants. He specifically mentioned curly dock weeds; if he grazed those weeds right before the plants went to seed the sheep eat the whole plant and this limits weeds in the coming growing season.

While grazing both cattle and sheep was a practice common in his area in years past, today many ranches still have cattle but eliminated sheep.

"Years ago we probably had 20,000 ewes within maybe 50 miles of us," Clements told DTN. "Today I would guess that number is probably only 1,000 head of ewes."

Clements, who is on the board of directors for the South Dakota Sheep Growers Association and co-chair of the predator management committee for the American Sheep Industry Association (ASI), said there are a couple different reasons sheep numbers have fallen.

For starters, issues with predators have caused some ranchers to reconsider if they really want to graze sheep, which are easier targets for predators than cattle are. Clements uses two guard dogs that always stay with the sheep and keep a look out for coyotes.

In addition, many producers in his area are getting older and one way to slowly cut back would be to continue to graze cattle but eliminate grazing sheep. With the price of cattle where it is, producers who want to continue to operate will decide to keep the cattle and take the sheep to the sale barn, he said.

Clements said he thinks cattle numbers will stay steady in his region and he hopes sheep numbers stay steady or maybe even increase in the coming years. However, he knows this could be a difficult goal to achieve.

"In our area, sheep numbers are not likely to increase but east of the (Missouri) River there is probably more sheep there anymore than out here," he said. "At least back there they can utilize crop residues which we don't have."

Russ Quinn can be reached at russ.quinn@dtn.com

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