Landowner Spurs Study of Warm Season Grasses

It all started with a simple question. “Are there recommendations for using warm season grasses to extend the grazing season?”

This question put in motion a series of events that led to a field trial and the development of guidelines for the use of warm season grasses in eastern Montana.

Wayne Berry considers himself a grass farmer. When it comes to the management of his ranch near Fairview, forage production is one of the main decision-making factors. In fact, Berry has seeded nearly all of the tillable land on his property back to permanent forage for grazing.

Berry’s keen interest in producing high quality, high quantity forage is what triggered further investigation into warm season grasses. “We needed some later maturing grasses to run heifers on during the fall breeding season when grasses that grow during the spring and early summer are gone,” said Berry.

He turned to the local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for advice about planting warm season grasses. Big bluestem, switchgrass, and sideoats grama are a few warm season grasses more commonly seen in South Dakota and Nebraska than in northeastern Montana, although it is not outside their potential growth range.

At that time, NRCS had not tested the adaptation and performance of warm season grasses in Montana. The agency set up a field evaluation planting on Berry’s ranch. The planting compared the performance of warm season native and introduced pasture plants to more commonly used cool-season species. For NRCS, the evaluation had more far-reaching implications than extending the grazing season. The successful establishment of warm season grasses could also increase species diversity in the revegetation of deteriorated rangelands, mine reclamation, and conservation practices applied through farm bill programs.

The plots of warm season grasses set up for field evaluation on Wayne Berry's ranch.

The NRCS plant materials program designed, planted, and evaluated the planting from May 1994 through the 2002 growing season. The purpose of the plant materials program is to provide native plants that can help solve natural resource problems. Scientists at the Plant Materials Center (PMC) in Bridger, Montana, seek out plants that show promise for meeting an identified conservation need and test their performance in various environments. They then develop culture techniques for the plants’ successful establishment and use by land managers. After species are proven, they are released to the private sector for commercial production. The work at the center is carried out cooperatively with state and federal agencies, commercial businesses, and seed and nursery associations.

In this case, PMC scientists planted 56 different types of grasses, forbs, and shrubs to be evaluated for field emergence, plant vigor, basal cover, and biomass production over nine years. The seed came from many sources, including commercial outlets, the Agricultural Research Service, and the Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, North Dakota, New Mexico, and Washington NRCS plant materials programs.

“The diversity of the potential plants really got me interested,” said Berry of participating in the field study. “I wanted to see what they would do and watch how they grow, how livestock utilizes them, and how this might establish a seed bank of different plants on the ranch.”

During the study, PMC plant scientists visited the site regularly to collect data. However, the site also provided a “fun learning laboratory,” as Berry put it, for many other groups. As a professor at Dickinson State University and a farmer, Berry gets to do what he teaches and he has shared this project with his students, the local conservation district, the North Dakota NRCS biological sciences staff, two Chinese research teams, and neighbors through multiple tours.

A tour of the field evaluation planting on Berry's ranch led by Larry Holzworth, plant materials specialist for the NRCS in Montana.

Berry’s experience in range science was also vital to the success of the field study. As part of the project, an observational nursery of warm season grasses and cool season grasses was planted. Due to his proximity to the planting, Berry was recruited to observe and interpret several characteristics frequently throughout the growing season, including stand establishment, seeding mixture interactions, and grazing preference.

The conclusion that can be drawn from both plantings is that adapted warm season grasses and grass/legume/forb mixtures can be successfully established and managed to extend the “green period” in eastern Montana dryland pastures.

The answer to the question that started it all is: yes. As a result of the field study, NRCS has since added guidelines for including warm season grasses in conservation plantings. The addition of these plants has allowed for more diverse plantings, which benefits range health, wildlife habitat, and forage production.

“We don’t have a resident deer population on our ranch, but a herd of deer moved in and spent the winter in the stubble of the warm season grasses,” said Berry. “Now I’m looking seriously at establishing a stand of big bluestem in an area not suitable for farming that will provide habitat for pheasants and grazing for livestock.”

Berry sees warm season grasses as versatile plants with a phenomenal grazing capacity. However, he says, there is still some learning to do about managing these grasses using animal impact. For example, livestock seem to select the more immature grasses in a mixture of warm and cool season grasses, thus damaging the warm season species. Also, warm season grasses can become overgrown and unpalatable with no grazing pressure.

Overall, Berry sees the field study as a good test of just what can grow out there and how it grows.

Learn more about this field study by reading the Wayne Berry Comparative Evaluation Planting Performance Summary 1994 to 2002.

Contact your local NRCS field office for more information about participating in NRCS conservation programs.

Last Modified: 06/26/2007