permaculture

[Mark <mpludwig@facstaff.wisc.edu>]

I know Laura Paine pretty well, she's very sharp and practical.
> M




> Jim,
>
> You are right.  The nesting cycle of an average grassland bird is about 4 to
> 5 weeks and the peak of the nesting season coincides with the spring flush.
> So, we do get a relatively high level of nest mortality.  In one of our
> studies, we looked at setting aside a group of paddocks as a 'nesting
> refuge' for about 6 weeks.  The producers we worked with cut these paddocks
> for hay after July 1.  The hay was pretty low quality, but later in the
> season, these paddocks had higher quality than those in their regular
> rotations.  This also fits in with some of the thinking on fallowing that
> some graziers are doing.
>
> As I mentioned in an earlier post, in the bigger picture, a 250 acre farm
> under grass is going to provide more and higher quality habitat than a
> conventional crop/alfalfa type dairy or livestock farm.  So, even with
> intensive grazing management and high nest mortality, you're still coming
> out ahead because you have a lot more nest sites.  And with the refuge,
> things look really good for those meadowlarks and bobolinks!
>
> I'd be glad to send you a packet of information.  What's your address?
>
> Kindest regards,
> Laura
>
> Laura Paine
> Crops and Soils Agent
> Columbia County Extension
> 120 West Conant Street
> PO Box 567
> Portage, WI   53901-0567
> phone: 608/742-9682
> fax: 608/742-9862
> email: laura.paine@ces.uwex.edu
>
> An EEO/Affirmative Action Employer, UW-Extension provides equal
> opportunities in employment and programming, including Title IX and ADA
> requirements
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: James Ahrens [mailto:jahrens@coin.org]
> Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 10:32 AM
> To: grazersedge@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RE: [grazersedge] CRP vs grazing
>
>
> Laura,
> Is it possible to get a paper copy of the riparian area grazing comparison
> study?
> It seems to me that on my farm at least MIG can have a big impact on
> ground nesting birds. If the goal is to maintain pastures in a vegetative
> state and you have a livestock density of 20,000 LW/A the ground nesting
> birds dont have time to complete a cycle. If you want to favor ground
> nesting birds wont you have to allow the pasture to "mature" at some point
> in the growing season?
> Jim Ahrens
> West Branch, IA
>
> On Mon, 11 Nov 2002, Laura.Paine wrote:
>
> > Hello everyone,
> >
> > I'm not aware of any direct comparisons of CRP and MiG, but there have
> been
> > several studies looking at conversion of former CRP fields into pasture.
> > The results of these vary, probably more as a result of the grazing
> > management practices than anything else.  A study done in NY showed no
> > difference in erosion, one done in Missouri showed no erosion differences,
> > but increases in runoff when CRP fields were grazed or hayed, one in
> Wyoming
> > showed more erosion.  This makes the point that this is all site specific
> > and management specific, but one thing that everyone can agree on, I
> think,
> > is that both CRP and MiG are significantly better than crop ground, even
> > no-till crop ground.
> >
> > Here in Wisconsin, we compared grazed vs. ungrazed/buffered riparian areas
> > and found that streambanks that had well-managed grazing applied
> controlled
> > erosion as well as grassy buffer strips and had less erosion than
> unmanaged
> > streambanks that had been allowed to grow up to trees.
> >
> > We also found in several of our studies that more species of grassland
> birds
> > are attracted to the habitat structure created by grazed or harvested
> > grasslands than attracted to unmanaged grasslands, including CRP fields.
> >
> > The take home message here is that well-managed pasture is vastly superior
> > to any other cropping system in terms of conservation value.  And that
> areas
> > set aside specifically for conservation and wildlife purposes can often be
> > improved using well-managed grazing.
> >
> > Here's a website that has some information on grasslands and wildlife:
> >
> > http://www.fb-net.org/FB/workshop/CRP-wild.htm
> >
> > Hope that's what you were looking for, Russ!
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Laura
> >
> > Laura Paine
> > Crops and Soils Agent
> > Columbia County Extension
> > 120 West Conant Street
> > PO Box 567
> > Portage, WI   53901-0567
> > phone: 608/742-9682
> > fax: 608/742-9862
> > email: laura.paine@ces.uwex.edu
> >
> > An EEO/Affirmative Action Employer, UW-Extension provides equal
> > opportunities in employment and programming, including Title IX and ADA
> > requirements
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Russ Thompson [mailto:pmfb@mwt.net]
> > Sent: Friday, November 08, 2002 7:13 AM
> > To: grazersedge@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: [grazersedge] CRP vs grazing
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > David McCartney wrote:
> >
> > > The information came from a grazing meeting I attended recently. One of
> > the
> > > speakers was the head of Michigan's NRCS. He presented a lot of brand
> new
> > > research data that has helped them to write new grazing standards for
> the
> > > state. Part of that info showed evidence that managed grazing lands had
> > more
> > > wildlife activity of certain species than did CRP ground.
> >
> > In Wisconsin studies have shown that CRP land results in
> > more erosion than managed grazing land.
> >      Maybe Laura P could help with a reference?
> >
> > Russ
> > Wi
> >
> >
> >
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>
>
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>
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Mark P. Ludwig
Poultry Research Lab
University of Wisconsin -Madison
608-262-1730 WK
608-846-7125 HM