2-28 FB Cheatgrass Grazing

 Well, well well. Another feather in beef producers’ bonnets and it comes via cheatgrass. There’s a combination for ya’. I’m DS

Magicvalley.com recently reported that federal land managers in Nevada are embracing new research that shows livestock will eat cheatgrass not only just when it’s green during the spring grazing season but when the invasive plant dries out in the fall,

The study by researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno negates the belief by some ranchers that dry cheatgrass has little or no nutritional value for cattle grazing on federal lands.

Here’s Range Management Specialist Wally Butler: “What this research does is in the fall the plants have grown, they’ve died you know the pounds per acre that are there, you know what kind of a stocking rate you can put out there, and you can target the amount of grazing you want to take.” The study also says that  fall grazing on the invasive weeds could help make a dent on cheatgrass-covered hillsides that fuel late summer wildfires across the West.