The current cost of fertilizer, corn, and land has many livestock owners wondering how to stay profitable. Unfortunately there are not quick solutions. This article on nutrient cycling in pastures should help. I have condensed it for quicker reading. 

Appropriate pasture management can enhance the nutrient cycle, increase productivity, and reduce costs. Two practical indicators of soil health are the number of earthworms and the percentage of organic matter in the soil.

Paddock design and stocking density can also affect the efficiency of nutrient cycling in a pasture system. Supplementation of natural fertility, based on soil tests, balances the soil's mineral composition, resulting in better plant and animal growth and increased soil health.

When nutrients cycle efficiently in a pasture system, they move through various soil organisms and pasture plants, then through the grazing animals, and back to the soil again as manure and urine.

With good management, nutrients can cycle quickly with minimal losses to air and water. Less fertilizer will be required, and this means increased profitability for the entire farm.

Good-quality soils produce good-quality pastures. Good-quality soils don't erode, since water flows quickly into the ground and is stored there. Good-quality pastures are springy underfoot, with deep green forage that covers the soil and a moderate amount of dead residue under the canopy. They produce nutritious forage with balanced mineral levels. Livestock find these forages palatable and thrive on them.

Producers create this kind of soil through good management. Using smart grazing strategies, testing soils regularly and applying fertilizers, lime, and organic amendments as needed.

Organic matter is critical for storing water and nutrients in the soil. It holds nutrients in plant-available forms that don't easily wash away. It creates an open soil structure into which water, dissolved minerals, and oxygen can move, ready for plants to use. It provides further nutrient storage in the soil and can disable certain plant toxins.

Trees, many broadleaf weeds, and forages such as alfalfa have taproots that go deep into the soil horizon where some grass roots cannot reach. The nutrients from these deeper soil levels are used by the plant, but become available at the soil surface once the tree leaves fall or the weeds die, decompose, and release their nutrients.

The roots constitute at least half the weight of a grass plant. Many native warm-season perennial grasses have root systems that reach six feet or more into the soil horizon. They occupy a huge underground area and form a network that holds the soil in place. Every year 20-50% of this mass, as well as all of the top growth in temperate climates, dies and becomes organic matter.

Grazing Livestock Affect Pasture Nutrient Cycles
Livestock feeding on pasture use a small proportion of the minerals they ingest in forages to build bones, meat, and hide. The rest is excreted in dung and urine. In general, urine contains most of the nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) wastes, and dung contains most of the phosphorus (P) the animals don't use.

Value Of NPK In Manure And Urine

When N and K are present at higher levels in the feed, they are excreted in manure. Phosphorus and some other minerals cycle through animals primarily in manure. It can take from six months to two years for manure to break down and for the phosphorus to cycle back into the plants. The speed of the cycle is affected by various biological agents as well as by mechanical means.

Grazing behavior has a big impact on nutrient distribution. In smaller paddocks, with high stock density, urine and dung are more evenly distributed than in large ones. Livestock are less selective in their grazing habits and space themselves more evenly within the area allotted for a grazing period. They will graze closer to dung piles and exhibit less avoidance of urine spots so that more forage is used for animal production.

In large areas, cattle act as a herd and go to water together. When water is available nearby, however, animals drink individually and return to graze in other areas. If they must travel in a lane to the water, manure will concentrate in these non-productive areas en route.

When there is not enough room at the water tank for all to water at once, those waiting will manure that area, concentrating nutrients where they are less likely to contribute to plant and animal productivity.

Good management helps distribute nutrients that will feed your pastures. Locating water, minerals, shade, and fly-control devices in different parts of the paddock also discourages nutrient concentration. It is even more beneficial if these high-use areas can be relocated for each grazing cycle or placed in areas that would not otherwise attract livestock use.

Supplemental feed, likewise, should be placed either where nutrients are needed or under the fence. The location should vary with each feeding.

Good management determines how effective the water cycle will be in pastures. If rainwater can enter the soil easily, runoff losses are less. Maximum infiltration of rainfall keeps groundwater tables charged up, wells running year round, and drought damage to a minimum.

Soil surface conditions that foster high rainwater intake are abundant ground cover (by living plants and surface litter) and good soil aggregation. The best-aggregated soils are those that have been in well-managed perennial grass. Though aggregation can be maintained under crops, the perennial activity of grass provides both aggregate-forming processes and aggregate-stabilizing humus.

Lime is a particularly important amendment in pasture management. While it has always been considered necessary for adjusting pH, there is growing evidence that the amount of calcium has important consequences for plant production and animal health.

High fertilization coupled with frequent harvesting of hay speeds organic matter decomposition and releases minerals faster than plants growing on the site can absorb them. As a result, nutrients are leached deeper into the soil, out of the reach of plant roots, or they are lost to run off.

The use of some commercial fertilizer is always an option to be exercised when necessary. However, continuing to look for ways to use natural systems to produce nutritious forage and healthy animals, while lessening one's dependence on purchased, non-renewable resources, is worthwhile.

SuperCal 98G is finely ground limestone pelletized for easier handling and mixing with other dry fertilizers.

SuperCal SO4 is finely ground pelletized gypsum, allowing you to fertilize with calcium and not raise pH.