Level up on soil health with livestock

Tom Cannon turned to no-till in the late 1990s after watching his wheat dry up and blow away in the harsh Oklahoma wind. He was 26 and managing the family farm on his own after an accident left his father severely injured.

In the early days of no-till, farmers who dropped their plows were cautioned against running cattle and other livestock on no-till fields to avoid compaction and pugging from hoof impact. However, cattle had always been a major part of Goodson Ranch, established in the 1890s by Cannon's great-grandparents. Cannon needed to continue with stockers.

Running cattle on wheat pasture each winter tore up the ground in places. Even on better soils, as little as a half inch of rain could create problems. But Cannon learned he could prevent pugging and stock 50% heavier by pulling cattle off the wet cropland and putting them on refuge areas of bermudagrass until the crop recovered, usually two to three days. He also found he could make the soil more resilient with diverse cover crops and crop rotations. He gradually added corn, soybeans, milo, alfalfa, and cotton to the land, in conjunction with the cattle, which some seasons were his only profit.

It took 10 years for Cannon to see an increase of one percentage point in soil organic matter, which helps him address his No. 1 limitation: moisture. Had he known to intensify plant diversity and cattle management earlier, he believes he would have seen the same gain in just four years.

"As you increase your organic matter, you increase your water infiltration rate; you have less runoff; you have more nutrients stay where they belong," Cannon says. "All that is sped up with cover crops and cattle."

Using cattle as a tool to build soil health reduces risk long term, Cannon says. But, he warns, integrating livestock into row crop production is more risky in the short term—dangerous, even, especially for those new to the animal business.

Getting started

The first livestock for crop farmers to manage are the tons of soil microbes beneath the surface, Cannon says. This means practicing the other principles of soil health: keeping the ground covered year-round, continuously growing living plants/roots, minimizing soil disturbances, and increasing plant diversity.

From there, add livestock in a way that makes sense for your situation. Options include grazing animals on cover crops, harvested cornstalks or other crop residue, or a combination. Flying multispecies cover crop seed mixes over a field may give cover time to grow before the cash crop is harvested. Cannon has had success with this in cotton with a mat of green supporting his harvesting equipment and then providing forage.

Allen Williams, Understanding Ag, says cattle are typically the first thought when adding animals to the farm. However, if cattle are not an option, he encourages farmers to evaluate alternatives. Sheep, goats, pigs, poultry, rabbits, and bees also increase biodiversity for soil health.

Although stored and then mechanically spread manures have their place, they cannot replace fresh manure from a live animal.

"Without a doubt, the very best manure is what drops straight out of the rear end of a cow — or sheep, pig, chicken, etc. — and onto the soil," Williams says.

Aside from fresh manure being higher and more stable in nutrients (especially nitrogen), the microbes in fresh manure are more compatible to the soil microbiome. Ideally, Cannon says he would move cattle between his native and cropland pastures to feed his cropland soils the native biology they have lost over time. But because his native pastures are 25 miles away, he mimics them by sowing forages and crops adapted to his region on his cropland.

Corridors for cattle

Another way to reintroduce native biology onto cropland, and potentially graze livestock, is with prairie strips. Prairie strips are land 30 to 120 feet wide reserved from cropland and planted to native grasses and flowers. Typically, these strips cut across low-yielding acres, waterways, and terrace channels.

Iowa State University has found strategically placing prairie strips on 10% of a crop field can reduce sediment movement off the land by 95% and total phosphorus and nitrogen lost through runoff by 90% and 85%, respectively. Prairie strips also provide habitat for pollinators, which may lead to better crop yields.

Lisa Schulte Moore, professor of natural resource ecology and management at Iowa State University and a STRIPS project team member, co-authored a 2021 study that found wild bees and honey bees can improve soybean yields upward of 20% when they help to pollinate the soybean plants. She says grazing on prairie strips could be a way to meet short-term economic goals while working toward long-term soil health goals. Crop farmers who also have cattle have used prairie strips for forage and bedding.

Livestock integration is more challenging for people who do not already own animals. Moving cattle to cropland can be stressful for both farmers and livestock. However, Schulte Moore believes prairie strips could offer a potential solution. Cooperative grazing districts built using prairie strips bordering rivers, for example, could create corridors for livestock producers to move animals across the land in cooperation with crop producers. Researchers are now asking themselves and farmers how this could work.

"What we find is many crop farmers want to just be crop farmers, and livestock producers like to be livestock producers," Schulte Moore says. "So the question is whether prairie strips can help provide a bridge to get more livestock on the land, to get more cooperative action happening."

No livestock? No problem

Mark Peterson did not intend to add livestock when he planted a multispecies cover crop after harvesting rye in July 2014. But by October, it towered 6 feet in places, and Peterson, a no-till farmer in Stanton, Iowa, wondered how he would no-till corn in the spring. His cover crop seed salesperson ordered tests, which found the forage had "lactating dairy cow" quality. Peterson decided to give cattle a try. Not wanting to manage livestock himself, he offered a grazing lease to a local cattle farmer. Thin cows going onto the field looked like "butterballs" coming off, he says.

The next spring, Peterson had no trouble planting corn. He got an "OK" crop on the historically low-producing land and followed the corn with soybeans and then another corn crop.

"All of a sudden, that corn was as good as the ground we farmed with 80 CSR ratings," Peterson says. Iowa's corn suitability rating index ranges from 0 to 100, with 100 being the most productive. "I couldn't believe it."

Since then, Peterson has arranged for cattle to be brought to his harvested fields every year. Cattle have crossed his whole farm, grazing cornstalks or bean stubble while his typical cover crop of rye starts growing.

"We're seeing a yield benefit," says Peterson, whose soil tests have shown a one percentage point increase in organic matter. He credits the increase to both cattle and cover crops. He has grown one cycle of multispecies cover crop across the entire farm and is considering another.

Peterson advocates adding livestock if yields are lower than expected. Start with one section of low-fertility ground, and look at it as an investment. Also, foster good communication with landlords and livestock partners.

"You've got to find a good fit," Peterson says. "Find somebody you can work with and give it a try."

Seeking connections

Crop farmers can find livestock managers through the Midwest Grazing Exchange. The online platform allows producers to share details on what they offer, land to be grazed or livestock.

Good matches are important because the land needs livestock, but not all land managers can raise their own livestock, says Laura Paine, a specialist with University of Wisconsin's grant-funded Grassland 2.0 project and co-director of the Match Made in Heaven: Livestock + Crops (MMIH) project. The three-year, six-state grant project is a collaborative effort between livestock and crop organizations to "build relationships, listen for common ground, and identify innovative ways to integrate crops and livestock."

Project leaders invite crop and livestock farmers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin to complete a 15-minute survey to share their interests, challenges, and needs for integrating livestock.

Results will be summarized and shared with farmers and the organizations they work with, such as universities, public agencies, and soil/water groups to help guide the development of resources.

The project will also develop six case studies to explore how and why farmers have integrated crops and livestock and to understand the economics of these complex systems. In 2024, the final year of the project, partners will host field days and create a central resource library to share tools for both educators and farmers.

"I think there are more people who are really motivated to improve their soil health," Paine says. "Livestock and diverse rotations are going to allow them to achieve their goals even more than they already are. This is an area where farmers are ahead of the researchers. The survey is a way of learning what innovations farmers are coming up with to integrate crops and livestock and sharing that information for the benefit of farmers' bottom line and the environment across the region."

A Cattleman's insight

Tom Cannon used his cattle to diversify and grow more crops in Oklahoma. He shares things to know about adding live-stock, whether your own or through a partnership with a neighbor.

• Find a mentor who is already doing it, and if you're new to livestock production, find a good cattle rancher — someone who knows the business and animal husbandry.
• Source cattle from a single operation, if possible, as opposed to commingled sales
• Develop your observation skills. Watch the weather like you would for planting season. Livestock need eyes on them every day and require quicker decisions than cropping.
• High-quality, clean water is important. If you can avoid it, don't continuously water animals in the same spot.
• Ensure the electric fence is hot and built well. Livestock should be trained to the fence.
• Keep cattle (and especially sheep and goats) full, or they'll get out.
• Plan cover crops to grow a "cover crop feed ration." A diverse, living feed ration opens up more options for grazing. Plus, soil microbes want diversity. Think beyond one or two crop species to more than five.
• Don't let the cattle take too much from the soil. Keep livestock off wet ground by having a plan for backup pastures. Leave residue.