Integrating Crops, Grazing And Soil, Livestock Health

Nov 22, 2016

Adding a cover crop that livestock can graze to the rotation plan can improve soil health and help protect the environment.

That’s the premise behind a four-year, nearly $4 million U.S. Department of Agriculture project, spearheaded by South Dakota State University assistant professor Sandeep Kumar of the Department of Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science.

The integrated crop and livestock management system seeks to use crops, such as oats, sorghum, turnips, radishes or millet, planted after harvest for grazing, Kumar explained.

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture project involves 26 scientists from five universities including North Dakota State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology along with USDA offices in Lincoln, Nebraska; Mandan, North Dakota; and Brookings. The researchers will assess the impact of incorporating grazing crops at seven sites covering three states—North Dakota, Nebraska and South Dakota.

“We’re expecting this practice to help increase crop production,” explained Kumar. The researchers will share their results with producers through a quarterly newsletter, which will be available along with other project information at the IPICL website.

Kumar said, “The hypothesis is that this system can alter nutrition cycling and improve soil resilience.” The practice may, in the long run, reduce the need for chemical fertilizers.

One of the concerns the researchers seek to resolve is the availability of moisture. “The treatments are different in each state because of the variability in precipitation,” Kumar noted. In South Dakota, he said, “we are putting the cover crop in a three-year rotation, right after small grains, which are harvested in June and July.”

At the Southeast Research Center near Beresford, for instance, the researchers are evaluating three treatments—corn-soybean-oat, corn-soybean-oat/cover crop and corn-soybean-oat/cover crop with grazing. In addition to sites at Brookings and Beresford, several producers in South Dakota, who have been utilizing an integrated crop-livestock management system for more than a year, have agreed to participate in the study.

Though grazing cropland was once common, Kumar admitted, “most farmers are not into this practice.” The fall crop will not only provide nourishment to cattle, sheep, goats and other ruminants, but will bind nitrogen to the soil, reducing runoff into lakes and streams.

Researchers will gather data on soils, crop and livestock performance and environmental parameters, Kumar explained. “The goal is greater sustainability.”

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Video: From Conventional to Regenerative: Will Groeneveld’s Journey Back to the Land

"You realize you've got a pretty finite number of years to do this. If you ever want to try something new, you better do it."

That mindset helped Will Groeneveld take a bold turn on his Alberta grain farm. A lifelong farmer, Will had never heard of regenerative agriculture until 2018, when he attended a seminar by Kevin Elmy that shifted his worldview. What began as curiosity quickly turned into a deep exploration of how biology—not just chemistry—shapes the health of our soils, crops and ecosystems.

In this video, Will candidly reflects on his family’s farming history, how the operation evolved from a traditional mixed farm to grain-only, and how the desire to improve the land pushed him to invite livestock back into the rotation—without owning a single cow.

Today, through creative partnerships and a commitment to the five principles of regenerative agriculture, Will is reintroducing diversity, building soil health and extending living roots in the ground for as much of the year as possible. Whether it’s through intercropping, zero tillage (which he’s practiced since the 1980s) or managing forage for visiting cattle, Will’s approach is a testament to continuous learning and a willingness to challenge old norms.

Will is a participant in the Regenerative Agriculture Lab (RAL), a social innovation process bringing together producers, researchers, retailers and others to co-create a resilient regenerative agriculture system in Alberta. His story highlights both the potential and humility required to farm with nature, not against it.