Pasture and Forage Minute: Managing Forage Irrigation, Poisonous Plants and Grazing During Drought

Jun 03, 2026

By By Todd Whitney and Ben Beckman

Irrigating Forages

Forages vary greatly in water-use efficiency defined as pounds of forage produced per inch of water applied. In general, warm-season (C-4) forage crops are more water-use efficient than cool-season (C-3) crops. Further, annual forages use water more efficiently than perennial forages. Although legumes like alfalfa are very drought tolerant, they tend to be less water efficient than grasses.

When moisture is plentiful, water-use efficiency for warm-season annual sudangrass and sorghum-sudangrass hybrids ranges from 2.0 to 3.5 inches of water per ton of yield. Efficiency of cool-season oats is estimated at 3.5 to 4.5 inches of water required per ton of production. Comparatively, alfalfa needs 4 to 6 inches of water per ton or cutting.

Switching from harvesting corn as dried grain to corn silage can also increase overall irrigation water use efficiency, since the silage corn can be harvested at the R4 dough stage, or 30-40 days earlier than traditional grain harvest. Silage yields can peg 28 tons per acre while lowering overall total water usage by 7 inches per acre.

Where water supplies may be restricted, millet may be the preferred forage option for improving water use efficiency. However, potential total biomass production of millet will likely be less than other drought-tolerant forage options. In UNL forage research at North Platte, millet produced 2 tons per acre with 2.2 inches of irrigation water, while applying more than 4.5 inches of irrigation water did not increase millet forage yields above 3.5 tons per acre.

Source : unl.edu

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.