Oklahoma State University Agriculture will introduce a new Livestock & Range Field Day in the Stillwater area on Thursday, Oct. 17. The event will provide information on beef production, cattle and forage management, parasite control and production economics.
According to Laura Goodman, OSU associate professor and Extension specialist for rangeland ecology, the encroachment of woody plants in grassland pastures is the leading cause of livestock forage loss on Great Plains rangelands.
Prescribed fire management using patch burn grazing increases forage quality, stockpiles grass for drought, rotates cattle grazing without the addition of fencing, and increases habitat availability for wildlife while controlling the spread of woody plants. Prescribed fire management is one of several topics to be discussed at the Livestock & Range Field Day.
“We have been studying patch burn grazing at the Stillwater Range Research Station for 25 years and added goats to these cattle pastures in 2020,” Goodman said. “I will share about woody plant control, livestock performance, grazing behavior, diet selection and the economics of this management approach.”