Person: Bruce Carney

Wild bird populations can thrive in
properly managed working landscapes.
• Cattle activity changes grassland structure;
creating areas with short and tall
vegetation, which provides habitat that
is less available in conservation areas.
• For some species, rotationally grazed
pastures have the capacity to support
greater bird population sizes compared
to conservation areas that are
not grazed.
• Prairies and pastures complement one
another to protect a wider range of
birds then either habitat alone.
Key findings
• Restored prairie in a conservation
area supported 285 birds (21 species)
in 2016 and 230 birds (25 species) in
2017.
• Rotationally grazed perennial pasture
supported 553 birds (22 species) in
2016 and 468 birds (23 species) in
2017.
• Rotationally grazed perennial + annual
pasture supported 524 birds (28
species) and supported 545 birds (21
species) in 2017.
• Pastures better supported some birds
that are considered in decline than the
restored prairie.

In a Nutshell
• Wild bird populations can thrive in
properly managed working landscapes.
• Cattle activity changes grassland structure;
creating areas with short and tall
vegetation, which provides habitat that
is less available in conservation areas.
• Rotationally grazed pastures have
the capacity to support greater bird
populations, for some species, than
conservation areas that are not grazed.
Key findings
• Restored prairie in a conservation area
supported 285 birds of 21 species.
• Rotationally grazed perennial pasture
supported 553 birds of 22 species.
• Rotationally grazed perennial+annual
pasture supported 524 birds of 28
species.
• Pastures better supported some birds
that have conservation implications,
than the restored prairie.

Grading grass-finished meat is focus of field day at Mingo LockerFor Release: September 29, 2016 Download PDF (188 KB) Contacts: Bruce Carney | Carney Family Farms | (515) 202-7326 | carneyfarms50@yahoo.com | carneyfamilyfarms.com Tamsyn Jones | Practical Farmers of Iowa | (515) 232-5661 | tamsyn@practicalfarmers.org MINGO, Iowa — Farmers who want to learn how grass-finished [...]

In a Nutshell
• Interseeding annuals into pastures
increases forage diversity, quality, and
quantity.
• Bruce Carney developed seed mixtures
and interseeded them into existing
cool season pastures.
• Seed mixtures vastly increased pasture
diversity.
• Grazing management to harvest or
trample forage at the right time and
to a proper degree is essential to feed
both livestock and soil microbes.
Key findings
• During the establishment year in 2014,
few advantages were seen in grazing
days or forage yield, but a baseline
was established for future comparison.
• In 2015, two fields were seeded once
with a cool season mix, and one field
was seeded multiple times with cool
and warm season mixes.
• Total tons of dry matter harvested by
cattle or baled was greater in 2015
than 2014; animal unit days provided
from forage produced were doubled
from year 2014 to year 2015.
• After multiple interseedings and two
years of rotational grazing on three
pastures, compaction near the soil
surface (<6 inches) increased but decreased deeper down (>21 inches).

Cover Crops Offer Graziers a Low-Cost, High-Quality Winter Feed, Research ShowsFor Release: October 7, 2015 Download PDF (97 KB) AMES, Iowa — For forage- and grass-based livestock farmers, the cost of stored feeds, like hay, is often the single greatest cost of maintaining their animals over the winter. Thus, extending the grazing season as long [...]

Objective: Demonstrate the economic and soil health benefits of grazing multi-species cover crops, through partnerships between row crops farmers and graziers.

Objective: To experiment with seeding multi-species forages into existing pastures and monitor performance of livestock, forage and the soil.

Interseeding annuals into pastures
increases forage diversity, quality, and
quantity.
• Bruce Carney developed seed mixtures
and interseeded them into existing
cool-season pastures.
KEY FINDINGS
• During this establishment year, few
advantages were seen in grazing days
or forage yield, but a baseline was
established for future comparison.
• Diverse seed mixtures vastly increased
pasture diversity.
• Timely precipitation is critical to forage
and biomass production.
• Grazing management to harvest or
trample forage at the right time and
to a proper degree is essential to feed
both livestock and soil microbes.

Cover crops provide a high-quality and
low-cost feed during times of low feed
supplies.
• Beef graziers worked with neighboring
row crop farmers to plant cover crops
and monitored grazing value.
• Grazing cover crops extended the
grazing time on crop stubble fields
and reduced the amount of stored
feeds required.
KEY FINDINGS
• Soil compaction was not increased
following cattle grazing cover crops.
• Cover crops provide reasonablypriced
forage for grazing livestock,
protect the soil for crop farmers, and
allow graziers to rest their pastures
longer in the spring.

Three graziers share their path to find animals that work on grass. Hear what traits to select for in your beef cowherd and choose superior genetics for finishing on grass.