The Future is Abundant
A Guide to Sustainable Agriculture

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Grassland Agriculture

Mark Musick

Following the ravages of the Dust Bowl and all-out production during World War II, there was great public concern over the need for a sustainable agriculture. In Grass, the 1948 USDA Yearbook, Clinton P. Anderson, then Secretary of Agriculture, stressed the need to expand grassland farming, which, he said, is "the foundation of security in agriculture."

Anderson's emphasis on grasses was a recognition of their essential role in building and maintaining soil fertility. "Grassland agriculture" is a phrase that includes all of the grass family and associated legumes - clover, vetch, sainfoin, sweetclover, peas, trefoil, alfalfa, and subterranean clover. All of these plants are well-adapted to various parts of the Northwest. Subclover, for example, has proven to be of special value for non-irrigated pasture lands in southwestern Oregon, where it is planted on over 150,000 acres.

Together, grasses and legumes contribute more organic matter to the soil than do any other crops. Through the action of soil microorganisms, organic matter is transformed into humus, which is essential for soil structure and sustained fertility. Grasslands can be used exclusively for livestock production, they can be integrated in long-term crop rotations, or they can provide the understory in mixed orchards and forests.

The incorporation of grasses and legumes in crop rotations is especially crucial in cultivated fields. As soil is taken out of sod and devoted to cultivated crops, the reserve of fertility is drawn down by each succeeding stage of the rotation. Only a careful recycling fo nutrients and the periodic return of the land to grass can legume sod can truly rebuild humus and maintain long-term fertility.

Animal Landscapes

Turner provides detailed information on establishing and maintaining temporary pastures in 3 to 5 year rotations with cultivated fodder crops. He emphasizes the use of crops where they are being grown, either by grazing or by making silage right in the field where it will be eaten. His goal is to maximize in-field nutrient cycling.

Turner uses conventional grasses such as timothy, orchard grass, meadow fescue and perennial ryegrass in his pasture mix. But he recommends adding to these chicory, yarrow, plantain, burnet, and sheep's parsley. He includes these herbs in the ley because they are deep rooted and concentrate a wider range of minerals than do grass and clover. They also provide browse in winter and early spring, the most stressful times of the year for stock.

Special fodder crops and winter gardens can be planted to increase livestock food supply and extend the forage season. Crops useful for this purpose include marrowstem kale, thousand-headed kale, mangle beet, sugar beet, turnip, rutabaga, carrot, forage radish, Swiss chard, Jerusalem artichoke, and comfrey. They can be planted directly in the ley, along hedgerows, or in separate fields with the animals turned in to harvest them when needed.

Animal landscapes can be expanded by establishing hedges around and across pastures. Hedgerows can include livestock forage as well as insectary plants and food and shelter for wildlife. Species which bloom and fruit over an extended period are especially useful.

With careful management, mixed pastures can also be established beneath orchard and forest trees. Honey locust and walnut have fairly open canopies which allow shrubs and pasture to grow beneath them. Other trees which produce fruit or nuts of good forage value can also be used, including hawthorn, oak, chestnut, filbert, mulberry, persimmon, apple, pear, plum, and cherry. Trees with foliage edible by livestock include alder, willow, hawthorn, chestnut, linden, poplar, and maple. Nitrogen-fixing trees and shrubs, such as red alder and Siberian peashrub, can be scattered in or planted around a pasture to fertilize the grass and adjacent plantings.

Successful management techniques have also been developed for the grazing of livestock in forests. Combined tree farm and pasture systems, known as silvipasture, are catching on in Australia and New Zealand. In these system sheep and cattle are grazed in plantations of poplar and pine. Reporting in the 1976 edition of Tree Farmer, Mary and Geoff Wilson noted that advantages to pasture from planting trees, especially wind protection and higher soil moisture, were evident "even one year after planting." Advanteages to farmers and ranchers included quick returns of fenceposts and firewood, with high quality saw-logs available in 15 to 20 years. In the Northwest, experiments have led to the development of successful techniques for grazing sheep and cattle in Douglas fir, ponderosa pine and juniper forests.