Grazing

NAM utilizes cattle and goats for targeted invasive plant species control and as a catalyst for improving wildlife habitat. 

Cattle 

Habitat 

In prairie, tall, dense vegetation offers different benefits to wildlife than sparse, short vegetation. The dense vegetation offers more shelter while the sparse vegetation can offer an easier place to find a meal.  

Historically our prairies would’ve been a patchwork of dense vegetation, sparse vegetation, and everything in between. Herbivores played a large role in creating this diversity of habitat structure through their grazing patterns. 

Just as you and I have favorite foods, grazers prefer certain plants. Cattle especially will seek out their favorite foods first and ignore the rest until nothing else is available. This preferential grazing leaves some areas short and sparse, some areas tall and dense, and some areas in-between. We adjust our stocking rate and duration to achieve patchiness as best we can. 

Invasive Species 

Cattle like fresh food. They target the freshest, greenest grass available. We utilize this behavior in the suppression of invasive cool-season grasses like Smooth brome and Kentucky bluegrass. Cool-season, or C3, grasses are the first to green up in the spring. NAM will place cattle in areas with smooth brome and Kentucky bluegrass in the early spring so that the animals will target their grazing on those plants.  We then remove the animals before native species become active. This focused grazing weakens the invaders and gives a competitive advantage to native species.  

Goats 

Woody encroachment is a threat to our woodlands, savannas, and prairies. One of the tools we use to abate that encroachment is goat browsing.  

Goats focus their browsing on the leaves and bark of shrubby plants and young trees. Defoliating these plants during the growing season both weakens the brush and provides a competitive advantage to the herbaceous plants at ground level which we are trying to help.