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Completing a Forage Inventory

Completing a Forage Inventory. * Vegetative sampling is an important activity conducted by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The data is used in several ways :. - develop inventories for planning. - monitor ecological changes. - assist in making management decisions.

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Completing a Forage Inventory

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  1. Completing a Forage Inventory

  2. * Vegetative sampling is an important activityconducted by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The data is used in several ways : - develop inventories for planning - monitor ecological changes - assist in making management decisions - development of ecological site descriptions - data for hydrologic models - studies on treatment affects

  3. - Inventory is defined as the collection, assemblage, interpretation, and analysis of natural resource data. - Monitoring is used to quantify the effects of management or environmental variations through a period of time. - Short-term : quantify amount of biomass during a grazing period - Long-term : quantify trend in similarity index on ecological sites * Note:Inventories are completed on different site locations. Monitoring is inventories completed on the same sites repeatedly.

  4. Total Annual Production - The total production of all plant species in a plant community during a single year is designated total annual production. - Total annual production includes all the above ground parts of all plants produced during a single growth year. Total Forage Production - Total forage production is the annual production of forage plant species for the grazing animals of concern. - The same site may have different total annual forage weights for cattle (i.e. grasses) than for deer (i.e. browse).

  5. The first inventory that needs to be completed is an inventory of all available resources. * The inventory should include : -total acres vs. grazeable acres by key range sites -livestock water & distribution -existing fences & condition Once this inventory is complete it will serve as a basis for present and future management decisions.

  6. Example worksheet for estimating grazeable acres by range site for each pasture. - list all sites in the pasture and determine total acres of each. - determine grazeable vs. non- grazeable acres by site. - stocking rates should be based on grazeable acres. - forage inventories should be completed on the KEY range sites.

  7. Getting Started - Equipment for Inventories & Monitoring Clippers (sharp !) Gram Scales (100 gr. - 300 gr.) Meter Squares (9.6 ft.sq.) Measuring Tape (100 ft. - 200 ft.) Harvest Bags (paper or plastic) Inventory Data Worksheets

  8. * The best time to schedule forage inventories is in the fall at the end of the growing. Next determine representative areas within the KEY range sites to complete the inventories on. Start Clippin’ !

  9. Example: Forage EstimateWorksheet 1. Complete heading along with the selected Range Site. 2. Enter the total weight in grams for each plot clipped. 3. The 9.6 ft.sq. Plot Size Conversion Factor will always be 10. 4. If completing forage estimate in the fall, use .95% Air Dry Wt. 5. Compute each plot, then add totals, divide by number of plots clipped to get average. * Complete one of these worksheets for each key site in each pasture.

  10. Converting Forage Estimates to Animal Unit Months (AUM) XL Ranch 10/24/02 (29) Baird Place Clint Rollins 1. Complete heading, grazeable acres and range sites in the pasture. 5,078 2. Enter the average pounds per acre for each plot clipped. 1,095 1,663 Loamy Sand 1,025 1,473 Mixedland Slopes 3. Total allgrazeable acres in the pasture. 920 1,591 Shallow Clay 375 0 Loamy 4. Total all forage (lbs./ac.) then divide by the number of sites inventoried to get average forage production for the pasture. 285 0 Gravelly 270 0 Clay Loam 100 0 Loamy Bottom 5. Multiply the total grazeable acres by the average forage (lbs/ac.) for the pasture to get total pounds forage production. 4,070 4,727 3 1,576 6. Assuming a 25% Harvest Effieciency, multiply the total pounds of production by .25 to get total Annual Grazeable Forage. 4,070 1,576 6,412,285 1,603,071 * Conversion to Animal Units : 1,603,071 9,490 169 ( 169 AU for 12 mos.) Note: One Animal Unit = 1,000 lb. animal One AU will consume 26 lbs.(air dry) / day One Animal Unit Month = ( 26 lbs. X 365 days = 9,490 lbs.(AUY) ( 9,490 lbs.(AUY) divided by 12 = 790 lbs.(AUM) 169 0.8 211

  11. In Closing : * There are several methods and types of inventory & monitoring techniques. * This presentation only covers the basic principles and techniques of inventory and monitoring. THE END

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