Anti-Quality Factors in Rangeland and Pastureland Forages - This 67-page bulletin reviews anti-quality factors that influence livestock production on both pasturelands and rangelands. As more emphasis is placed on forages for animal production, potential limitations need to be better understood. (PDF, .62 MB)
Guide to Pasture Condition Scoring - Developed by GLTI in May 2001, the guide is used to inform landowners as well as professionals of the 10 indicators of pasture condition and the 6 causative factors affecting plant vigor with a procedure to assess each indicator. (PDF, 1.98 MB)
Pasture Condition Score Sheet - A tool to record the condition of the indicators and evaluate the pasture. This goes with the Guide to Pasture Condition Scoring. (56 KB
National Forage Quality and Animal Well Being - A 74-page booklet developed by GLTI, dated October 2000, gives results from 44 states that participated in this national NRCS project from 1997-99. Nutritional monitoring using fecal samples allows assessment of diet forage and grazing management. (PDF, 1.1 MB))
TN.190.RP.1 : "PROFITABLE GRAZING-BASED DAIRY SYSTEMS" Well-managed grazing-based dairies help protect soil, water, air, plant, and animal resources by maintaining permanent vegetative cover on the soil, increasing soil organic matter, improving the distribution of nutrients on fields, and reducing the potential for odors, spills, or runoff from concentrated animal housing, feed lots, and waste storage areas. Compared with traditional confinement dairies, grazing-based dairies have more wildlife, more diverse plant communities, and healthier cows with longer productive lives. In addition, grazing-based dairies often boost income by reducing feed, labor, equipment, and fuel costs. This Technical Note provides background and general guidance on the concept of grazing-based dairy systems, defined as land management systems that seek to optimize dairy production through grazing. It focuses on associated economic, environmental, and social benefits. This document is intended to support and encourage the start-up of grazing-based dairy farms across the Nation. The technical information contained in this document gives NRCS conservation planners and technicians, dairy producers, and others the background information necessary to help producers transition from confinement dairies to grazing-based dairies.
Sampling Vegetation Attributes - Developed by an inter-agency group, this reference material will help you determine what kind of sampling technique to use and how to set up and run monitoring studies. (PDF, 171 pages)
Utilization Studies and Residual Measurements - Developed by an inter-agency group, this reference material aids in the development and operation of studies to help determine utilization of grazing resources. (PDF, 174 pages)
Working Trees for Livestock - Agroforestry: Silvopasture in the Southeast - A 4-page brochure developed by the National Agroforestry Center. (PDF, .41 MB)