Kim Schneider is an assistant professor in forage and service crops in the Department of Plant Agriculture at the University of Guelph. Her research program takes a systems-based approach to address agronomic questions in forage and cover crop production and to assess their role in increasing soil fertility and nutrient-use efficiency. 
 
Kim presented at the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association’s (CFGA) 16th Annual Conference: Greener Horizons: Technological Innovations in Forage and Grassland Management. The conference took place Nov. 18 to 21 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and was organized in partnership with the New Brunswick Soil and Crop Improvement Association (NBSCIA).  
 
Her presentation, The Role of Grazing Livestock in Supporting Sustainable Soil Management: Examples from Ontario, discussed the impact of implementing livestock into the farm system. 
Her research explored whether rotational grazing helped build soil carbon and helped collect data to answer this question.  
 
The study examined 10 beef farms to compare the effects of adaptive multi‑paddock (AMP) grazing with continuous grazing. Soil samples were collected to a depth of 45 centimetres and carbon levels were measured for each sample. Total nitrogen stocks were also assessed. 
 
To provide context, the team compared these results with soil data from nearby annual cropland and woodlots adjacent to both the continuous and AMP sites. They also evaluated the quality of soil organic matter, including mineral‑associated carbon and indicators of microbial activity, both of which appeared stronger in the AMP fields. 
 
Her team conducted a second assessment on 18 farms practicing rotational grazing. Two composite soil samples were collected from each site and compared against Ontario averages for annual and perennial cropping systems. Indicators included organic matter, aggregate stability, active carbon, respiration and potentially mineralizable nitrogen. Overall, the results suggested that rotational grazing contributes positively to soil health scores. 
 
The research group is also studying the impact of grazing on annual cropland. In the first year of data collection, they evaluated the effects of grazing a cover crop within a typical corn–soybean–wheat rotation, with the cover crop following winter wheat. Samples were taken before grazing, after grazing, and again the following spring. The results presented were based on samples collected in 2024; samples collected in 2025 had not yet been analyzed at the time of the presentation. 
 
The single year of testing did show slight increases of soil nitrates and inorganic nitrogen in the fields with grazing. The results of grazing did not affect yield of the following corn crop. 
 
Kim closed by saying long-term trials are necessary to study the cumulative effects of grazing cover crops over time. 
 
2025 conference recordings    
Would you like to hear all of this presentation? The recordings are available for free to those who registered for the 2025 conference. Online access to recordings of all the conference sessions is also available for purchase. For more information, email [email protected].