Site Background
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The original plot is located at 52°43’30”N 122°27’19”W on Yorston Road in Australian, B.C.
About the Location
Australian Ranch is located in Quesnel, British Columbia. Its landscape is river bench and flat cropland.
About the Farm
Owned and operated by Bob and Holley Yorston, Australian Ranch first saw cultivation on the farm in the 1860s. It has been Yorston owned since 1903 with 200 acres cleared at the time of purchased). Early farm income consisted of wood fibre for steamships, root vegetables and grain for miners in Barkerville as well as serving as a stagecoach stopping house known as Australian’s Place. In the early 1900s the farm produced cream, pork, beef, grain and up to 100 acres of potatoes. Seed potatoes were in high demand because the area was classified as one of the few disease-free areas. A stockyards was constructed in the late 1950s that had a capacity of a 1,000 head of weaned calves and the ranch has been primarily cow/calf since the mid 1980s.
Learning About Rotational Grazing
Rotational grazing is not a new concept. The Yorstons had tried splitting the pasture into two large paddocks with electric fencing in the late 1980s, but the cattle were not trained and the technology was much poorer. A mess of wire stretched across the farm, discouraging them from attempting rotational grazing for many decades. The BC Forage Council’s seminars and field days encouraged them to try again and recent funding availability helped them invest in some proper fencing equipment. Bob watched YouTube videos to help with efficiency and tries to be quicker every time he moves the wire.
Why Rotational Grazing is of Interest
Australian Ranch has overgrazed its private pastures and the carrying capacity has dropped by a third since the early 1990s. Extending the grazing season, and maybe even increasing their herd size is definitely a goal. Rotating the cattle also allows them to rejuvenate sections of the pasture.
Acknowledgement
Bob Yorston.
Agronomic Details
Australian Ranch has two large paddocks. The dryland is grazed in early season and then the irrigated section is grazed during the summer, providing continuous grazing. In the summer of 2023, the Yorstons moved their cattle weekly under the pivot irrigation. The cattle grazed paddocks every 30 days.
In 2023, Ultimate Blend no-till seeding occurred July 5 with emergence occurring July 11. Water installation occurred July 5 while fencing was installed July 8. The site had a herbicide treatment done in late May. The kill was complete, but Canadian thistle did re-emerge late summer.
Project Overview
Both the original 2023 plot (three acres) and the 2024 farm trial plot (20 acres) were traditionally continuously grazed, flood-irrigated pastureland. It has been pastureland since the 1980s and was productive potato/cereal crop growing land since the late 1920s. This pastureland has very recently been placed under a pivot irrigation system. This area is used from late March until May for the newborn calves so it is heavily utilized prior to the beginning of the growing season. The cows with the youngest calves (~30 pairs) remained here for the summer, but did not have access to the plots until after harvest.
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The original plot was established in 2023. In the spring of 2023, it was treated with a non-selective herbicide and no-tilled with an annual mix in July and grazed in September. This spring there was emergence of Shepherd’s Purse, Canada Thistle, white clover and bluegrass. It was decided that an additional herbicide treatment was necessary. The farm trial plot is the adjacent pastureland, predominantly Kentucky Bluegrass, White Clover, Orchardgrass, Timothy and Canada Thistle. |
Spring 2024 emergence of Shepherd’s Purse, Canada Thistle, white clover and bluegrass |
What Happened
2023
Fifty cow/calf pairs were turned into the plot on Aug. 23. It took them a day to graze it off. The Canada Thistle was mowed off once all the desired forage was grazed. The cattle were then excluded until mid September and it has been continuously grazed since that time. Proposed site maintenance is still under debate. The Yorstons would like to re-establish with perennials.
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May 31, 2024 A Duratech 107 no-till disc drill was used to seed both the original trial plot and the farm trial plot. Union Forage:
Co-op Vanderhoof:
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 Duratech 107 no-till disc drill |
Both of the plots were seeded simultaneously. The original trial plot was treated with a non-selective herbicide right after seeding. The 2024 farm trial plot was disced once and power-harrowed twice, without any herbicide treatment. The sod clumping was minimal.
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The original trial plot prior to herbicide treatment. |
The seeder passing over the 2024 farm trial plot into the original plot. |
June 1, 2024: The pivot irrigation was moved over the freshly seeded plots.
Soils were tested in the fall of 2023.
Electric fencing was immediately established around both plots. Cattle were excluded from the plots until after harvest. There were 245 cow/calf who had access to these plots. Half was grazed in one day and the other half was grazed completely in an additional day.
What worked well?
Based solely on observations, the crop yield was very similar in both plots, although the pea flowers were more visible in the herbicide-treated plot.
The brassicas were very luscious in the areas where manure from the stockyards was spread. It has been noted time and time again that brassicas do not thrive when seeded too dense and the soils are devoid of organic matter and water.
The regrowth of the berseem clover was very quick.
The calves specifically continued to camp out in these plots and graze them well into the fall. It is possible they were able to graze lower than their mothers.
The Italian ryegrass provided excellent soil coverage.
What would you do differently and what did not work well?
Definitely seed much earlier for an earlier harvest. So, mid-May seeding date and late July harvest.
Oats may have been more complimentary to this blend. The tillering of the barley maybe suppressed the growth of the other forage species.
Graze any lodged plant material immediately after harvest and then exclude the cattle until sufficient regrowth.
The regrowth of the Italian ryegrass was very slow.
The berseem clover regrew very quickly, but the plants appeared very spindly.
Holley says: If I had a crystal ball I would have realized that we were going to experience many frost free days. In fact, as I type this on Oct.18 we still have not experienced a hard frost. I would have excluded the cattle from the plots after the initial grazing period and there would have likely been substantial regrowth for another round of grazing.
The risk of bloat is always at the forefront of their minds. There were no indications of bloat in these plots, but they were fed silage before they were given access during mid day. They once again had a devasting loss of three May-born calves in the alfalfa/grass fields after the herd breached the fence line in October. Rotational grazing in the fall time may be too risky for them. The cows are respectful of the electric fence if they are being fed during predictable times or the resources are plentiful. If they are given access to different regions of the hayfields (i.e. annual crop fields) they will relentlessly test the boundaries after they have grazed off the regrowth, even if they are being fed winter supply. Rotational grazing has been very effective in their pastureland during the summer months when the risk is lower. The neighbour to the north has said that they will only access the alfalfa hay fields for three hours this time of year. Holley says she also suspects that they also wait until the dew is off the field before turn out.
Funding for this project in part has been provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Agricultural Climate Solutions – On-Farm Climate Action Fund.
