How healthy are the roots on your grasses in the pasture? Livestock do not consider all grasses as equal. Naturally they will favor the more palatable grasses and graze them first. It’s important to maintain a close eye on these “ice cream plants” because overgrazing can cause roots to suffer. After rainfall events, these damaged roots will not be able to reach the stored sub-soil moisture and continue to grow. Leaving half of the full plant height as stubble will help maintain healthy roots. These roots are valuable for breaking up the soil surface, allowing rain to infiltrate. Remaining stubble will protect the soil from erosion, shade the ground from weed growth, and eventually return to the soil as organic matter. You may have noticed that grasses left in good condition at the end of the fall growing season “greened-up” faster than those overgrazed. Maintaining conservative stocking rates and rotating livestock to a new pasture when half of the desirable plants have been grazed will keep your pasture heathy for the long-term. A good rule-of-thumb for how grass should be ungrazed is to leave 12-14 inches on tall grasses, 6-8 inches on midgrasses, and 2-3 inches on short-grasses.
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