1 / 3 FARGO — Pasture readiness for 2018 across North Dakota has been at least a couple of weeks behind other years, and there are indications of early stress that producers should monitor.
A variety of issues are affecting pastures, including continued stress from the 2017 drought, dry spring conditions, a late warm-up and, in some cases, overgrazing last year.
Drought conditions continue to plague parts of North Dakota, with the area in severe drought more than doubling from 6.7 percent of the state in the May 24 release of the U.S. Drought Monitor to 13.95 in the May 31 release.
"As of last week, most of our native pastures were approaching grazing readiness," Meehan says.
Meehan says western wheatgrass, one of the key native pasture species in North Dakota, in an Oliver County pasture had 3.5 leaves on May 9, 2017, indicating it was ready for grazing.
The grass only was at 1.5 leaves by May 14, putting it about three weeks behind.
"Most of them aren’t that far behind," Meehan says.
Pastures that were stressed from drought in addition to being overgrazed are farther behind pastures that were managed properly amid drought conditions.
That is especially important on grasses that may have reached their peak early due to stress.
"We don’t want to put additional stress on those resources if we can help it.