20-06 Effects of Pasture Management Strategies on Carbon Sequestration, Soil Health, and Forage Productivity for Optimizing Cow-Calf Performance using Sustainable Production Practices

Research Lead: Dr. Ira Mandell , University of Guelph

Executive Summary

The proposed work will involve research to improve yield and nutritional quality of pasture through various grazing management strategies, and to develop a pasture management strategy to deal with climate change. This will be achieved by developing grazing management strategies that optimize forage and beef production from naturalized, introduced perennial pastures in eastern Canada. We will also be examining the potential for introducing warm season grass pastures in Ontario to deal with prolonged drought that has occurred even in northern Ontario over the past few summers.

The plan will examine how well these warm grass pastures will produce throughout our summers and how well they will overwinter. The proposed work will also quantify factors impacting rate and extent of carbon sequestration in pastures in eastern Canada. The overall objective is to examine how pasture management strategies affect sustainable beef production using pasture to address cost of production concerns for beef producers, and address environmental and social concerns for society regarding beef production.

The latter are extremely important given consumer misconceptions about the impact of beef production on the environment and consumers' limited knowledge on how good pasture management benefits the environment and increases carbon sequestration to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) production.

Specific Project Area(s): Forages, Environmental Sustainability and Feed Efficiency

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