Grazing native pasture

[Ronski]

I farm part of a quarter where 90 acres have never been broke. Hills, ponds, beavers, poplars throughout. Beautiful piece of scenery but not real useful to me outside hunting season.
Cows were pastured there till the 80's and its been idle since.

Sandy, hilly land north of Red Deer where it "always" rains. If it gets refenced and grazed in the spring-fall will the cows drive the deer and moose away or do they co-exist?

Any conservative guess on aum/acre for native pasture? (I'm not a cow guy, just looking to answer landowners questions).

Thanks

[Taiga]

I farm part of a quarter where 90 acres have never been broke. Hills, ponds, beavers, poplars throughout. Beautiful piece of scenery but not real useful to me outside hunting season.
Cows were pastured there till the 80's and its been idle since.

Sandy, hilly land north of Red Deer where it "always" rains. If it gets refenced and grazed in the spring-fall will the cows drive the deer and moose away or do they co-exist?

Any conservative guess on aum/acre for native pasture? (I'm not a cow guy, just looking to answer landowners questions).

Thanks

Absolutely they will drive the ungulates away, especially if left in there right up to start of hunting season. They browse all the food and open up the forests so much it becomes less attractive to wildlife. I would say from experience it needs at least 4 weeks with them gone before the wildlife comes back (assuming it is not too late in the year and the vegetation can still grow and rebound). Sure is neat topography in the area you are referencing, funny how it ended up like that.

[Ronski]

Absolutely they will drive the ungulates away, especially if left in there right up to start of hunting season. They browse all the food and open up the forests so much it becomes less attractive to wildlife. I would say from experience it needs at least 4 weeks with them gone before the wildlife comes back (assuming it is not too late in the year and the vegetation can still grow and rebound). Sure is neat topography in the area you are referencing, funny how it ended up like that.

So if it gets intensively grazed june 15-august 15 it should restrict tree growth, get the landowner a return, and have time to regrow and wildlife come back for November?

[grassfarmer]

Something else to think on if it's in Red Deer county is they are trying to sign up acres for ALUS and paying up to $40/acre annual payment. Maybe that's as good a return as cows after the fencing gets done plus it would leave the wildlife habitat undisturbed.

[smcgrath76]

We graze a lot of native and it requires some type of grazing in order for deer and other wildlife to be attracted to it. Locally the land with the smallest number of wildlife, is our local wildlife quarter that gets overgrown and senescent. The deer etc. don't have fresh green growth to graze and dislike grazing through extremely tall overgrowth (they can't see predators when their heads are down). Some disturbance is required to keep those ecosystems functioning. I somewhat agree that livestock removal will assist with wildlife return in time for hunting season on smaller acres. On large parcels, they get along pretty well when both are present (ask our cows, moose, elk, mule and white tail deer).
The ALUS program allows for grazing of animals and can also receive an acreage payment, but I know that there are a few very reasonable grazing guidelines involved.

[Horse]

What is ALUS and is it county or provincal,I have some acres that I would rent for that kind of money,I pasture it sparingly early then leave it be,I enjoy the trees,and hunting,got a cow moose draw this yr but am going to have to look hard as the moose arnt near as thick as the last few yrs.

[WiltonRanch]

What is ALUS and is it county or provincal,I have some acres that I would rent for that kind of money,I pasture it sparingly early then leave it be,I enjoy the trees,and hunting,got a cow moose draw this yr but am going to have to look hard as the moose arnt near as thick as the last few yrs.

I know why they’re not thick because they’re over here.

[grassfarmer]

What is ALUS and is it county or provincal,I have some acres that I would rent for that kind of money,I pasture it sparingly early then leave it be,I enjoy the trees,and hunting,got a cow moose draw this yr but am going to have to look hard as the moose arnt near as thick as the last few yrs.

Check this out Horse - it doesn't operate in all areas but this tells you where it is operating currently.

http://alus.ca http://https://alus.ca

[woodland]

What is ALUS and is it county or provincal,I have some acres that I would rent for that kind of money,I pasture it sparingly early then leave it be,I enjoy the trees,and hunting,got a cow moose draw this yr but am going to have to look hard as the moose arnt near as thick as the last few yrs.

It’s operating in Parkland and Lac StAnne counties that I know of. The lady running it in parkland is very nice and is looking for projects. We’ve done four different projects involving water systems for cows and would do another if we had time. They cover half the costs and are quite flexible. I could find her contact info if you’d like and she’d know who to talk to if your county is participating.

[grassfarmer]

It does give all the areas participating and contact info in the link too.

[smcgrath76]

ALUS is Alternative Land Use Services and is a way to pay producers for Environmental Goods and Services produced on the farmer's land. ALUS is a national program, with provincial support bodies but is delivered on a local scale. In AB that means counties/Municipalities. A couple of key tenants of the program are that the works done by "the farmers hand" are eligible, and that the local delivery is decided by an advisory committee that is majority farmers. Our country was the first in AB to have an ALUS program. It started as a pilot about 10 years ago and has grown from there. Services include things like carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat, pollinator species, water cycle and purification processes, etc.

The ALUS program has been growing fast the last few years. If you want more information the ALUS.ca site is a good one that can guide you to whatever local area your interest lies in.

We were pretty early adopters of ALUS in AB and it has worked really well for our ranch. As a farmer, I am still in control (not like crop insurance or a myriad of other programs). It has led to help with some good ecological improvements on our ranch.

[bucket]

ALUS is Alternative Land Use Services and is a way to pay producers for Environmental Goods and Services produced on the farmer's land. ALUS is a national program, with provincial support bodies but is delivered on a local scale. In AB that means counties/Municipalities. A couple of key tenants of the program are that the works done by "the farmers hand" are eligible, and that the local delivery is decided by an advisory committee that is majority farmers. Our country was the first in AB to have an ALUS program. It started as a pilot about 10 years ago and has grown from there. Services include things like carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat, pollinator species, water cycle and purification processes, etc.

The ALUS program has been growing fast the last few years. If you want more information the ALUS.ca site is a good one that can guide you to whatever local area your interest lies in.

We were pretty early adopters of ALUS in AB and it has worked really well for our ranch. As a farmer, I am still in control (not like crop insurance or a myriad of other programs). It has led to help with some good ecological improvements on our ranch.

A weston family initiative ...what else were they going to do with the price fixing money????