Using pasture to sustain livestock can benefit some farms, especially now as consumers become more interested in how their food is raised. But like grain-fed operations, free-ranged or grass-fed farms require substantial management decisions, especially when it comes to pastures.

Nicole Widmar, a Purdue University agricultural economist, said raising livestock on pasture can benefit a producer financially – depending on the characteristics of a specific farm. “Some aspects of production costs can decrease, for example labor costs might decline when animals are housed on pasture, since feeding in barns and cleaning of facilities is lessened.” said Widmar. “Also, there is some segment of consumers that is interested in – and will pay – for grass-fed or free-ranged livestock products.”

Keith Johnson, a forage Extension spe-cialist at Purdue, said using mainly grasses and legumes to feed any type of livestock is only beneficial if the pasture area is in good condition. If not, it may be time to renovate. “An excellent pasture during the growing season in the Midwest should be intercepting more than 90 percent of the sunlight, and if legumes are a component of the pasture, there should be two or more legume plants per square foot,” Johnson said. “If these rules are not met, then renovation should be considered.”

Johnson said the beginning of spring or late winter is a good time to renovate pastures. He recommends mixing legumes with grasses in pastures to improve livestock performance. Legumes can benefit livestock quality significantly, in aspects that include daily gain, milk production, and wool production.

For best establishment of legumes, tilling and seeding should be done in the fall, though they can also be seeded in late winter or early spring. For pastures in which legumes have already been established, renovations will consist of grazing procedure and fertilizing.

In a Purdue forage article that Johnson co-wrote, legumes such as red clover, ladino clover, alfalfa, annual lespedeza and birdsfoot trefoil work best in Midwest soils. These all can be seeded into existing pastures and maintained through the fall with rotational grazing.

The type of legume to incorporate into a pasture varies based on the composition of the field’s soil. Thus, it is important to get soil tested before renovating a pasture or establishing a legume. There are several soil-testing laboratories across the Midwest that can get this done in a two-to-three-day turnaround. Purdue Extension also provides a chart producers can use to interpret their soil results at www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/forages/publications/ay211.htm

The pasture should be fertilized with the proper amounts of potassium, phosphorus and sometimes lime. Johnson said adding a legume eliminates the need to apply nitrogen to the pasture.

Once legumes are established, it is necessary to leave the pasture empty until the soil has hardened enough that it can support livestock. The Purdue forage article recommends that livestock should be allowed to graze 7-10 days, and then rotated to another pasture to let the other recover for about 28 days.

The rotational system works best when 4-5 pastures are being used so that livestock can always be on a field while allowing the pasture to recover for the proper amount of time. Johnson said producers should also consider weed control options in pastures where excessive weeds are a problem. He said herbicides, companion crops or clipping may improve those situations.

More details on weed control and pasture tips are at the forage information website Johnson manages at www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/forages/index.html