There was a good crowd on hand last week for Agriculture Canada’s Forage & Grazing Tour at the Swift Current Research and Development Centre.

Research Scientist Dr Allan Iwaasa talked with the group about rejuvenating pastures by re-introducing sainfoin which is a non-bloating legume.

"That has the ability to fixate the nitrogen," Iwaasa said. "It also has very good grazing preference by the animals, reintroducing sainfoin into some of your monoculture pastures, such as a crusted wheat pasture. By having sainfoin which is a non-bloating legume into some of these grass pastures, you help the fertility, you help the forge quality as well as potential the soil health, soil organic carbon."     

Rejuvenating pastures with younger plants and new growth can help during dry springs, hot summers or years with poor snowfall.

He notes native pastures that have more mixtures, ie - not just one or two species, are very resilient and have more bio-diversity:

"By having a mixture in some of your pastures, particularly native ones, it allows you to have warm season grasses, cool season grasses, some for forbes and legume, in which they can take advantage of their rooting ability as well as their growth periods that might occur late on in June and July."   

He notes native pastures with more bio-diversity will allow producers to better utilize some of their tame pastures that may not be producing as much as you had hoped due to dry conditions.