Lowland Forages. Recycling Plant Nutrients

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1 Lowland Forages Recycling Plant Nutrients

2 Lowland Forages Lowland forage species provide excellent hay when harvested at the peak of quality in early July. Feed value drops quickly to what is commonly called slough grass as the season progresses. Turn part of your lowland waste area into nutritious feed for your livestock, and at the same time maintain wildlife habitat.

3 Agriculture Recycling the Nutrients Prolonging the Wetlands Prairie stream Wetland Lake Water & Nutrients Water Plant Nutrients (Pollutants) Plant nutrients are used in hay production Cattle Feed

4 Lowland forage plants of Central Alberta consist mainly of sedges and grasses Sedges Awned sedge Water sedge Wooly sedge Beaked sedge Grasses Narrow reed grass Timothy Quackgrass Spangletop grass Tufted hair grass Wood blue grass Reed canary grass Kentucky bluegrass

5 Agriculture - The Recycler Only agriculture has the ability to take large quantities of pollutants out of water and use them as plant nutrients, thereby providing quality forage for local area cattle. In a backflood area wildlife habitat can be maintained as well. Because of hay production on backflood areas, purer water flows on downstream.

6 Agriculture The Recycler One ton of hay removes: Nitrogen 29 pounds Calcium 5.8 pounds Phosphorus 1.8 pounds

7 Remember to include wildlife in your lowland development plans Plan for multiple use. Reserve specific areas for wildlife habitat only. Delaying haying will reduce damage to nesting birds. When haying use a flushing bar on the tractor.

8 Wetlands and Agriculture Should Co-exist Agriculture should not think of wetlands as unusable land. Wetlands are a valuable farm resource. Wetlands are often described as lowland, wet areas where the water is retained for purposes of groundwater recharge, water cleansing, and wildlife habitat retention. For agriculture these purposes are very important.. We rely on groundwater recharge to provide us with well water for domestic and livestock use. Wetlands have the ability to take pollutants out of the water before allowing the water to recharge into the soil. This is done by the native wetland plants, such as rushes, cattails, sedges and grasses. Wetlands are an important part of the hydrologic cycle. Water evaporates from the wetlands, forms clouds, and returns to us as rain for our crops. There is one other aspect of wetlands where agriculture plays a very important role. Agriculture is the only one that is able to recycle nutrients out of the water. It uses them to produce high quality forage. The forage can be hauled away from the wetland and used to feed cattle. One ton of hay contains approximately 29 pounds of nitrogen, 6 pounds of calcium, and 2 pounds of phosphorus. This may not sound like very much, but multiplied by three to four ton of forage per acre per year, haying can utilize a lot of the elements otherwise considered pollutants. By recycling, we can increase the useful life of the wetland. Everyone benefits. Forage harvested off of the lowlands when it is just coming into head is a high quality lowland forage. It is equal in protein and fibre to many of the upland species. Harvested at maturity it is no better than straw and deserves to be called slough grass. Harvest management is very important. Continued next page

9 Wetlands and agriculture should co-exist (page 2) Native lowland meadows are composed mainly of a mixture of sedges, grasses, rushes, and other forbes. Some of our meadows have been consistently hayed for over one hundred years, and are still producing three to four ton of forage per acre per year. This has been done without the addition of fertilizer, simply by recycling the nutrients out of their soil and water environment. Water control, through a backflood irrigation project, is the way in which this recycling can be accomplished. In early spring water is allowed to flood the wetland area. In late spring the water is drawn down to where it only covers a portion of the wetland. The remainder is allowed to dry down for hay production. The hay is harvested in early July. In some years a second cut can be taken in late August. In a proposal such as this, agriculture is not the only one that benefits. Permanent or long term water is maintained for wildlife habitat protection, fish like to spawn on the areas that have been hayed, water can be purified before being recharged into the ground, and the hydrologic cycle continues. In a well planned wetland, agriculture plays an important role in recycling the nutrients. Agriculture should be a partner in wetland protection. Information prepared by Neil G. Miller P.Ag. (Retired) For more information on lowland forages please contact: Grant Lastiwka P.Ag., Forage Agronomist, AAFRD, Lacombe AB grant.lastiwka@gov.ab.ca Mona Kirkland, Forage Agronomist, AAFRD, Wainwright AB mona.lee.kirkland@gov.ab.ca Or Neil G. Miller P.Ag.(Retired) nmiller@telusplanet.net Jan.4, 2001