Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1481117
farm406 44 Within those six paddocks, Dan can graze his 120 cow/calf pairs for 15 days during different times of the year, allowing the land to rest over the next twelve months. e grazing system was implemented on expired CRP ground. By adding infrastructure that didn't exist and the intensive grazing rotation, grazing increased from about 100 pairs for ten days. e half of Dan's herd not on the expired CRP acres does not rotate as intensively, but electric fencing and the soil health principles are utilized. "People drive by and shake their heads, wondering why we are not using that grass," states Dan. "But we stockpile that grass, and on years like this, we can use it. And that is prey important to our operation." Much of Dan's success with grazing can be aributed to the systems and practices he has implemented over the years. Across dry rangeland, Dan moves cale oen enough to leave 50 to 60 percent of the forage for soil cover and growing roots when he leaves a pasture. "Because of the systems we have incorporated on Dan's place, he is able to graze through prey reasonably," states NRCS's Fischer. "at's because he has kept cover on the soil and hasn't taken all the grass every year. at's allowed deep root systems to build and with the recovery time of the pastures that has also helped build those root systems as well as developed more biomass on top of the ground." Producer Dan Buerkle and NRCS Supervisory District Conservationist Ann Fischer. The two conduct a slake test comparing soil samples from corn field in no-till and managed for soil health with a field edge that is compacted and has little soil cover. The darker sample on the left is the soil managed for soil health. This sample slakes less, meaning it has better soil aggregate stability. It would allow for increased water infiltration into the soil, more pore space for air, decreased crusting and erosion, and more compared to the other sample. Buerkle carries a soil thermometer. He has recorded significant differences in soil temperature between well-armored soil and bare soil. When soil temperature is too high, microorganisms crucial to many biological processes cannot survive.