MANITOBA AGRICULTURE AND FOOD NEWS RELEASE
Information Services, Rm 29, Legislative Bldg.
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3C 0V8
Ph: (204) 945-3746 Fax: (204) 945-3988
E-MAIL iservice@leg.gov.mb.ca

****************************************************************************

CATTLE AND TREES CAN CO-EXIST

A demonstration project near Garland shows cattle and commercial forestry can successfully co-exist.

Started in 1997 under the Canada-Manitoba Agreement on Agriculture Sustainability, the project examined the pros and cons of grazing newly-harvested hardwood forest land to find a beneficial balance between livestock grazing and timber production. The project continued under the Covering New Ground program.

The 320-acre site was divided into five paddocks. One was left untouched while the others demonstrated different combinations of timber harvest timing and grazing pressure. Aspen and poplar were harvested from two paddocks in the winter of 1997. One was stocked with seven steers and the other with 14. Two paddocks were harvested the following summer and also stocked with seven and 14 steers. Only marketable trees were cut, leaving bluffs of trees throughout the paddocks.

Bill Gardiner, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives land use specialist in Dauphin, said the project has been a huge success in terms of grazing. "Since the trees were cut, grass production has more than tripled," he said. "The best combinations for livestock have been the heavier stocked trials. We ended the grazing season with a lot of grass left in the pasture." The steers' daily weight gains have also been impressive at between two and three pounds.

Local producer Glen Chute provided the 42 cattle for the project. "Before the trees were harvested, I doubt the entire half-section could have handled more than 10 steers," he said. "There's a lot of land like that around here since Louisiana Pacific began cutting. If agreements can be reached, a lot more good grazing would become available."

Louisiana Pacific Canada is licensed to cut hardwoods surrounding Duck Mountain. As much as 35 per cent of the timber comes from land used as pasture.

"We're dealing with rotations on hardwoods of 60 to 70 years in this area," said John Thorpe, regional forester for Manitoba Conservation. "As a result, it is a little early to determine the long-term impact of grazing on forest productivity and forest health."  Thorpe added that soil compaction may affect the forest and cattle can damage young trees. On the other hand, cattle may thin the forest and allow surviving saplings a better start.

Forest regeneration has been considerably better on winter-harvested plots than summer. However, summer-harvested sites produced best for the cattle.

So far, all sites have forest stocking rates within provincial standards.Chute agrees that good cattle and forest management can benefit both, while avoiding the environmental impacts of clear-cutting.

- 30 -

This is the 13th in a series of news releases on agricultural sustainability produced by Covering New Ground, a program that funds local projects to help find economical solutions to environmental challenges in Manitoba's agricultural community.