Sagebrush – Upside of Weeds

ambience Western Meadow, Sheep

In the western plains of the United States, scientists are selectively grazing sheep to curb the growth of invasive plants. The project may serve as a model for other ecosystems. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet.

“In any given ecosystem your plant species or your plant community, it cycles through, seasonally and then yearly, depending on the moistures you had, the rainfall you have.”

Steven Seefeldt is a rangeland scientist with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service. He and his colleagues have been using non-native sheep to control such exotic plants as leafy spurge. And with managed grazing, timing is crucial.

“And if you’re careful and knowledgeable about the plant species that you have, you’ll notice that there are times when grazing is going to hurt some plant species more than other plant species. And so, if you’re careful, and if you know that you’ve got a particular problem, you can target that time when you can cause the most damage to the plant that you really don’t want. And the good thing is you always want to pick a time when the animals that you’re using are going to gain weight, are going to be healthy, are going to get lots of nutrition. And, in fact, with the leafy spurge that we have, one of our ranchers in the area has a small herd of sheep, and he’s actually paid to graze weeds. And other people actually let him graze their fields for free. He doesn’t have to pay for the forage because those sheep are eating these exotic weeds. And one of the problems he’s told me he’s had is those plants are so nutritious, and they’re so dense in these infestations, that his lambs, when he takes them to market, are a little too fat. And that’s sort of a nice problem to have.”

Pulse of the Planet is made possible by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.

Sagebrush - Upside of Weeds

Some ranchers may be feeling a bit sheepish as they profit from invasive weeds.

Air Date:10/04/2005

Scientist:

Transcript:

Sagebrush - Upside of Weeds

ambience Western Meadow, Sheep

In the western plains of the United States, scientists are selectively grazing sheep to curb the growth of invasive plants. The project may serve as a model for other ecosystems. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet.

"In any given ecosystem your plant species or your plant community, it cycles through, seasonally and then yearly, depending on the moistures you had, the rainfall you have."

Steven Seefeldt is a rangeland scientist with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service. He and his colleagues have been using non-native sheep to control such exotic plants as leafy spurge. And with managed grazing, timing is crucial.

"And if you're careful and knowledgeable about the plant species that you have, you'll notice that there are times when grazing is going to hurt some plant species more than other plant species. And so, if you're careful, and if you know that you've got a particular problem, you can target that time when you can cause the most damage to the plant that you really don't want. And the good thing is you always want to pick a time when the animals that you're using are going to gain weight, are going to be healthy, are going to get lots of nutrition. And, in fact, with the leafy spurge that we have, one of our ranchers in the area has a small herd of sheep, and he's actually paid to graze weeds. And other people actually let him graze their fields for free. He doesn't have to pay for the forage because those sheep are eating these exotic weeds. And one of the problems he's told me he's had is those plants are so nutritious, and they're so dense in these infestations, that his lambs, when he takes them to market, are a little too fat. And that's sort of a nice problem to have."

Pulse of the Planet is made possible by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.