If You Look the Right Way…
By Mandie Lang, Farm Bill Biologist, KS
Many farmers and ranchers in Kansas take pride in their individual resiliency and dedication to their operation. And with all of the pests, drought, wind, and weather we have to deal with- they should! Many may like to consider their farming or ranching operation an independent success- not connected to the neighbor’s performance, separate from the adjacent prairie & the forested creek bed, and removed from the local ecosystem. However, if you start looking at your operation from a new perspective, you can see the ways it is connected to the natural world around it and how you can work with Mother Nature to benefit your operation & the ecosystem it is a part of.
Everything in an ecosystem is connected- it probably doesn’t surprise you to hear this. Starting from the ground-up: the soil affects water infiltration rates & nutrient condition, which in turn affect plant vigor and therefore moisture retention & biomass levels. This all affects air quality, erosion, biodiversity, and habitat for quail and other wildlife. Our farming operations are a part of these natural ecosystems they are found in and, therefore, follow all the rules of natural world & operate within its bounds. We might not see these connections every day and we might try to control the outcomes on our operation, but we are not exempt from nature. If we start looking at our operations in the same way we look at habitat management, we can use the beneficial mechanisms that are already in place to work in our favor and benefit quail along the way.
In order to take advantage of the ecosystem functions that already exist, we should try to mimic nature in our operations. We see highly diverse prairies in Kansas, growing 300+ species of grasses and forbs. This diversity attracts innumerable species of beneficial insects, allows for variable nutrient uptake, and supports numerous wildlife species including quail. Taking this principle to the farm and diversifying crop rotations is a great way to improve the soil quality, water retention, and resiliency of your fields. Mixing in a third or fourth crop to your rotation or even diversifying your rangeland with cattle-preferred grasses & wildflowers is an excellent way to see this principle play out. Adding a cover crop in your off season in addition to this can also help to increase soil organic matter and nutrient content & availability. Diversity on the prairie and on the farm attracts more insects and seed for food and provides more types of shelter and cover. Over time, this can also reduce your necessary inputs and increase the robustness of your yields.
Letting cattle into a new paddock in Chase County, Kansas after completing a monitoring exercise to determine available forage availability & quality.
Historically, bison were the primary ruminant species throughout the Great Plains- they were highly mobile and traveled based on food availability. Grazing in a precisely managed rotation allows us to use a similar process that provides increased diversity of plant communities while mitigating concentrated compaction & providing natural fertilizers throughout your rangeland. Overgrazing can lead to reduced grass resiliency, decreased soil quality, and leaves nowhere for upland birds to hide. Managing your range responsibly can help to increase forage availability and quality over time, which also doubles as excellent quail habitat! Adding in a grazing season to your crop fields is another great way to integrate diversity and nutrient cycling into your operation.
Naturally vegetated borders exist along creeks & streams which provide filtration and soil retention functions in a healthy ecosystem. Adding field borders or buffer strips can help increase the diversity of your operation, aid in water retention, and increase soil quality. These buffers can provide excellent cover for quail and a travel route for them to access more parts of your property. They have even been shown to increase yields in adjacent fields where they were previously poor and can attract beneficial insects to attack pests that are damaging your operation. In all of these actions we can take advantage of the functions that are already occurring in nature and use them to our advantage to benefit quail and improve the quality of our farm or ranch.
When we farm as if we are removed from our ecosystem, we fail to consider all of the other intricately connected parts and functions of this system. And in turn, we fail to maintain a system which will ensure the productivity and longevity of our operation. Consider looking at how your operation is a part of the natural ecosystem, and you will find a more harmonious way to farm that will benefit local quail populations as well.
“If you look the right way, you can see the whole world is a garden.” -Frances Hodgson Burnett