The difference is a stark contrast. I took each of these photos just a few days ago. We went through a really bad dry spell in 2019 and didn’t receive adequate rainfall during the Fall of 2019 or the Spring of this year. It’s been hard on our pastures, but especially so for the introduced, exotic grass species. It’s been particularly difficult for the Bermuda grass fields that my father planted in the late 1980’s. These shallow rooted exotics just simply don’t do well with our low input system. They are “addicted” to fertilizers, chemicals and lots of water to perform as so-called experts say they should. Our fertilizer and weed control regime is called animal impact. We utilize holistic planned grazing throughout the year ranging from once a day rotations to every three days depending on pasture size, quality and environmental conditions.

The field depicted in Image 2 was plowed for over a 100 years and planted in annual grains such as sorghum, wheat and oats. My great-grandfather, Maurice Finger, would tell me stories when I was a little kid about how he and his brothers would plow that same field with horses. I can remember sitting on the tractor with my mother for what seemed like days on end plowing the field. He asked one time how long it took us to plow the field with our 160 HP tractor and a 24 foot disc plow? I replied with the answer of “just a few days.” He said it took he and his brothers a month to plow it with horses. We can all acknowledge that tillage is one of the most destructive practices to our soil and it’s life. In fact, the first principle of soil health is to limit disturbance.

We planted that same field plowed for over 100 years with a native grass mixture designed and selected by Douglass King Seed Co. in San Antonio, Texas specifically for our site in 2017. It’s a mixture of 16 or so different grass species. Which species is insignificant because each site will be different depending on your soil type and location. The “writing is on the wall” so to speak. Notice that there are even small patches of green in the native grass field. We haven’t received measurable rainfall in more than three months and these grasses are holding strong. We grazed this field twice this year so far.

The bermudagrass field has only been grazed once and looks terrible. The bare ground you see in the image is not the result of overgrazing, it’s from termites. With 110 F temperatures for two weeks straight most of the grass leaves on the surface “burned up.” When the leaf is dead termites devour it before the cattle even get a chance to consume it. If you look closely at the picture you can see the termites little mud towers encompassing every leaf. Interestingly the termites hardly touch the grasses in the native grass field. Why I have no idea? Perhaps it’s because the leaves, even though they appear to be in a dormant state, are in fact still alive. I’m not knocking the termites because they do have their place within our ecosystem and are certainly great “builders” of soil taking carbon from the surface and storing it below.

I’m speaking from anecdotal evidence, but I think it’s pretty clear which type of grass performs best. The big argument against native grasses for decades has been yield. Conventional graziers and farmers are so focused on yield. How many lbs per acre of forage can be produced if you plant a certain species of exotic grass, fertilize it and spray for weeds? What they fail to see is a profit. I am ultimately in the business of producing a profit. Interestingly producing a profit and planting native grasses that serve a multitude of ecological functions go hand in hand. There are so many advantages to planting natives. Here is an older blog where I wrote about native grasses and their many benefits. Which one is better suited for our environment and the droughts that always seem to be on the horizon? I will let you decide for yourself.

Thank you for reading. Any questions or comments please feel free to post below or send me an e-mail to: mail@parkercreekranch.com