Prairie Graze Along - Highlighting Louisiana's Native Prairie Restoration

Our August Prairie Graze Along brought together a diverse group of 50 farmers, ranchers, soil scientists, landscape architects, naturalists, native plant and seed dealers, botanists, and conservationists to spend a Saturday visiting five native plant and prairie pastures.

Special thanks to each hosting farm, Pure Native Seed, UL Ecology Center, Louisiana Native Seed Company, Stuart Gardner, Larry Allain, Brandon Waltman, Louisiana NRCS, and Acadiana Native Plant Project for contributions.

At the first stop, the group visited the UL Ecology Center to see the native seed restoration project. Volunteers helped harvest seeds to sell from the native plant patches, walked through the rows of native wildflowers and grasses, and learned to ID many more native plants. The group walked through UL's seed storage indoor facility to learn the process of storing seeds.

At the second stop, the group saw Larry Allain's three different prairie plantings, where he plans to graze sheep. Larry educated folks on the many reasons that grazing is essential for land and soil health, and there was a question and answer session about when and how to move your grazing animals.

One may ask, what do natives and grazing have in common? Many of the non-grazing folks in attendance learned through the event that grazing animals is an important piece of the soil and land health puzzle. Just like we’ve seen some companies grazing brushy areas with goats, grazing when done well, can take the place of some or all burning.

We discussed that the pulling motion of grazing animals, unlike the cutting of a mower, stimulates root growth, allowing for deeper roots.

Healthy grazing, typically referred to as managed, rotational, or intensive grazing, is a huge part of the nutrient cycling. Grazing animals remove grass from the top of the plant and deposit soil nutrients back down. The trampling from the animals are also nearly as important, pushing organic matter back down into the soil.

We discussed how to manage grazing, using paddock sizes, electric fencing, and the amount of grazing animals per paddock.

At the lunch stop in Arnaudville, we showcased the recent documentary, "Louisiana Grass Roots" , directed by Jillian Godshall, which featured several of the hosts for the prairie graze along.

The fourth stop, Louisiana Native Seed, showcased a very diverse and healthy 1-year-old prairie planting, as well as many prairie and native plants for sale. Steve Nevitt, owner, was on hand to answer questions.

We talked about the economics of natives, and the shortage of seed availability. The group discussed alternatives to planting with seeds, talking about scale being an important factor to determine planting and establishing natives.

Steve Nevitt, whose goal is to restore 10,000 acres of native prairie, said “It seems like grazing would need to be a huge part [of this plan.]… Unfortunately, we can’t just have land that we don’t do anything with- we have to make a use of it some way. It seems like this could be the best way to make use of prairie and plant prairie on a large scale. It could be efficient and economic for the landowner and get thousands of acres of prairie back.”

Farmers in attendance were pleased to learn and enjoy the beauty of the native plants, and we discussed what other uses and efforts there are for native plant establishments in the southern Louisiana area.

At the fifth stop the group toured Brandon Waltman's 1-year-old prairie and saw a soil demonstration about organic matter and soil structure.

This test, called a Slake Test, shows how important it is to build up the amount of organic matter in the soil, so that it is able to retain as much water as possible, as deep as possible. As seen on the example in the right vessel, having a high percentage of organic matter prevents the water from seeping into the soil pore space and breaking it apart, while still allowing the soil to get hydrated.

Native grasses, like Eastern Gamagrass, can be highly tasty for cattle, being chosen over other grasses to graze. A bonus for the perennial grass is that it thrives in wet and low lying areas, making it a useful grazing forage where not many others grow. At our sixth stop, Stuart Gardner’s farm, we watched his cattle and horses graze through 3 foot high eastern Gamagrass.

Over the course of the day, we were able to visit a diverse set of established native prairies with a range of uses, from grazing to aesthetics, and increasing biodiversity. Thank you to everyone who attended the Prairie Graze Along! We'd love to see you again at a future LGLCI event.

Hear it from our attendees:

"The best part was going to all the prairies and learning about the many different plants in them. Talking to all the experts and learning what they do and why they do it. Seeing cows and horses graze on native plants in a space where fire is used as a tool for land management." - Survey response

"I came to learn more about our native habitat and how to save our environment and how to grow native species. I want to turn a small part of my yard into a native plant habitat to attract pollinators because I have a vegetable garden." - De Sha Lee, Duson, LA

"There was a wide range of people here – from ranchers, to landowners, to landscape architects, lots of people across the spectrum of nature-lovers and people who are interested in restoration. It was interesting to meet with everyone because we all seem to have a passion for restorative practices." - Rachel Gautier, Baton Rouge, LA