Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Current Competitive Grant

Use of mob grazing to improve cattle production, enhance legume establishment and increase carbon sequestration in Iowa pastures

Project ID: E2010-13

This 2-year grant for $79,657 was awarded in 2010.

Location: Story county

The investigator seeks to identify the grazing system that best optimizes the performance of grazing animals, forage and the chemical and soil quality in Midwestern pastures. The findings will allow the researchers to compare the effects of mob-grazing, strip-grazing, and rotational grazing on cow body weight and condition score, forage productivity and botanical composition and the chemical and physical properties of the soils in endophyte-free tall fescue pastures seeded with red clover.

James Russell

James Russell Jim Russell is a professor in the ISU Department of Animal Science. He was raised on a mixed livestock farm near Wilmot, Wisconsin. He obtained his B.S, M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in meat and animal science and dairy science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has been an ISU faculty member for 30 years with a research and teaching appointment. Beyond work, he enjoys fishing, particularly in Alaska where his daughters currently live. [Contact lead investigator]

This competitive grant project is part of the Leopold Center's Ecology Initiative.

Topics: Animal management and forage, Soils and agronomy