“We don’t have the trampling loss associated with using larger paddocks,” Miller explains.Īs Miller says, the overall program helps him “ranch in sync with nature and mimic nature as close as possible.” He’s can decrease the use of chemicals and applied fertilizer and leave tillage equipment near the barn. Instead of paddock grazing, Miller began a program of using strip grazing, which he says has provided a more efficient use of forage. “The program must increase water infiltration rates, maintain a high nutrient-cycling rate and consistently increase the amount of organic matter in the soil.” “We want to have a flexible program that provides ground cover year around with plants that provide a living root in the ground as much as possible,” he says. Even though his Nebraska location can face harsh winters, cattle graze virtually year around with the forage made available from native grass and a wealth of cover crops, so supplemental feed is rarely needed. Yearlings are retained and enjoy plenty of forage that has been improved by Miller’s extensive cover crop program. They use a May calving program to help make sure there’s plenty of green forage available to support cows and their calves. Replacement heifers are retained and bred to home-raised bulls. They currently run about 300 Angus-cross cows. Native grasses that include smooth brome, cheatgrass, side oats grama, short and tall bluestem and switchgrass are part of his system. Miller says his family had started an aggressive grazing program about 20 years ago, noting his father and grandfather were very good at rotational grazing. “Low crop prices and high production costs led us to switch to 100% cattle grazing,” Miller told attendees at the No-till on the Plains Winter Conference earlier this year. The family had farmed about 600 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat but converted nearly all that land to grazing the past few years.

His family’s operation includes about 4,600 acres of native grass and forage blends. When he returned to the ranch from attending Fort Hayes (Kansas) State College in 2013, he bought his grandfather’s portion of the farm and ranch. He’s a third-generation rancher who has incorporated no-till programs that are paying off in the rugged rangeland. At only 28 he’s part of a Simmental-Angus cow-calf operation in southwest Nebraska in Culbertson.

More cattle producers have also converted their traditional grazing programs to include cover crop cocktails to help extend grazing periods, eliminate or reduce supplemental feeding, improve their land and still generate solid beef production.Ĭattle- and cover-crop-savvy Jake Miller is an innovative cowman in that group.

Crop producers have long enjoyed the benefits of using no-till and cover crops to enhance soil fertility, prevent wind and water erosion and improve production efficiency.

The lines low gain mix