Cover crops can provide environmental benefits, and their use is increasing across the United States. Cover crops can also be costly to implement. The literature suggests that for livestock operations, grazing or harvesting cover crops for forage can be profitable due to the forage benefit. However, a new analysis of Federal data shows that around 14 percent of cattle operations with cropland grew cover crops in 2017. Certain types of cattle operations are more likely to report cover crop use. Dairy and feedlot operations are more than twice as likely to use cover crops as cattle operations overall (33 percent of dairy and 27 percent of feedlot operations), and many operations with cover crops report grazing them or harvesting them for forage. In 2021, 72 percent of dairy operations and 89 percent of cow-calf operations with cover crops reported harvesting or grazing at least some cover crop acreage, which suggests the forage value of cover crops may be a driver of adoption on those operations. Finally, this report discusses the potential for integrating cover crops and livestock systems in the United States (as well as barriers) and presents several research opportunities that could address knowledge gaps.
Details
Title
Cover Crops on Livestock Operations: Potential for Expansion in the United States
Record Identifier
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/342471
Language
English
Total Pages
42
Note
The authors conducted a literature review to examine the profitability of integrating cover crop and livestock systems, the forage benefit and livestock performance on cover crops, and the regional factors affecting the adoption of cover crop and livestock systems. The authors used operation-level and county-level data from the 2012 and 2017 Census of Agriculture to estimate cover crop adoption rates on cattle operations with cropland (including dairies, cow-calf operations, stocking/backgrounding operations, and feedlots) and identify regions with the potential to adopt integrated cover crop and livestock systems. The authors used data from the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) to estimate the prevalence of grazed, harvested, and unharvested cover crops on dairy and cow-calf operations, as well as termination practices for cover crops. ARMS is a national survey of farming operations and production practices conducted by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and Economic Research Service (ERS). Operation-level data on cover crop acreage are based on the ARMS Cost and Returns Report (Phase 3) from the 2018–2021 survey years, and field-level data on termination practices come from ARMS Production Practice and Cost (Phase 2) field-level data.
Series Statement
Administrative Publication No. 120