Native Grasslands for Winter Grazing: Maximizing Forage, Wildlife Habitat, and Cost Efficiency
Native Grasslands for Winter Grazing: Maximizing Forage, Wildlife Habitat, and Cost Efficiency
Winter grazing is an important component of Saskatchewan’s prairie ranching systems. Extending the grazing season into the colder months helps reduce reliance on purchased or stockpiled feed, supports rangeland biodiversity, and sustains livestock body condition.
Native vegetation is especially valuable for winter grazing because it has evolved over thousands of years to withstand harsh prairie conditions while maintaining palatability and nutritional value late into the season, unlike many tame grasses that must be harvested, cured, and stored properly to achieve similar winter feeding quality.
Tame grass species typically reach their nutritional peak from early spring to early summer. Once they mature and set seed, they can become coarse, less digestible, and less palatable. This makes them ideal for early-season grazing, when livestock can access them at their highest nutritional value and allows for later growing native grasses to establish without grazing pressure during sensitive growing periods. The predictable yields and consistent plant populations found in tame grass stands are also essential for building reliable winter feed stockpiles. This predictability allows producers to plan grazing and harvest strategies with more confidence, ensuring adequate forage availability and quality during the winter months.
Native grasses, in contrast, often shine in the fall and winter when it comes to both forage quality and quantity. Many native species will retain their digestible leaf and stem material well after frost, maintain adequate crude protein levels, and persist in less than ideal conditions, such as under snow and ice. These traits make native species a valuable resource for ranchers with access to native rangeland, especially those looking to reduce winter feeding costs.
Winter grazing on native grasslands also benefits wildlife. The take half leave half rule still applies to winter grazing, never grazing the vegetation down completely. This leftover plant material maintains soil protection properties, increasing winter cover, moisture retention and nesting habitat for wildlife. You can use stocking density to your benefit by reducing the number of animals or time grazing in one area to retain the ‘patchy’ habitat that wildlife need. The idea of having some areas with short grass and others with taller grass, creates habitat for various species that rely on different plant structures for their survival.
If you are planning to winter graze some pastures, you must ensure that the sites are rested enough to handle grazing pressure. This means resting the pastures as much as possible, ideally not grazing at all, during the remainder of the year. If you do end up grazing it twice in once year, the plants may not be able to recuperate their energy stores and are at risk of reduced productivity and vigor in the long term.
Understanding your pastures and the grasses that call them home can also help guide grazing management decisions. Native grass species vary in growth patterns, palatability, and seasonal nutritional value, with certain species maintaining forage quality later into the year. The following is a brief list of native grass species that can provide adequate nutrition and functional forage for winter grazing sites.
Western Wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii)
This cool season, sod-forming grass is known for its ability to retain green leaf material later into the season than other grasses and retains crude protein levels of 7-8% into the winter months.
Western Porcupine Grass (Hesperostipa curtiseta)
A cool season, bunchgrass with stiff stems that remain accessible under snow, providing roughage when shorter grasses may be buried or harder to access. The crude protein is similar to Western Wheatgrass and can remain at 6-10% once the plant is matured.
Green Needlegrass (Nassella viridula)
Another cool season grass but this one is more sensitive to heavy grazing pressure. The digestibility remains high, around 45% with a crude protein around 7%. This grass is highly sought after by grazing animals and the soft awns of this grass are not problematic compared to other species.
Needle-and-Thread Grass (Hesperostipa comata)
Continuing on the trend of cool season bunchgrasses, it boasts an average digestibility of 40-50% and holds its crude protein level of 6-10% through the summer and late fall grazing seasons.
Blue Grama (Bouteloua gracilis)
Shifting to a warm season bunchgrass, this one is well adapted to our dry conditions and may be better utilized when snow cover is low because it is a shorter grass. Similar to the other grasses, it keeps a protein level between 7-9% in the late season and moderate nutritional values.
Plains Rough Fescue (Festuca hallii)
Another cool-season bunchgrass that is known for its high protein and digestible carbohydrates, even after curing on the stem. Good quality grazing in fall and
winter but extremely sensitive to spring and early summer grazing.
Winterfat (Krascheninnikovia lanata)
Special mention goes to Winterfat, a native shrub well adapted to Saskatchewan’s winters and recognized for its high winter protein content, approximately 10–12%. Winterfat remains highly palatable and, because it extends above typical snow cover, is readily accessible to grazing livestock throughout the winter months.
If you are unsure of what species of grasses call your pastures home, reach out to the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation for a rangeland health assessment. This assessment gives you a complete idea of vegetation present, litter levels and the overall health of the rangeland. Increasing the understanding of species-specific traits and then working to implement managed grazing strategies, ranchers can maximize the benefits of winter grazing while sustaining productive, resilient grasslands. Helping to guide management decisions and support long-term ranch viability. For more information about our work and programs, contact us .