INTEGRATING LIVESTOCK IN COTTON PRODUCTION IN THE COASTAL PLAIN: INFLUENCE OF WINTER PASTURE AND TILLAGE

Recent research in Alabama found that contract grazing of stocker cattle in winter-early spring (100 to 140 days) offers re turns from $70 to $225 per acre (Bransby et al., 1999). Such a system is ideal for small farmers with limited capital and offers potential for added income for producer’s doublecropping cotton behind winter grazing of annual pastures. Soil management strategies that improve soil quality include conservation tillage, cropping intensification, and inclusion of sod-based rotations. Crop rotation is critical to cropping intensification and has long been recognized as being agronomically and economically beneficial (Bayer et al., Reeves, 1994). Short-term forage rotations with cotton not only offer reduced eco nomic risks for producers but also could increase soil organic carbon, improving soil quality and productivity and enhancing profitability for producers. However, winter-annual grazing results in excessive soil compaction, which can severely limit yields of double-cropped cash crops (Miller et al., 1997). Although, in-row subsoiling at planting is frequently used to allevi ate soil compaction for cotton grown on sandy coastal plain soils (Raper et al., 1994), tillage requirements for cotton follow ing winter-annual grazing have not been researched or developed. The objective of the study was: compare two winter pasture forages under grazing and their residual effect on cotton, deter mine depth and degree of compaction from grazing, and determine an optimal tillage system for establishment, growth, yield and quality of cotton grown following winter annual grazing