Herbage Yields from a Clayey Range Site 10 and 11 Years after Severe Renovation

Abstract

A clayey range site 56 km south of Gillette, Wyoming, was renovated in October, 1967, using a moldboard plow, disc plow, rotovator, blade, and atrazine applied in strips on April 30, 1968. Because of drought in 1977, there were no measurable differences in total herbage yield among all treatments 10-years after the renovation. However, the following year, 1978, above-average precipitation increased herbage yields, and differences among treatments were significant. Western wheatgrass (Agropyron smithii) yield, which accounted for over half the total production in 1977 and '78, was highest on the moldboard plow, the disc plow, and rotovator treatments, in that order.