Stumpy or Smooth Pastures

"After a timber harvest, one of the first decisions in converting forestland to pasture is whether to fully clear and smooth the land or work with the rougher post-harvest condition. The traditional approach is to remove stumps, burn or clear debris, grade the surface, and create a smooth, equipment-friendly pasture as quickly as possible. That approach may produce a cleaner-looking field, but it also adds cost, disturbs soil structure, increases erosion risk, and may delay seeding while heavy land work is completed."
"This experiment compares that traditional “smooth pasture” approach against a lower-disturbance “stumpy pasture” approach, where stumps and some roughness are left in place while the land is seeded and managed toward productive forage."
"The core question is simple: "
"Which approach creates the most productive pasture in the shortest practical time after timber harvest?"
"We are looking beyond appearance. The goal is not just to make the land look finished. The goal is to determine which method produces usable forage faster, protects the soil better, manages cost more effectively, and supports the long-term conversion of timberland into productive pasture."
"We left half of our pastures stumpy and the other half smooth to accomplish this long term comparison. Our initial results are obvious. "
"Stumpy Advantages:"
"While the soil biome was negatively imacted it was not destroyed. Within a couple of weeks it was clear that bugs and fungi were actively degrading the remaing wood chips and slash remants begining the process of recapturing that valuable carbon to return it to the soil. "
"This soil still had structure and cover and as such held a lot more moisture and had minimal run-off and erosion. "
"There is also an abundance of wildlife tracks and sitings in these pastures and soil temperatures are moderated even during a drought due to some cover provided by the slash and emerging plants."
"While there may have been a lower rate of germination for our seeding efforts due to poor soil contact where slash and timber debris is prevalent. Those plants that did establish are growing faster and healtier."
"Smooth Advantages:"
"It is easier to use equipment on a smooth pasture. In our case, the side by side can be an effective tool with attachments that are not possible on stumpy pastures. "
"The seeds we spread almost alway had good soil contact after sowing."
"A smooth pasture is simply beautiful to the eye."
"Unfortunately, that is where the advantages stop."
"The seeds were much more prone to washing into pockets and developing runts. During our drought some seeds did not survive at all and those that did were severely stunted."
6 months after the pasture was establish, a limb or slash remaining in the field shows little signs of degredation since there are no bugs or fungi available to do their work. "