Pasture monitoring at a farm scale with the USDA NRCS pasture condition score system

The Pasture Condition Score (PCS) system, developed by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, is a monitoring and assessment tool for pastureland enrolled in conservation programs. Ten indicators of vegetation and soil status are rated on a 1 to 5 scale and are summed to give an aggregate score, which is interpreted for management recommendations. Information is lacking, however, on how PCS results vary within and among environments and farms. We applied the PCS on two farms in Pennsylvania (one dairy, one beef), two dairy farms in New York, and an organic dairy in Maryland. All pastures (25 to 63 per farm) on each farm were evaluated according to PCS methodology in spring, summer, and autumn of 2004, 2005, and 2006. Aggregate PCS scores ranged from 30 to 40 (indicating some improvements were needed to pasture management) and were relatively stable within management recommendation categories across seasons in 2004 and 2006. The PCS scores in 2005, however, plummeted (below 25 to 30—indicating major management changes to prevent degradation) on the Pennsylvania and Maryland farms because of drought. Pastures used for heifers and dry cows or as wintering areas often had lower scores than other pastures. Typically, these pastures were on less productive soils, steep slopes, and were stocked intensively. There was much overlap among individual score categories for some indicators, which suggests that fewer but broader score categories (e.g., low, medium, high) would simplify the system for farmers. The monitoring workload could be reduced by assessing representative subsets of pastures managed similarly or in similar landscape positions instead of all pastures on a farm.