The Great Plains are well known for their expansive waves of grass and sweeping vistas–and herds of cattle and other livestock grazing “out on the range”. However, there is a lot more to rangelands (and livestock diets) than just grass! The native wildflowers and shrubs dotted throughout these landscapes not only add color and beauty, they are critical for the bees, butterflies, moths, wasps, flower-visiting flies, beetles, and other wildlife that call these landscapes home. And those same plants are often a nutritious meal for livestock!
How can rangelands be good wildlife habitat?
Rangelands are often large, connected habitats that have relatively little pesticide use. With a diversity of wildflower and shrub species, there are plants that bloom throughout the spring, summer, and fall, providing pollen and nectar for pollinators. Beneficial insects (such as predators that provide pest control and decomposers that help keep soils healthy) and pollinators will nest, overwinter, and breed in undisturbed plant stems and litter, or in the soil below. For example, bumble bees and other pollinators use bunchgrasses for nesting or overwintering sites. Diverse rangelands also offer larval host plants for many butterflies and moths.
Why are wildflowers and shrubs good for cattle and other livestock?
Great Plains rangelands need disturbance, and grazing is a tool to maintain healthy grasslands. Large grazing mammals, such as bison, provided disturbance for millennia as they grazed the Great Plains. Today, these lands continue to support grazers, often cattle, and wildlife. Although it’s easy to imagine cattle exclusively eating grasses, they will naturally also eat other plants. On rangelands, wildflowers and shrubs can make up between 20 to 47% of cattle diets throughout the year!
Recent research shows that wildflowers and shrubs are sources of protein, nutrients, and minerals for livestock, often providing nutrients and minerals at levels greater than commonly eaten grasses. While this might sound like cattle are eating the very plants that pollinators need, sustainable grazing strategies allow plants to have time to recover and bloom after being grazed. For example, ranchers can rotate cattle to different pastures for a while, or use prescribed burns to cause new plants to grow after the fire, which can attract cattle to those fresh plants. Good grazing management results in blooms for both pollinators and livestock!
Are wildflowers safe for livestock to eat?
The vast majority of Great Plains rangeland plants are not toxic to livestock, and are in fact quite nutritious! However, there are a few species that can be harmful to livestock if eaten. An important aspect of a rancher’s job is identifying these particular plants as they manage their land and their livestock’s health.
Do rangelands need conservation?
Approximately 60% of all grasslands in the United States have been lost since European settlement, making our native grasslands one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world. Many remaining grasslands are grazed by livestock, making their survival interconnected.
Rangelands face multiple threats, including fragmentation due to oil and gas development, encroachment by urban development, and conversion to cropland. While farms can include spaces for pollinator habitat, the majority of the space is dedicated to crops, which usually do not provide the food and homes needed by wildlife, and can have pesticides that are harmful to pollinators. According to the World Wildlife Fund’s 2020 Plowprint report, from 2014-2018, people converted native rangeland to cropland at an average rate of four football fields every minute.
A successful ranching operation is one of the best ways to ensure privately owned rangelands aren’t converted to cropland or other uses and, instead, remain intact as vital habitat for wildlife. Ranchers are essential stewards of grasslands, and the wildlife that depend on grasslands.
What wildflowers are native to the Great Plains?
We can’t cover all rangeland wildflowers (there’s a lot!), but here are five fascinating species that people, livestock, and wildlife can all enjoy!
Purple Prairie Clover
Purple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea) is a plant in the Pea family with small, bright purple flowers that are densely grouped in a cylinder. It blooms in summer and has bright yellow/orange pollen. The leaves have a fragrant, citrus smell when crushed.
All six groups of pollinators — bees, butterflies, moths, wasps, flower-visiting flies, and beetles — visit purple prairie clover flowers. Several caterpillars, like the southern dogface butterfly (Colias cesonia), eat the plant as well.
As for livestock, purple prairie clover provides high levels of protein and energy. It is a particularly good source of calcium and potassium, two minerals that are important to cattle health and performance.
Leadplant
Leadplant (Amorpha canescens) is a small, shrub-like plant that has wooly white hairs covering its leaves and stems. Small, purple, bell-shaped flowers are clustered in dense spikes and bloom in the Northern Great Plains from June through August.
Despite its name, leadplant doesn’t actually contain more lead than any other wildflower. There are a lot of different stories on how it got this name, including perhaps because of the silvery hairs on the plant’s foliage, but no one knows for sure!
Like purple prairie clover, leadplant is regularly visited by all kinds of pollinators who eat its nectar and/or pollen, and is food for the caterpillars of several butterflies. For livestock, leadplant is another great source of protein, calcium, potassium, and energy. Compared to grass, it also stands out as a good source of copper for cattle, which is important to their immune health and reproduction.
Showy Milkweed
Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) has large leaves that are covered in soft hairs. Like other milkweeds, when the leaves or stems are damaged, it exudes a milky latex sap. Pink and cream star-shaped flowers grow in its namesake showy, large, round clusters and bloom in the Northern Great Plains from May through September.
Like other milkweeds, showy milkweed is a host plant for monarch butterflies. Monarchs need to eat milkweeds as caterpillars. However, all types of pollinators will also visit showy milkweed for its nectar and pollen. Some bees will also use it as a nesting site.
Milkweeds have a reputation for being a harmful food for livestock, but many species are actually safe to eat for cattle! Research shows that cattle will happily seek out and eat widespread species like common and showy milkweed. And for good reason: in many ways, these plants provide more nutritious food than grasses. They provide plenty of energy when digested, and are good sources of protein, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus.
Stiff Sunflower
Stiff sunflower (Helianthus pauciflorus) has, as you might expect, stiff leaves with a sandpaper texture. They make showy, yellow flowers, about 2.5 inches wide with a brown or purplish central disk, and bloom from July through August.
Several butterflies eat stiff sunflower plants as caterpillars, such as Charidryas gorgone, Dichomeris aleatrix, and Papaipema maritima. All types of pollinators will visit the flowers for pollen and nectar, including several bees that specialize on sunflower pollen.
Like showy milkweed, stiff sunflower is actually a better quality meal than grass for cattle! Stiff sunflower provides calcium, potassium, zinc, and copper to livestock and at much higher levels than grasses.
Prairie Rose
Prairie rose (Rosa arkansana) is a short shrub with stems covered in small prickles. Its pink flowers have five petals and it blooms in the Northern Great Plains from June through August. It develops fleshy, red fruit after flowering.
Prairie rose is considered an excellent plant for pollinators because of its abundance of easily accessible pollen. It is visited by all types of pollinators, including Eucera rosae, a pollen specialist bee, and it is a particular favorite of many bumble bee species. Native bees hollow out the stems of prairie rose to make protected nesting and overwintering sites for their young. Additionally, the fruits of the plant are food for many grassland birds, like the greater prairie chicken and bobwhite quail.
Prairie rose provides a lot of energy for livestock, especially when compared to grasses. Prairie rose is also a good source of calcium and potassium, two minerals that are important to cattle health and performance.
What can you do to learn more and contribute to grassland conservation?
Whether you have livestock or are only feeding your local bees, butterflies, flies, moths, wasps, and beetles, you can learn all about these and other flowers in our Rangeland Wildflower guide! If you have the chance, go out to a grassland and see which wildflowers you can find!
If you consume meat, support sustainable ranching by sourcing your meat with conservation in mind. One resource to get started is Audubon’s guide to buying Bird-Friendly Beef and Bison. It’s written with birds in mind, but the same habitat that sustains birds is also a place that bugs can thrive!
Rae is a Nebraska native with a bachelor's of science in environmental studies and a master's of science in ecology from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Her previous environmental work has focused on the function and diversity of the prairie ecosystem; researching the impacts of restoration, management, and soils; and experiencing the joys and trials of native plant production.
Sarah Hamilton Buxton grew up frequently visiting her grandparents’ farm where she developed an appreciation for farmers, ranchers, private landownership, and the natural world. She holds a bachelor's degree in wildlife science and a master's degree in renewable natural resources with a concentration in wildlife science. Prior to joining the Xerces Society, Sarah worked as a Farm Bill Specialist where she gained private lands biology experience working with farmers and ranchers enrolled in USDA Conservation Programs.
