May marks the beginning of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS) inclusion of pasture and range conditions in its weekly state crop progress reports.

As the drought that has plagued the western Great Plains for over a year spreads across the Midwest, producers are making hard decisions about cow herd management.

As I write this, we have just received some much-needed moisture, whereas others in our county just 40 miles away are plowing in the dust.

As we head into the middle of summer, taking stock of pasture and forage status for the rest of the growing season is a good practice to implement, especially when faced with dry weather.

Twenty years ago, a colleague and I began an extension publication with this sentence: “Without question, stocking rate is the most important grazing management decision a rancher makes.”

Multiyear drought in much of the western U.S. has made it evident that we will have to make some tough grazing management decisions this year, and likely in the coming years as well.

Rangelands comprise approximately 36% of the U.S. Livestock depend on these lands for survival through plant consumption. Balancing forage use with sustained rangeland conditions is the goal of good land stewardship.

Managed grazing systems are a big opportunity to enhance ranch profit and sustainability.

Spring is a beautiful time of year that brings renewed hope and optimism for production agriculture. The list of to-dos is endless with many folks either finishing up or in the midst of spring calving and preparing for the next breeding season, as well as field work and attempting innumerable other projects.