A multiyear study involving University of Idaho researchers has found that allowing late-fall and winter grazing on rangeland heavily infested with invasive medusahead grass could provide extra forage for cattlemen while reducing wildfire fuel.

Undoubtedly, ranching demands immense effort and sacrifices. The increasing pressure to adopt environmentally friendly practices can sometimes feel at odds with producer interests. However, carbon ranching presents an opportunity to acknowledge and appreciate farmer and ranchers’ contributions in more ways than one.

Overgrazing pastures and rangeland has detrimental consequences on cattle, forage, soil and producers’ bottom lines.

Rangeland scientists at the Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center (EOARC) tested whether virtual fencing could prevent cattle from grazing recently burned areas within sagebrush steppe pastures.

Because virtual fencing can help rangeland managers become more adaptive to variable conditions, it could help managers to adapt to the variable impacts of climate change.

Encouraging animals to disperse and utilize the full range can be a pain this time of year, but necessary for the health of the range plants. 

A team of researchers at the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is completing a 10-year study on how grazing management practices used in rotational grazing systems and continuous grazing systems affect cattle foraging behavior, diet quality and yearly weight gain in semiarid, extensive rangeland.

Determining how much pasture is needed for summer grazing can be difficult. There are many factors that affect pasture productivity including last growing season’s conditions.

Over the past decade, the importance of better understanding our cattle’s grazing behavior and impact on rangelands has become increasingly important. With the increasing size of finished cattle, the size of breeding cattle must also grow to create those larger-framed cattle. 

“A family of teachers.”
That’s how Jill Flynn refers to her brood, who together own and operate Hidden Hollow Hideaway Cattle & Guest Ranch in the hills just outside Townsend, Montana, overlooking the Missouri River. Perhaps no one is more representative of that designation than Jill’s late husband, Kelly.