Over the past several decades, beef cows have quietly gotten bigger. In 1975, the average beef cow weighed just over 1,000 pounds; by 2009, that number had jumped to 1,350 pounds, and today, many herds include cows tipping the scales at 1,400 pounds or more.

Grazing distribution isn’t just about weather and terrain – it’s also about the cattle and vegetation.

Cowboys and farmers tend to emphasize the differences between pasture and range, but when we bring it back to the plant level, there are more similarities than differences.

Mindy Anderson spoke at the America’s Grasslands Conference in Kearney, Nebraska, about the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation's efforts to start a conservation easement program.

The greater sage grouse has become a poster child for a keystone species in decline across the West: a symbol of the sagebrush steppe being converted, degraded and fragmented. “When I was a kid, I remember seeing a lot more of them,” says rancher Richard Ward of Malta.

Rangelands may be known for their grasses, but there’s more to the story.

Join the editors from San Antonio as they visit with Angus Gidley-Baird about Australia’s recent herd liquidation and rebuild; Dennis Laycraft and Tyler Fulton on the U.S.-Canada-Mexico tariff standoff; and Justin Hossfeld on grazing management technology tools.

In 2023, the Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board announced a new initiative to control wolves on private property and approved spending up to $50,000 per year for producers to undertake wolf removal projects – with board approval.

Ranchers are constantly striving to maximize the productivity of their native rangeland, as raising and selling heavy and healthy calves is key to profitability. Helping producers enhance calf weight gain while maintaining the optimum body condition of the cow herd is critical to keeping operations profitable.

While the eastern U.S. gets bombarded with large broods of cicadas this year, here in the West we face an ongoing threat that’s more than just noise – relentless swarms of Mormon crickets infesting parts of the state.