Range Management - Articles - Page 2

How to keep your grass growing in the hot, dry months

Monitor vegetation levels and adjust management strategies as needed to keep pastures productive during the hot, dry summer months.

June 16, 2023

Melinda Ellison

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.

10-year study reveals how intensive grazing affects foraging behavior and cattle weight gain on rangeland

May 15, 2023

Carrie Veselka

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.

How much pasture do I need?

The previous year’s drought severity and grazing pressure is important to consider when developing a grazing plan for this year. Understanding how to set stocking rates will prevent further damage to pastures.

January 19, 2023

Ryan Benjamin

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.

Implications of more efficient cattle on rangeland

Why do some cow herds seem to be more efficient on rangeland than others? Unlocking that answer could add valuable pounds to calves from weaning to the feedlot to finishing.

August 31, 2022

Jim Sprinkle and Carmen Willmore

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.

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Temporary stewards: Ranching to preserve the land

With an intense passion for improving the land, the Flynn family of western Montana has adopted a philosophy of utilizing cattle to achieve their goal of a healthy range.

August 25, 2022

Tyrell Marchant

“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.

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4 questions producers should be asking about carbon markets

May 25, 2022

Bill Fox and Jeff Goodwin

Lots of folks in the ranching industry are hearing and talking about carbon and greenhouse gas emissions – and it’s not about it being produced by livestock. It is about potential opportunities to use land management to remove carbon from the air and tuck it safely away into the soils.

Grazing management of rangelands in drought

May 24, 2022

Melinda Ellison

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.

3 grazing strategies to maximize production

March 23, 2022

K. Scott Jensen

Grazing management affects animal performance and both short-term and long-term pasture productivity. Grazing management includes decisions such as timing (when pastures are grazed), intensity (forage removed) and duration (how long they are grazed).

Putting weight on cattle from up above

March 23, 2022

Jaclyn De Candio

Researchers from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) are working on a new way to use satellite imagery for rangeland management – using the grazing patterns to predict cattle weight gain over a period of time.