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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #417952
Research Project: Knowledge Systems and Tools to Increase the Resilience and Sustainability of Western Rangeland Agriculture

Location: Range Management Research

Title: Southern Plains and Southwest perspective on: What grazing management practices can help ranchers successfully adapt to climate change while also supporting healthy rangeland ecosystems?

Author
item Spiegal, Sheri
item GOODMAN, LAURA - Oklahoma State University

Submitted to: Society for Range Management Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/1/2025
Publication Date: 2/13/2025
Citation: Spiegal, S.A., Goodman, L. 2025. Southern Plains and Southwest perspective on: What grazing management practices can help ranchers successfully adapt to climate change while also supporting healthy rangeland ecosystems?. Society for Range Management Meeting Abstracts. Abstract.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Pyric herbivory, mixed species grazing with cattle and goats, heritage cattle genetics and precision ranching tools are promising climate-smart management approaches to adapt to accelerated woody plant encroachment, wildfire risk, droughts and variable forage production in the Great Plains and Southwest. Patch burn grazing in Oklahoma, Kansas, North Dakota, Iowa, and Tennessee has been shown to buffer the impact of varying rainfall on livestock weight gains by diversifying forage resources and providing higher quality and adequate quantity of grazable biomass even during droughts. Co-grazing cattle and goats in the Plains has been shown to increase rancher returns while controlling woody plants and reducing the intensity and spread of wildfires. In extensive landscapes of the Southwest, smaller-framed heritage beef cattle genetics (e.g., Raramuri Criollo cattle) combined with a precision technology package that monitors drinking water, rainfall, and cattle location in real time are showing great promise as tools for ranching conservation in a drier and warmer climate. Early adopters of precision ranching tools in the region report fewer input costs and lower levels of management stress. At this talk, we will explain ongoing work to measure social, ecological and economic advantages and inadvertent disadvantages of these management approaches.