Ranching Realities, Part 3

Ranching Realities

by Sid Goodloe

Part 3

What are our major concerns for the future on both public and private land? On public land we are dealing with a legacy of custodial management by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that has resulted in overgrown forests as well as grasslands invaded by Piñon, Juniper, Mesquite and Sagebrush. In the Cuba area of New Mexico, 55 percent of our grasslands have disappeared since 1933. Future concerns are overwhelming recreation – uncontrolled ORV traffic and lawsuits that have resulted in non-action, even when the bureaucracy is willing to move. Over 50 percent of all the new vehicles purchased in America these days are SUV’s or side-bysides. We can’t continue to kick the grazing dog on public land. We must prepare for the recreation impact that will surely come. On private land, subdivision and second homes threaten not only our remaining open space but our western way of life as well. As an example, prescribed fire is required for a healthy forest and control of invading water-hungry plants, but second homes (exurban development) scattered over the landscape make this form of fire prevention (prescribed burning) very dangerous or impossible. Scientists and ecologists, once at odds with ranchers, have concluded that larger, intact, working cattle ranches are crucial puzzle pieces holding together an increasingly fragmented western landscape. Subdivisions not only disrupt watershed function, but the dogs, cats, ATV’s, dirt bikes and invasive plants that are always present are a very real problem to wildlife and livestock. What would you rather have on your watershed – trees and grass or roofs and pavement?

There are some bright spots in the future of ranching: 1) Cattle numbers are down. If the supply is down, demand and prices should rise. 2) El Niño seems to be nibbling away at the drought. 3) The management inputs that have benefited the cattle industry the most are, in my opinion, genetic selection (including AI, embryo transfer, genomic testing), EPD’s, DNA evaluation and others) that have

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Rotational grazing (today labeled Holistic Planned Grazing) along with our genetic manipulation has proven an improved practice that has contributed, in many cases, to the marketing 800 pound steer calves at ten months of age. Today’s increased weights and prices are resulting in the profitability long sought after in the cattle business. 4) USDA Assistance is available for those who want it – EQIP, the Forest Legacy Program, Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program, Conservation Security Program, etc., and by private foundations and individuals. Many ranchers don’t want that sort of assistance, but hard times make strange bedfellows. Hopefully, the Healthy Forest Initiative will expedite forest and rangeland restoration through: a) Thinning and prescribed burning b) E.S.A. considering long term effects of thinning 5) The public may have to pay to enjoy uncluttered landscapes (an example might be found in Irish subsidies for agriculture). Good stewardship should be rewarded in some way that supports economic sustainability and regenerative agriculture.

Now, after a memorable and wonderful summer, the holistic land steward rancher is being rewarded for his or her attention to land health. Innovative and sustainable methods of land stewardship, the improvement in grazing management and bovine genetics are finally making ranching a profitable endeavor. Not only do we love what we do but now we can say we did “make a difference.” What could be more gratifying that seeing an expanse of headed-out blue gramma, dirt tanks holding water, a thinned woodland or forest and cattle laying down chewing their cud by mid-morning?!

Our task for the future is to preserve our Western way of life by passing to those who follow us a work ethic that we have developed and our knowledge and love tor the horses and cattle we husband. The “Cowboy Way” still means what it did 100 years ago. ▫