grazing

According to rangeland experts, wildfires in the western Great Basin region scorched more than 14,600 square miles in just 10 years—nearly the land mass of Maryland and Delaware combined.

Domestic livestock have been grazing on western landscapes for centuries. The USDA Forest Service has worked alongside farmers and ranchers to manage those landscapes, which were rapidly degrading from overuse by the time the agency was formed in 1905.

“I don’t like crowds, and I don’t like busy highways,” says Crawford, Texas rancher Larry Mattlage. “That crazy world out there can get me frustrated and upset. This land is where I am most at ease.” He was raised on the land his German immigrant grandfather settled on in the late 1880s. The 400...

The gopher tortoise earned its name for good reason – because it likes to dig and spends much of its time underground. The gopher tortoise, the Southeast’s only land-dwelling tortoise, burrows in the sandy soils below longleaf pine forests where it can escape heat and danger. Its burrows are popular...

When Iowa livestock producer Ryan Collins bought his 170-acre farm near Harpers Ferry, he knew from experience with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) that the agency could help him plan a rotational grazing system. A rotational grazing system—also known as prescribed grazing...

In 2012, USDA designated 2,245 counties in 39 states as disaster areas due to drought, or 71 percent of the United States. Many of the country’s livestock producers faced the ultimate decision – liquidate or figure out a way to survive. Ranchers across the state had planned to graze their livestock...

For agricultural producers, it’s an age-old question: How do you grow the largest, healthiest, most-profitable crops possible? Oregon organic farmer Chris Roehm says the secret is in the soil. Co-owner and operator of Square Peg Farm in Forest Grove, Roehm is among a growing number of producers...

“Who better to share the benefits of intensive rotational grazing than farmers who are actually doing it on their lands?” asked Beth L. McGee, Chesapeake Bay Foundation Senior Regional Water Quality Scientist. Intensive grazing systems, a type of rotational grazing that uses higher per acre stocking...

Guest Post by Hannah Ettema of the National Forest Foundation. It was like stepping back through time on the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. Some 200 years ago, when bison prominently roamed the Illinois landscape, kicking up dust as they ran in the herd before settling against a back-drop of...

Grazing livestock may soon be a common sight in the Palouse region of southeastern Washington, usually known for its rolling hills and grain production. Jonathan Wachter, a soil science doctoral student at Washington State University, has been working with a local farm to improve the competitiveness...