Strategic grazing management involving high stocking density and frequent movement, such as rotational grazing and herding with low-stress livestock handling, can-if well planned and creatively managed- improve rangeland health and livestock production, by managing the distribution of grazing across time, space, and plant species. Authors in the sponsored issue of Rangelands on Strategic Grazing Management for Complex Creative Systems (Barnes and Hild 2013) discussed key processes and management actions that determine the extent, timing and direction of responses to grazing management. For instance, strategic multi-paddock grazing can be used to shift utilization from riparian areas to steeper uplands, and to less desirable plants, increasing the grazing capacity (Barnes and Howell 2013). Similar benefits may be possible with low-stress herding, though perhaps not to the same degree (Barnes 2015a). The central anti-predator behavior of wild grazing animals is to form large, dense herds that then move around the landscape to seek fresh forage, avoid fouled areas, and escape predators. Evidence synthesized from the rangeland, wildlife, and animal sciences suggests that modeling livestock management after the grazing patterns of wild ungulates in the presence of their predators can increase the ability of ranching operations to coexist with native carnivores (Barnes 2015b).
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.