The prolonged drought in California has caused many to take a close look at where water goes and how it is used. Agriculture and livestock production are continually criticized for using large amounts of water. A recent webinar by Friends of the Earth to health providers stated, �beef is one of the largest users of water in California agriculture, 47% of the total California footprint.� Water for beef protein is reported second only to almonds. Their source (UNESCO, The Netherlands) did not take into account the ecosystem services provided by beef production on rangelands. This project seeks to provide a scientific based response that better addresses the water use by beef cattle and the ecosystem service tradeoffs provided by grazing cattle. Specifically, the project sought to quantify water use by beef cattle on California rangelands, a previously unexplored topic. We accounted for blue water�the water in freshwater lakes, rivers and aquifers; and green water� the precipitation that does not run off or recharge the groundwater but is stored in the soil or temporarily stays on top of the soil or vegetation. �A review of water use by beef cattle on rangelands in California will be presented, as well as a discussion of ecosystem services provided by managed grazing of beef cattle.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.