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COW-CALF ENTERPRISE BUDGETS' ROLE IN EVALUATING THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF SAGE-GROUSE CONSERVATION ON RANCHING OPERATIONS
Author
Dyer, Holly
Hilken, Tom
Kirkpatrick, Holly
Roberts, Kendall
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2018
Body

Through USDA-NRCS funded sage-grouse habitat improvement projects, more than 1,000 ranchers have restored or conserved approximately 4.5 million acres, with private land conservation expected to reach 8 million acres by 2018. These conservation efforts have resulted in both reduced threats to the greater sage-grouse in 90% of the species� breeding habitat and have also benefited ranching operations by improving grazing and livestock water supplies. Existing research focuses on ecological effects, but the economic impacts to ranchers implementing sage-grouse habitat conservation plans remain unknown. The enterprise budget data across Major Land Resource Areas (MLRAs) within the sage-grouse core habitat presented in this poster are a crucial first-step to evaluating ranch-level economic impacts from sage-grouse conservation practices. Researchers at the University of Wyoming gathered the data and produced the enterprise budgets which comprise all resources necessary for ranching production along with the rates of use and costs. These enterprise budgets help producers benchmark their operation�s production and economic performance and estimate business decision outcomes. While a useful tool for producers, enterprise budgets also provide insight to researchers about representative operations within a region. Many Land-Grant Institutions already use enterprise budgets; however, most cow-calf enterprise budgets are outdated or nonexistent within the Western United States. The team of researchers conducted 36 focus groups with ranchers from nine MLRAs (across seven states) to discuss how typical cow-calf ranches operate. Each focus group consisted of 3-5 ranchers and discussed herd characteristics and management activities, feed requirements, land use, variable costs, and physical resources needed for a production cycle. The data gathered from each focus group was applied to develop current, updated budgets for the public and to provide the baseline models for an economic study evaluating ranch-level impacts of sage-grouse habitat conservation practices.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Reno, NV
Collection
SRM Annual Meeting Abstracts