Get reliable science

Range riparian health, as well as upland bio-diversity concerns are significant issues facing ranchers and agencies on western public lands and are difficult if not impossible to solve with traditional management (intensified riding efforts and administrative actions). Low stress livestock handling (Bud Williams Stockmanship) has been shown to be a low cost and extremely effective tool to enhance riparian areas and restore biodiversity in uplands but for reasons that are unclear, it has a low adoption rate with riders and ranchers. This results in millions of acres of bio-diversity improvements going unrealized. It is also costing millions of dollars per year in lost grazing (cuts in number or grazing season) to ranchers and it has increased costs for grazing administration. Stockmanship has been shown to decrease respiratory diseases markedly (to near zero) which cost cattle producers an estimated 500 million annually nationwide. More aids to teaching stockmanship that increase the adoption rate are needed; however, one item of promise came about from talks with people who readily adopted it and become accomplished quickly. All had a high degree of belief that it works and all had the ability to relate stock handling to horsemanship principles. Good horsemanship principles and techniques have become highly accepted in the past 30 years whereas good stockmanship is well behind, although both existed in the past it appears. The correlation between stockmanship and horsemanship principles has been tested and appears to be strong and the principles of both will be compared in this presentation. Widespread adoption of Bud Williams Stockmanship could result in huge positive changes in range/riparian conditions in the western US.