Since the Society was founded in 1948, grazing management to achieve vegetation and animal productivity objectives has been a major emphasis of research. Early efforts generally concentrated on using plant physiological cues to determine acceptable levels of defoliation and deferment to maintain plant vigor and encourage recruitment of desired species. Many studies were performed on landscape scales but often lacked replication or adequate controls. Others were performed at individual plant scales. Much valuable information resulted regarding physiological responses to defoliation, indicators of plant recovery, and how plants and plant communities respond to defoliation timing, intensity and opportunities for regrowth. Many of these insights are points on which most scientists and managers still agree. In the 1980s through 2000s, interest increased regarding more intensive management of grazing using more paddocks/herd, higher animal densities and more frequent moves. These studies were often replicated, but livestock movements were generally implemented in a rigid, calendar-based manner, possibly without adequately accounting for plant physiological needs for recovery following defoliation. In a 2008 review of the literature, Briske and colleagues found that the preponderance of scientific studies regarding this type of management showed no consistent advantages for livestock or vegetation productivity compared to continuous grazing despite the fact that many grazing managers are using some form or multi-paddock grazing. Yet the points on which we agree are many, as are the questions to which we do not have answers. In 2011, they asserted that adaptive management, not a particular grazing "system," determined the success of any grazing approach, and called for a collaborative approach between scientists and grazing managers. This presentation explores the points of consensus, the basis for that consensus, and introduces some possible scientific questions and approaches on which scientists and managers might collaborate.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.