Stockmanship or low-stress livestock handling techniques developed by Budd Williams are not typically considered as tools to manage rangelands. Most land managers and livestock producers would describe proper stockmanship as potentially beneficial for moving livestock from one pasture to another and for handling cattle in corrals as part of their normal husbandry practices. However, stockmanship can be used to manipulate livestock distribution and target grazing. Cattle often congregate along riparian areas, which can adversely impact the integrity of streambanks and fishery habitat. On public lands, stubble height standards are used to minimize adverse impacts of livestock on riparian areas. When cattle were herding away from riparian areas at midday, stubble heights of riparian graminoids were higher than in control pastures where cattle were allows to roam freely. Strategic placement of low-moisture block (LMB) protein supplements can increase cattle fidelity to nearby areas, and naturally stops cattle movement when they are herded to LMB placements. The combination of stockmanship and strategic supplement placement can be used to focus cattle grazing in rugged terrain and/or areas far from water. Focused cattle grazing has the potential to improve forage quality and habitat for wild ungulates and help manage fine fuels and the risk of catastrophic wildfire. Traditional approaches to modify cattle distribution such as fencing and water developments may conflict with other resource uses including wildlife and recreation. Although labor intensive, stockmanship can be successfully used to manipulate livestock grazing distribution where management techniques to manipulate cattle movements may not be feasible or desirable.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.