For producers and rangeland managers pursuing healthier rangelands and a profitable ranching operation, livestock can be one of the most valuable reclamation tools available. The impact livestock create on the land remains as important today as the influence once provided by large herds of ungulates, such as buffalo, elk, antelope, and deer, before humans became more dominant in the landscape. Recognizing that many degraded rangelands result from the loss of concentrated animal impact followed by adequate rest and recovery is essential to beginning the restoration process.

Controlled livestock use creates beneficial disturbance on rangeland, followed by planned rest and recovery before animals return to the area. This approach has proven effective for improving land health while supporting the rancher’s economic viability. Without making grazing management a consistent foundation before applying other reclamation practices, the cycle of degradation is unlikely to be broken without repeated use of costly tools such as brush management, seeding, and erosion-control measures. These tools may still be needed to accelerate improvement, but sound grazing management is what makes long-term reclamation effective.

The Better it Gets, The Faster it Gets Better

Eastern Gama 24 days after grazing. Take note of the Johnson Grass at bottom of picture it was grazed less than the EG and still is much smaller than the regrown EG.

As our nation approaches its 250^th birthday, every citizen should reflect on the extraordinary blessings we have been given: our Constitution, our people, and our natural resources. Those who care for the land carry a profound responsibility to steward the Lord’s carefully created rangelands and support nature’s ongoing work of maintaining balance. Thanks to our Constitution, each land steward has the freedom to decide how to participate in preserving this work for future generations.

We have learned much about rangelands through universities, government resources, and, importantly, the experience of land managers themselves. Understanding how to help nature reach its full potential means working with natural processes, asking why conditions exist, and considering more than manipulating the land to a preconceived state. By seeking those answers and taking proactive steps to support nature’s work, land stewards can strengthen both the health of the land and the success of their operations. Healthy rangelands relate closely with healthy pocketbooks.

The age-old issue of: Are we working toward the sunset or ending of an era, or the beginning of a new age even more productive than the past? Whether politically or at the level of the individual rangeland manager, let’s go with the latter.

                            THE BETTER IT GETS, THE FASTER IT GETS BETTER

Dawns Early Light

Twilights Last Gleaming

After approaching four years of extended drought and having exhausted all drought management options, total liquidation of the livestock was imminent. Thankfully the rains began to fall in mid-April, not large amounts .87” the largest rain event, but consistent small rains continuing from April to the current date. Along with relatively cool spring temperature’s, excellent growth and recovery of the rangeland has been achieved. (Seldom does this combination of rains and cool temps occur even during high rainfall times.) Past graze-rest adaptive grazing is paying excellent benefits as the photo below shows.

Big Blue (Center of picture) and Indian Grass (Upper center, just above Big Blue) are showing excellent recovery even though grazed to the ground during the dry spell. Some would say to never graze that short and I would concur, but under extended drought conditions that seems to occur often. Obviously, the root systems of both plants were healthy enough to recover quickly under those extenuating circumstances. Perhaps the rocky terrain helped, as the livestock could not graze so close as to ‘grub’ the roots below the surface. Of important note Sideoats, Texas Cup, Green Sprangle Top and Silver Bluestem are doing well, but they were not grazed to the ground as the highly palatable Indian and Big Blue were.

The Better It Gets, The Fast It Gets Better

A veteran producer recently asked me: Is the current drought worse than the one in the 1950’s? My quick response was that we hadn’t seen anything yet. As in the early ‘50s drought, the rain gauge at the Bobs Creek headquarters (My home) had an average rainfall of just under 6” per year for a four-year period and the drought lasted from 6 to 7 years depending on the area.

Then it occurred to me that the rangeland was in much better condition prior to the ‘50s drought than it is today. Remember the story of a long-time rancher telling me when I was in my 20’s (late 1970’s) that: “With each passing dry spell one can never run as many livestock as he could prior to that dry spell.” Loss of grazing capacity has dwindled from documented grazing of 100 plus animal units per section in 1880 to 15 -10 and even less animals per section today on the same rangeland. With that loss of grass density, root structure in the soil (sod if you will) loss of topsoil due to erosion, soil health decline and density of brush cover increase. The limited moisture that has fallen during this dry period has considerably less opportunity to produce new growth providing all of the benefits healthy growing plants provide. (5.49” for the year at his point in 2024 at my house)

So perhaps on rangelands that are not under an effective grazing management program this drought is possibly worse than the 1950’s event. Many to the north and east of my area have had a tremendous rainfall year and recovered well, but even in those areas I suspect it is noticeable which operations have practiced a good grazing management program prior to and during the dry conditions before the rains came.

Just a few miles to the west of me it is obvious that the desert is steadily encroaching to the east and without a dramatic change in grazing technique this trend will continue. The knowledge is out there, and the time is here to do something about it.

The photo below is of some native-unseeded Switch grass that has survived from many years of abuse (heavy brush and very forbidding-rough terrain has protected these surviving plants) and under the current Graze-Rest-Graze-Rest program is making a strong recovery even without a direct water source. (Most consider Switch grass to be dependent on a close source of water, springs-sub irrigated-intermittent standing water.) Think back to the beginning of the cattle industry in West Texas when Switch grass and other tall grasses were healthy and numerous, this ‘little’ dry spell would have a much different affect and would have little consequence to the long-range health of the plants with a healthy rangeland in place before the droughts beginning.

The Better it Gets the Faster it gets Better